Friday, May 28, 2010

My Heart Belongs to Snickers Peanut Butter

I made it back to North Carolina without getting killed or maimed - yay!  The last day of Candy Expo was insane - I have never seen so many people trying to grab everything the poor booth holders didn't have tied down!  What a bunch of greedy vultures!  I'm just thankful for all the samples I got and for all the booth holders who were so generous and kind to me.

One of the companies, Promotions in Motion, had a booth where you could get your picture taken and put on the front of the NCA Magazine.  It was free to all.  How cool is this?



More shots from the expo floor:


Love this elegant "conference room" in the Turin booth:


Can't you just tell they are doing big candy business?


I got one, I got one!  On the second day of the Expo, Hershey's pulled out the Reese's Minis samples:

Look how tiny and how perfect they are!  And as Hershey VP Tom Joyce pointed out as he gave one to me - they got the ratio just right.  These taste just like the regular size Reese's!  Go Hershey!


I scored the Drops on the second day too!

These have a shiny finish that keeps them from melting and taste just like a Hershey Bar.  If you like Hershey's milk chocolate - you'll love these!


Both come out December 3rd.

And check out the Mars booth:


Mars gave the media a great bag with tons of samples and sponsored the press room.  I wish Hershey did the same.  I had a tough time getting one sample of the new candies from Hershey.  Here are the new products Mars was showcasing - I've already reviewed several of these, but there is one that is my new love. 


First let me show you all the cool seasonal items they are going to have out this year.  First dark chocolate and cherry swirl Dove hearts:

And look at these great tin heart boxes for Valentine's Day:

And here's a new Three Musketeers for Easter - marshmallow!!


And a new Dove egg flavor - coconut (Kris - just for you!):


Ha - cute!!!
Dove Snowflakes for Christmas:




And cherry and pretzel Christmas packaging:



And my favorite of all the treats - my new forever love - Snickers peanut butter:

Not a bar - two delicious squares:

Look at all that creamy, delicious peanut butter!!  These are just so damn good!!  But they don't come out until December.  All I can say is this might be the best Christmas EVER!!

I don't need to go on another match.com date - I have found the love of my life.

It was sooooo worth the wait!

6 comments:

Liz said...

Two big AMEN's on this post:

1. Hershey's WAS super stingy! I got several bags of the drops but only 1 bag of the minis, which yielded a grand total of 4 cups. Not all that helpful for photographing or reviewing. Kind of weird.

2. It was funny/sad to see grown adults act like complete pigs and shovel candy into their bags. I heard one guy say to his friend, "I grabbed so much stuff I didn't even want" and that, to me, about summed it up. I tried to be better this year and take things I was genuinely interested in, but it gets to be such a weird competitive environment where you feel like you HAVE to leave with lots of candy.

-Elizabeth from About.com Candy

Denise Ryan said...

Hi Liz! Thanks for the comment! I can't believe Hershey didn't have someone to deal with the media like most of the other companies did. Usually I'd get routed to someone who could answer all my questions and would give me an extra sample or two. At Hershey's booth, I got one of those bimbo models who when I asked if I could have one more sample to photograph - she said "You can photograph it here!" Great media relations, huh?

And you gotta figure thise puny samples costs them what, 10 cents?

And you are right about the attendees - one of the vendors overheard this conversation between two attendes in the bathroom:

"Some of the samples are hard to get this year."

"Yes, especially the ones that are taped down."

Can you believe it? The poor vendors had to tape down display items and these vultures were ripping apart things that were obviously not samples! Holy sugar high, Batman!

I hope I'll get to see you again - you were awesome!!! And I love about.com - so impressed you're their candy writer!!! : )

Kris, in New England said...

Ah - Dove and coconut. It's about damn time!!! Can't wait for those to come out.

Glad you had such a great time. And I hope your arm is OK.

Denise Ryan said...

Kris - they have your name all over them!!!! What do you think of those coconut M & M's?

Kris, in New England said...

Denise - coconut M&Ms have to be wrong. Just plain wrong.

I love chocolate and coconut but there are some things that should not be combined.

Wide belts and wide hips.
Cocktail dresses with tiny sweaters.
M&Ms and coconut.

Denise Ryan said...

Bwah, ha, ha!!! Kris - we have to meet one of these days - you crack me up!!! : )