Trying to find the perfect gift for everybody can be really hard. Especially since you’re a really busy person and you’re looking to buy wonderful stocking stuffers but at the same time you don’t want to break your bank. Why not do all your shopping at one place at the Vancouver Christmas Market. Here’s Candy Meister’s top 5 suggestions for stocking stuffers that are under $10 that will bring a smile to people’s faces.

1) Candy Meister Candy

Let’s be honest you saw this coming . Candy Meister candy is the perfect gift to give to anybody during the holidays, with a wide variety of flavours ranging from adventurous herbal candy like fennel, to traditional German candy like mulled wine, these delectable treats are a sure way to go to warm the heart of any person.

But of course we don’t just have those flavours, we’ve got NEW wonderful candy flavours available at the Vancouver Christmas Market, like apple, cherry, and honey sage. Best of all, the majority of candies we have are gluten free.

A friend of mine really loves the mulled wine candy, so she called me up the other day and told me to send one to her. And I’m sending off that mulled wine candy this week!

What makes these the perfect stocking stuffer gifts is that they’re small enough to fit into any stocking, can be enjoyed by adults that like savoury or sweet candies, and can be enjoyed as fast or as slow as the gift receiver likes. I’ve heard that some people consume their bag of candy in one day. Free shipping is available to Canadian residents who order $59 worth of candy. And for our American neighbors they can get free shipping for $79. You can order online here.

So if you’ve got a large group of people to shop for, and want to treat them equally make sure you visit our site, or drop by the Vancouver Christmas Market.

2) Aseli Marshmallow Candy

A new addition to the Candy Meister’s family this year is the Aseli marshmallow gummy candy. These gluten free, dairy free, all natural German marshmallow goodies are quite different from traditional North American marshmallows.

These sweet goodies offer a chewier texture compared to North American marshmallows, without the “stick to your teeth” kind of mess. They’re available in different cute animal shapes, such as the cute mouse which are great for the kids. For those that love Christmas, we’ve also got the Santa and Christmas Tree gummy marshmallow candies available for sale the Vancouver Christmas Market.

3) Peace Soap and Shampoo Bar from Eco Fair

I’m a little biased with this because I’m a big fan of Fair Trade products as well as high quality products that have a great story to them. The Peace Soap and Shampoo Bar available at the Eco Fair trading booth is one that I feel great about buying. The soap is made with olive oil as its main ingredient. I picked up the honey bar that is made with 20% honey as a holiday gift for my own girlfriend.

4) Zotter’s Chocolate Factory

For those that would like to give chocolate for the holidays, consider dropping by Zotter’s Chocolate Factory at the Vancouver Christmas Market. With over 100 different flavours of chocolate bars being displayed with colourful works of art as their packaging. These chocolates are designed for those that truly are looking to give a delectable gift

Joseph Zotter’s Austrian chocolates are organic and Fair Trade certified. Some of their flavours include Bacon Bits in Chocolate, Pumpkin Seeds with Marzipan and Apples and Carrots with Ginger surrounded by chocolate. For those that have foodies as friends, this is a great booth to buy from. You can also drop by their booth to “Create Your Own Chocolate.”

5) Olde Tea Haus – Sonnentor Tea

Another Austrian favourite that has invaded the Vancouver Christmas Market is the Olde Tea House that carries Sonnetor Tea, one of the world’s best organic teas. With a variety of different flavours to entice and please the palate, you’re guaranteed to find a gift for any tea lover.

For those that love green tea, my personal suggestion is to check out Winter Delight. It’s the perfect combination of green tea, Christmas spices and fruits such as Ceylon cinnamon, coriander and orange pieces. Lemon grass, apple mint, blueberry and cornflowers give the tea a refreshing twist. Enjoyment guaranteed for an active winter.

BONUS:

Okay, this gift isn’t under $10 but it’s definitely worth the value. Candy Meister has now released our advent calendars. They are the best advent calendars EVER! They come in cloth bags that you can use as a decoration around your fire place or Christmas tree. Delight and your children excited as Christmas comes in less than a month. Here’s a sneak peak of what we have. Make sure you grab yours at the Vancouver Christmas Market before they’re all gone. We’ll be writing more about it in our next blog post.

To get your candy stocking stuffers for the holidays visit our website www.candy-meister.com

This year, we’re so excited to be returning to the Vancouver Christmas Market and to offer even a wider selection of, not just hard candies, but cute delicious marshmallow candies in different shapes and forms.

There’s More Gluten Free Candies this Year

And if you tried our all natural, gluten free candies from last year, then you’ll love the marshmallow treats as well, because those are also gluten free! This way, the little ones that may not be able to enjoy our traditional hard candies, will get a chance to try candies that are soft and chewy that will bring a smile to their face.

These marshmallow candy treats will be coming in all sorts of fun and cute shapes, and are definitely a delectable treat to try. Make sure you try them when you see us at the Vancouver Christmas Market this year.

This year, the Candy Meister will be offering their very own Advent calendar, and we’re going to be sharing all the details in an upcoming blog post!

There’s Some Great Kids’ Activities Planned

The Vancouver Christmas Market opens on Friday November 22nd and goes to Dec 24th. The Vancouver Christmas Market is well known for it’s outdoor Christmas carousel ride. The only one in Vancouver. It’s guaranteed to make your children smile as they line up and then spin, spin, spin with laughter and glee.

But don’t just grab a carousel ride for your children, make sure you bring yourself and the grandparents on the ride as well. It’s too much fun to leave just for the kids.

Another wonderful activity planned for children this year are the scavenger hunts. When the scavenger hunts are completed children can be entered into a draw for a very special prize. The scavenger hunt will be designed for two different age groups. The first is for younger children who will be asked to collect stamps from different vendors, for the older children will have something just a bit more challenging.

The scavenger hunt will focus on educating children about the different types of Christmas traditions from all over Europe.

Gingerbread Men for All!

That’s right, you read that correctly, or should it read Gingerbread people for all? Holly and Jolly, the two amazing mascots from the Vancouver Christmas Market will also be there. The only thing sweeter than these two, is our wonderful candy. Make sure your children take a photo with them as it’s guaranteed that they’ll look back on it when they’re older and make them smile.

What About the Adults?

The Vancouver Christmas Market is definitely filled with wonderful kids’ activities but it also offers something for adults as well. If you’ve never had gluhwein before then we highly suggest that you give it a shot to keep you nice and warm after. (If you’re worried about your breath, we’ve got some amazing eucalyptus candy for that)

Gluhwein is a traditional German drink served during Christmas. It consists of red wine with cinnamon, vanilla, cloves and citrus flavours. It’s a must try for all first timers to the market.

Don’t Forget Your Pickle Ornament

One of the great debates about those that attend the Vancouver Christmas Market is the Pickle Ornament tradition? Is it actually German. You get more of the details of the story here. But whether it’s true or not, it’s always a wonderful tradition.

Families would hide a pickle in their Christmas tree, and the first child that’s able to find it on Christmas morning would receive an extra gift. Even though the roots of the tradition are not German in origin, the legend has slowly started to spread around Germany where Christmas pickle ornaments are sold.

This year, make sure you pick up a Christmas pickle ornament, and make that extra special gift a candy bag from the Candy Meister.

If you happen to be curious about the food the serve there, here are some reviews from some Vancouver food blogs from last year.

Foodology’s review of the Vancouver Christmas Market

Gastrofork’s review of the Vancouver Christmas Market

Dianne Chow’S Fabulously Frugal’s Vancouver Christmas Market Adventure

Don’t be a stranger, make sure you come by and say hi to us at this year’s market and try some our candies. My suggestion is to try some herbal candies and be adventurous, and bring some hot water and make your own candy tea with the herbal candy! See you all there!

And wow,… there was ONE snowy day in Vancouver. Unfortunately not many people felt like coming to the market that day, probably because the streets were too muddy and slippery. The snow was gone one day after and immediately the visitor numbers picked up again and brought us a good final week with a lot of happy Christmas market visitors.

Towards the end of the market period week we spoke with many shops if they are interested in our excess inventory from the market. We had a few interested gluten-free stores and bakeries, sweet shops and whole food stores. Unfortunately most of the shops were just busy as hell with their Christmas business and unable to make a quick commitment. However, the “Vancouver Alpen Club” and the “European Food Import Deli” bought some of our “Mixed Herbs” candies.

For all those who want to have a little more of the German feeling you should visit the Vancouver Alpen Club and enjoy their delicious German food. Their kitchen has improved significantly over the last three years and now is absolutely worthwhile to be checked out! Our recommendation: Try the Schnitzel and grab some candies for desert afterwards!

The visitors keep asking us if we have a store in Vancouver where we sell the candies or if they can buy the candies online. So far there is no store, but we are working on this, at least for our excess inventory. We get many hints from customers about potential stores that could be interested in selling the candies left from the market such as gluten free stores and bakeries as well as grocery stores. Check out our website when the Christmas Market is over to find out what shops in Vancouver will carry our excess inventory.
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Also we are having a candy photo competition going on where we give away one candy jar per week for the Facebook photo that receives the most “likes” from the preceding week. To take part in the contest just come to our candy hut take a photo with our golden frame or simply our candies and post it to our Facebook page. Every day our candy community is growing very fast and people post the nicest pictures on Facebook. Also December 8th, was the German nation day on the market and we were offering 3 candy bags for $10. The special offer was highly demanded so that it became our best day on the market so far. So should we maybe repeat this offer?!

Another great visitor came along to visit the market. We had the chance to take a photo with Hurly (Jorge Garcia) from the famous tv show “Lost” and he loved our candies!

We bet there are more exciting days to come. Stay tuned for more great deals and candy fun. Thanks everyone so far.

The opening weekend was sunny and bright in Vancouver and thus brought us lots of visitors to the Vancouver Christmas Market and many of them were very interested in our candies. Some told us they know these candies from their childhood, especially the Peppermint Pillows with choco filling and the sweet Raspberries. The response is just overwhelming.

In the middle of the week it started to rain and didn’t really stop. This is very unfortunate for the market, however, a few people came out and enjoyed all markets attractions without lining up.

On Thursday we were approached by CBC Vancouver to give a live interview from inside our candy hut for the 6 pm news. This was an amazing opportunity for us to present our candies in the Canadian television. Our team member Stephanie gave the interview and gave a few insights about the candies and the producer Wilhelm Mueller from Germany. Below you can watch the video.

After the interview the reporter team tried our candies and fell in love with them immediately. Who knows, they might come back for another round of candy sampling.

Today, it was still a bit rainy, but we really hope people will still come anyways to the market to enjoy the good food and grab a mulled wine to stay warm.

You are welcome to come by and try all the different flavours of our natural candies.

Here you can see a sneak peak how our booth looks like, tomorrow morning we will polish it up and then we are good to go for the grand opening!

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The entire team is very excited for the market to open in a few hours!