Whether you're catering a wedding, stocking a sweet cart, filling party bags for a school fair or running a shop counter, buying sweets at volume follows the same handful of rules. Here they are.
Work out the quantity first
The two figures worth memorising:
- 100g per person when sweets sit alongside other food
- 150-200g per person when the sweets are the main event
For 100 guests at a wedding with a sweet table, that's roughly 10-15kg — four or five 3kg bags. Round up rather than down; leftover sweets keep, and running out looks worse than over-ordering.
Compare on cost per 100g, not headline price
This is where most buying decisions go wrong. A 3kg bag looks expensive next to a share bag until you do the division.
Take Haribo Gold Bears from our own shelf: the 3kg bag works out at about £0.70 per 100g, while a case of twelve 140g share bags comes to about £0.84 per 100g. Same sweet, roughly 17% difference. Across a 15kg order that's real money.
The exception is when you need sealed portions — for those, cases of individual bags are worth the premium because you're buying convenience, not just sweets.
Plan the mix, not just the volume
Five slots covers most events: a chewy crowd-pleaser, something sour, something fizzy, something foamy, and a retro wildcard. Buying 15kg of one sweet is the classic error — variety of texture matters as much as flavour.
The dietary and labelling bit
At any event of size you will have vegetarian and vegan guests, and quite possibly guests avoiding pork or beef gelatine for religious reasons. Most jelly sweets contain gelatine.
Two practical steps:
- Include at least one gelatine-free option. Our Vegan and Vegetarian collections cover this.
- Label the table. A small card per jar naming the sweet and flagging whether it's suitable for vegetarians costs nothing and saves guests having to ask.
If you're serving the public rather than private guests, allergen information is a legal requirement rather than a courtesy — keep the original packaging so you can refer to it.
Storage and timing
Order a week or two ahead. Keep bags sealed and cool until the day; heat and humidity make jelly sweets stick together, and a marquee in July is the worst possible storage environment. Set the table up late rather than first thing.
Frequently asked questions
How much do I need per person?
100g alongside other food, 150-200g if the sweets are the main attraction.
Is bulk actually cheaper?
Yes — typically around 17% per 100g versus the same product in share bags.
How long do bulk sweets last?
Unopened bags usually have months of shelf life. Once open, decant into sealed containers and keep cool and dry.