I was fiddling around on the internet and found the world’s best craft for the non-crafty mom that I am over at One Hundred Dollars a Month. Candy Trains. The only supplies needed were wrapped candy and a glue gun. I can purchase candy and I have friends with glue guns, so I decided to give it a try.
This is a great craft for an upcoming Christmas event or to occupy your kids after school or over Thanksgiving break.
I made a list of candy and quickly found ingredients at the Dollar Tree. Seven packages of candy equals $7. Totally doable.
I had to modify the ingredients, but I was able to find items that would work well. I was impressed with the selection of snacks at my Dollar Tree. Make sure you check the candy aisle, the Christmas section and the registers for all the options (I found the gum and the mints at the register).
I did my best to select candy, gum and mints in Christmas colors. The Dollar Tree had gum and mints in different colors as well if you want a more colorful train. You could also grab candy from the bulk section at your local grocery store (Winco has a great section!) or find what you are looking for on Amazon.
Audrey and I talked our friend Rebecca into letting us use her hot glue gun (we traded her for a pizza) and we got to work. (If you don’t have access to a glue gun, Amazon has several reasonably-priced options)
Pretty simple. Just glue each item on with a bunch of hot glue.
We did have to tape the side wrappers of the Andes mints so it would stay down.
The seven bags of candy can easily make four trains and you’ll have plenty of leftovers to snack on during your crafting session (or buy more packages of gum and Certs to make additional trains).
If you want people to be able to eat the candy once they are finished enjoying the train you can leave the wrappers on the wheels. We opted to remove them because it looked way sweeter.
See how easy it is? You could continue the fun and assemble box cars and a caboose then string them together for a fun Christmas decoration. You could also select non-Christmas colors and make these as a favor for a train-themed birthday party. Considering the selection of candy at the Dollar Tree, I don’t think you’ll have a problem coming up with tons of options!
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If you want to make these with a group for a fun Christmas craft, this 5-pound bag of Palmer Christmas Mix from Amazon has lots of fun add-ins!
Looking for more sort-of-crafty ideas?
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been wanting to make these and have all the ingredients except the gum. Gum comes in different packaging these days and I have not been able to find the thin packages. Now I know where to look!!!
We have made these before and they are always a hit with all ages. I actually make them with less candy – just a roll of lifesavers for the body of the train, 4 peppermints for the wheels, and a single Hersheys kiss on top for the smokestack. Very cute!!
this is such a cute idea! thanks for sharing this!!!
Or you could get candy from the bulk bins at Winco and just get exactly what you need/want, and probably for cheaper. 🙂
We always make these trains at Christmas and these Candy Cane Sleighs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il7CU9CFP0c also found at dollar tree
What a great craft! I’ll have to try this, thanks for sharing!