Category Archives: Gifts

Fun Administrative Professionals Day Gift Ideas for Men and Women

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Thank You So Much Sampler

The time’s come to celebrate the unsung heroes of every successful business: Administrative Professionals Day 2013 is Wednesday, April 24! Although they often work in the background, secretaries, receptionists and other administrative support professionals who keep businesses running smoothly from day to day. If you know a co-worker who always goes above and beyond, give them the big thank-you they deserve with these Administrative Professionals Day gift ideas from The Popcorn Factory!

Administrative Professionals Day Gifts for Men

These cool, classic tins and gift towers come packed with heaps of snacks that any hungry man would love. With piles of absolutely scrumptious rainbow sandwich cookies, gourmet pretzels, chocolate chip cookies, foil-wrapped chocolates, sour fruit chews, jelly beans, mindblowing popcorn flavors and more, these are the perfect gifts for the guys who keep the show running at the office each and every day.

Administrative Professionals Day Gift Ideas for Men

From left to right:

Administrative Professionals Day Gifts for Women

Give the ladies something bright and cheery with which they can prettify their desk space. In addition to being chock-full of yummy treats—honey roasted peanuts, dark chocolate caramels, chocolate chip cookies, gourmet pretzels, tortilla chips, salsa, sour hard candies, foil-wrapped chocolates, fruit chews, flavor-packed popcorn and more—they’re also beautifully decorated with colorful flowers and stripes. For the women who make the workplace a much lovelier place to be, consider these great gifts:

Administrative Professionals Day Gift Ideas for Women

 From left to right:

Do you have any terrific co-workers or employees that you’d like to honor on Administrative Professionals Day? Tell us all about them!

Popcorn Tins With a Spin: The Perfect Gift for Earth Day!

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Tins With a Spin - Gardening TinLet’s all get into the recycling spirit: Earth Day is Monday, April 22! Show our planet and your friends some love by gifting the fun (and reusable!) Tins With a Spin from The Popcorn Factory. Aside from being filled with everyone’s favorite popcorn flavors, these popcorn tins come with a little surprise: They come in different themed patterns so you can reuse them once the snacks are done—no DIY painting or decorating required. Talk about upcycling made easy!

The idea behind this perfect Earth Day gift came straight from you: our lovely fans. When we asked, “What do you store in your empty Popcorn Factory tins?” your answers inspired us to create this one-of-a-kind collection. We came up with six adorable designs for you to choose from, depending on what you want to store in your tins after you’ve devoured your delicious treats:

  • Tins With a Spin - Fido Food TinBirdseed
  • Toys
  • Pet food
  • Gardening tools
  • Snacks
  • Christmas tree ornaments

So mouthwatering snacks and extra storage space makes this popcorn gift doubly delightful—plus it helps save the Earth’s resources!

Even More Different Uses for Popcorn Tins

Have other Popcorn Factory tins at home that you’d like to upcycle in honor of Earth Day? If you prefer to take the DIY route and decorate your tins yourself, here are some other items you can store in your crafty creation:

  • Arts and crafts supplies
  • Sewing or knitting materials
  • Gift-wrapping supplies
  • Magazines
  • Hats, gloves and scarves
  • Hair accessories
  • Kitchen utensils
  • Spare change
  • Cookie cutters and other baking supplies
  • Umbrellas
  • Plants or flowers
  • Wood logs for the fireplace
  • Small towels
  • Ice and cold drinks
  • Tea packets or single-serve coffee cups
  • Flour or sugar
  • Bath toiletries

What will you be storing in your Tin With a Spin to celebrate Earth Day this year?

How to Make a Popcorn Heart for Valentine’s Day

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Valentine's Day Popcorn HeartsValentine’s Day is slowly sneaking up on us, so that means it’s time to have some crafty fun with the snack that makes everyone’s heart beat fast with excitement! Whether you give it away as a cute alternative to the typical box of chocolates or use it to decorate your house with some love, this popcorn heart will be your favorite DIY project for V-Day. Why? Because kids and adults of all ages can have a ball making it, and it only requires two simple materials: popcorn and floral wire. So go ahead; make some adorable popcorn hearts of your own and put your ticker on display!

What You’ll NeedValentine Kettle Corn

One canister of Valentine Kettle Corn
Floral wire
Glitter spray (optional)

Directions

Floral Wire Cut Into Two Even Pieces

  1. Depending on how big or small you want to make your popcorn heart, cut two even pieces of floral wire to the length of your choice.Popcorn Strung Onto Floral Wire
  2. String the Valentine Kettle Corn onto both pieces of floral wire, leaving a couple of inches of exposed wire on each end. You can string the popcorn in any pattern you like. Try red and white; all red; or all white. You can even make all three!
    Strung Popcorn Shaped Into Two Halves of a Heart
  3. Bend each piece of popcorn-threaded wire so that it looks like a half of a heart.
    Twisted Floral Wire to Attach Two Halves of Popcorn Heart
  4. Tightly twist together the two exposed pieces of wire at the top of the heart to connect the two halves. Do the same with the exposed wire at the bottom of the heart.
    Exposed Ends of Floral Wire Covered With Popcorn
  5. Stick one piece of popcorn onto each twisted end to cover up the exposed wire, and make your final adjustments to the heart shape.
    Popcorn Heart Decorated With a Gift Bow
  6. If your popcorn heart is only going to be used for décor—not for snacking—give it a little bit of romantic bling by spraying it with glitter. Hang it on your wall to make some dreamy V-Day art, or wrap it in cellophane and tie it with a lovely ribbon or bow to create a one-of-a-kind Valentine’s Day gift.

Who will you give your beloved popcorn heart to this Valentine’s Day?

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month Recipe: Pink Popcorn Ribbons!

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Popcorn RibbonIt’s officially National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! All throughout October, charities across the country will be spreading the word about the battle against breast cancer and raising money for a cure. Millions of men and women will be donning pink as a reminder that breast cancer can be defeated with regular breast exams, mammograms and other early-detection screenings. Plus, hundreds of organizations will be helping patients and survivors understand their diagnosis, choose the best treatment and get emotional support.

The Popcorn Factory Pink Kettle CornTo do our part in the national movement against breast cancer, The Popcorn Factory has launched a brand-new snack: pink kettle corn! You too can help support the campaign by giving this delicious gift to the women you care about most. Every time you buy a container, we’ll donate a portion of the proceeds to charity! There are dozens of ways you can use pink popcorn to send your message: Mail it to your friend as an invitation to get a screening together, or serve the sweet and savory treat at your next fundraising event. Throwing a pink-themed party? You can get crafty and whip up these easy-to-make pink popcorn ribbons:


IngredientsPopcorn Ribbon

20 cups pink kettle corn
3/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup margarine
2 5/8 cups sugar
1 cup marshmallows
2 teaspoons water

Directions

  1. Place pink kettle corn into a large mixing bowl.
  2. Combine corn syrup, margarine, sugar, marshmallows and water in a saucepan. Heat on medium until the mixture starts to boil.
  3. Once the syrup has boiled, pour it over the pink popcorn and stir until the popcorn is completely covered in syrup.
  4. After the popcorn has slightly cooled, butter your hands and mold the popcorn into the shape of a pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon. Rest the ribbons on wax paper.
  5. Melt a bar of white chocolate in the microwave. Once the chocolate has melted, add two drops of red food coloring. Stir the chocolate until it turns pink.
  6. Lightly drizzle the melted pink chocolate onto the ribbons.
  7. Let the ribbons cool at room temperature until they harden.
  8. Once they’ve cooled, remove them from the wax paper and serve them on your prettiest platter!

How will you chip in to help women learn more about breast cancer? Are you starting your own charity or fundraiser to help find a cure? Do you want to inspire women by sharing your own experiences as a breast cancer survivor? We want to hear your inspiring stories!

Halloween Treats and Gifts Preview!

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halloween treats and candyWelcome back Popcorn Fans!

The combination crisp air, changing of the leaves and an abundance of sweaters everywhere signifies the end of the summer and our anxious countdown to our favorite holidays! We know it’s early, but we just couldn’t wait to share all of our hard (yet fun!) work with all of our loyal customers and fans. Today is the start of our Halloween treats and gifts preview! It’s your chance to order these festively fun, scrumptious Halloween candy and popcorn before the rush and share the excitement with us! halloween tin owl

Get started on the Halloween spirit with these scary good gifts! Our newNight Owl design is terrifyingly festive and gives any gift that ghostly touch. Our Happy Halloween and Gimme Popcorn designs are whimsical, fun, and in the spirit of the haunting season! Kids will love the ghoulish cartoons and playful lettering just as much as the gourmet popcorn and candy awaiting them inside. The Gimme Candy tote bag is great for enjoying our premium popcorn and snacks, and then reusing the tote for trick-or-treating. There’s a design in our new Halloween collection for everyone! halloween candy bag gifts

Back by popular demand are our Mr. Bone Jangles and Boo Bats designed Halloween gifts! Take your pick with colorful gift towers and hauntingly delicious popcorn tins. Get set for Halloween night with our Boo Bats Backpack gift, filled with Halloween candy, popcorn and ready to reuse for a secure night of trick-or-treating.

halloween boo mini tins Making their debut are some frightfully delicious new gourmet popcorn flavors like sour green apple, zombie kettle, skinny sea salt, and more! We’re also welcoming back our favorite chocolate popcorn flavors like dark chocolate and sea salt, chocolate drizzle, and s’mores.

When the goodies inside the tins and gift towers are done, reuse this spooktacular gifts as Halloween decoration around the house! The popcorn tins would make the perfect candy bowl for Halloween, too.

Check out our whole collection here and order before they creep back into hiding!

Happy Hauntings!

Popcorn Tin Reuse DIY

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Welcome back readers!

What to do with that tin of delicious popcorn and treats now that it is empty? That has been the big question on all of our minds here at The Popcorn Factory. We recently asked our loyal customers to tell us how they reuse their popcorn tins, resulting in us trying out a few ideas of our own. One of our many ideas we gathered was reusing the tins for dog food, or any kind of pet food for that matter. Makes sense to us when you see how sturdy our popcorn tins are and how fresh they keep our delicious gourmet treats!

Here is a detailed, easy to do, step by step way to turn your old popcorn tins into a decorative fun alternative to storing dog food.

popcorn tin upcycle DIY

Popcorn tin upcycle DIY project!

First, gather all of the necessary supplies for this project. This will include: chalkboard spray paint (which can be found at any craft stores or Home Depot), chalk, some sort of newspaper or garbage bag to cover the surface you will be using to spray-paint or to let the tin sit on top of to dry, gloves, and of course your popcorn tin!

popcorn tin upcycle DIY

Popcorn tin upcycle DIY step 1

Next, you will want to make sure the popcorn tin is clean, wiped down, and ready to be sprayed. Using primer is a good way to create a clean foundation before officially spray painting the tin, but it is optional. We did not choose to use this step and the results were still great!

popcorn tin upcycle DIY

Popcorn tin upcycle DIY step 2

Now it is time to apply the chalkboard paint! Make sure you stand about 5 to 6 feet away from your tin. The paint should begin drying fairly fast so for a smoother look make sure you evenly spray around the tin; trying not to do more than two coats. Trust us, you’ll need the gloves for this!

popcorn tin upcycle DIY

Popcorn tin upcycle DIY step 3

We then spray painted the lid to our tin in the exact same fashion. Whether you do the actual tin or the lid first does not matter, just make sure you let your finished products dry completely before continuing. We set ours on the garbage bag pictured in our first step and let our tin and lid dry overnight to make sure everything was set. With a touch test, we noticed the tins drying within the first hour or two, but better safe than sorry with black chalk board paint on your belongings!

popcorn tin upcycle DIY

Popcorn tin upcycle DIY step 4

Next comes the fun part (or at least for us it was!) decorating your chalkboard painted tin. Any sort of chalk will suffice, even sidewalk children’s chalk comes out fantastic. Here are the end results of our up-cycled popcorn tin. We hope you find this to be a great and fun way to reuse those old popcorn tins just like we did.

Good luck! 

popcorn tin upcycle DIY

Popcorn tin upcycle DIY final step

12 Days of Christmas (in July)

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Christmas gift tin popcorn Have you been celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas (in July) with us? We’re nearly rounding down to our last day of Christmas and ready to choose some lucky winners!

Why Christmas in July? Don’t we know it’s over 100° outside! Well yes, it might be a little toasty outside and Frosty would never make it in this heat, but we love the holidays and think one month just isn’t enough to show and share our giving spirit with our loyal fans and customers! Plus, as an expert gifting company, we put a lot of thought and hard work into creating our exclusive gifts and decided to share a little bit of our creative process with all of you. Right now is our time to work on all your favorite holiday gifts and tins and we couldn’t wait to show off our original designs (and also get your opinion!). Christmas gift tin popcorn merry christmas snowmen

These four Christmas gift tins are just a sneak peak at what we have in store for everyone this holiday season, but they are certainly some of our favorites! The red, jolly “Merry Christmas” tin with playful holiday colors and cartoon sketches is definitely one of the best popcorn tin designs we’ll have this December. Makes you think of being young and seeing your presents pile up and decorations take over the town.

Christmas gift tin popcorn snowflakesOur gold and Christmas lights decorated tin is bright and welcoming, making for the perfect popcorn gift that brings warm wishes even before you get to the presents inside!  The dark blue and white snowflake popcorn tin captures winter perfectly, with crisp and cool colors and intricate snowflakes unlike any other. And last but not least, our favorite snowman popcorn tin playing in the snow fall and dressed to celebrate the winter season and all its gifts!

Pick your favorite and mark your calendars for some delicious holiday gifts to come! And don’t forget to enter the last days of our 12 Days of Christmas (in July) Sweepstakes for your chance to be one of our lucky 12 winners to receive a scrumptious serving of popcorn or become our Grand Prize winner to receive a $100 gift card to The Popcorn Factory and ensure many more days of gifts!

Merry Christmas! (in July)

Christmas gift tin popcorn snowman

Unique Gift Ideas for Father’s Day: Part 4

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Welcome back for another exciting week of Unique Father’s Day Gifts!

If finding the perfect gift for dad seems like it’s always the hardest thing to do, keep checking back with us! We have great gift ideas that Dad will both love and be impressed with… let’s jump in!

Unique Father’s Day Gift Idea Idea # 4: An Outing with Dear Ol’ Dad!

fathers day MLB sports tinAnyone can buy a gift, but it’s the special touches you put to it that make it a gift truly worth giving. For this Father’s Day, make your gift really count with your own personal touch and time. We know that dad is sure to love his new tie, coffee mug, or Nook, but we bet what he would love most is some quality time spent together this summer.

Summertime usually means barbeques, fishing, enjoying the great outdoors, and most importantly for sports fans, summer baseball games! Baseball is the great American-pastime, a time to enjoy the great weather, eat hot dogs and peanuts until you’re stuffed and watching a bunch of guys hit a leather ball with a stick! Okay, admittedly some of us don’t really understand the whole idea behind baseball and really only attend for the food and crowd, but we know Dad would really enjoy!

So if your dad is the biggest sports buff you know, secure two tickets for you and Pop to catch his favorite MLB team play. As a local Chicagoland company, we’ll let our Dads battle it out over which team to see between the Cubs and White Sox!

Secure your tickets now and see when your local team is playing here.

Make the gift a full package and combine it with a shirt or jersey from Dad’s favorite team, and let’s not forget a tin of his soon to be favorite gourmet popcorn in a decorated MLB sports tin!

fathers day MLB sports tinIs your Dad a Northsider or Southsider? Still basking in the Cardinals win? Never missing a Rangers’ game on TV? We’ve got all the MLB sports tins he needs that are packed with fresh gourmet popcorn in our traditional three flavors. His mouth will water with our real butter, cheese and secret recipe caramel popcorn combination. Plus, when he’s finished his gourmet treat, he can reuse his MLB designed tin for years to come!

Check out our whole collection here.

Have a Happy Father’s Day from The Popcorn Factory! And don’t forget to Celebrate Deliciously. 

Unique Father’s Day Gift Ideas: Part 3

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Welcome back for another exciting week of Unique Father’s Day Gifts!

If finding the perfect gift for dad seems like it’s always the hardest thing to do, keep checking back with us! We have great gift ideas that Dad will both love and be impressed with… let’s jump in!

Unique Father’s Day Gift Idea Idea # 3: Puzzles!

fathers day gift ideas This week’s gift idea for Dad was a real “head-scratcher” for us to come up with, but it might be our favorite one yet. For the Dad who loves a good brainstorming session, we think a gift theme of puzzles, Sudoku and scrambles would be the perfect unique gift for Father’s Day!

If your Father doesn’t give up his morning paper until the crossword is completely finished (even though it’s already been two days…), or if you can always find Dad on his favorite chair completing another Sudoku in his spare time,  take our great gift advice and put together a gift set that Dad will truly love this Father’s Day.

First up are these crossword puzzle coasters from The New York Times store. This gift includes four coasters made from a rustic marble tile and screen printed with a puzzle edited by Will Shortz. Dad will love to have these nearby for his morning coffee or afternoon tea while he’s solving his daily puzzles.

What kind of puzzle gift for Dad would this be without any puzzle books to choose from? We like “Will Shortz Presents The Little Black Book of Sudoku” and “The New York Times Little Black (and White) Book of Crosswords” which can both be found on Amazon.com.

fathers day gift ideasTurn this gift into something that can be enjoyed with the whole family and include the classically fun board game Scrabble! This vintage looking game set is at Target for only $20!

Of course if you really want something the whole family can enjoy, our favorite Father’s Day gifts this season would be our 3-Flavor Popcorn Puzzle Tins! We have puzzle gift tins for crossword, Sudoku, and word jumble. And all tins are filled with our delightfully delicious 3-flavor combination of real butter, cheese and secret recipe caramel popcorn. We guarantee it will end up being Dad’s favorite part of his Father’s Day gift.

puzzle tin gifts for dad fathers dayCheck back with us again next week for another great Fathers Day gift idea! 

Unique Gifts for Father’s Day: Part 2

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fathers day gift popcorn pal samplerWelcome back for another exciting week of Unique Father’s Day Gifts!

If finding the perfect gift for dad seems like it’s always the hardest thing to do, keep checking back with us! We have great gift ideas that Dad will both love and be impressed with… let’s jump in!

Unique Father’s Day Gift Idea #2: Father’s Day Weekend Camping 

We know you’re brainstorming some great gifts for Dad right now, but we bet the best gift for Father’s Day (and really any time) is some quality time spent together, and we have the perfect gift idea. Enjoy the summer and celebrate a great Father’s Day by going out camping! If your Pop is a big outdoors type or just needs a little vacation, a weekend of camping will be the perfect gift for him.

Pick a camping spot that is more suited to Dad’s interests. Does he enjoy fishing or swimming? Does he like to hike or go on long walks? Is he more of a sit-around-the-campfire-and-relax kind of guy? Check out this national list of campgrounds and see which ones are closest to you and what they offer: here. Once you have a campground picked, the rest of the fun ideas should follow as well as what to pack!

No matter where you decide to go, it’s best to always be prepared. Below is our Top 10 list of Items to Bring While Camping:

  1. Tent or Shelter: Obviously.
  2. Food: We have a few tasty ideas for this category later J
  3. Sleeping bag & blankets: Even though it’s summer, the cool night air is usually a little crisper when you’re in the great outdoors!
  4. Cot: This could go with sleeping bags, but a cot will help you get a better night’s sleep while also keeping bugs away
  5. Lantern & Flashlights: Unless you’ve somehow gained night vision…
  6. Fresh clothes: You may be temporarily living in nature, but there’s no reason to for-go a clean pair of shorts!
  7. Folding chairs: Comfy for sitting around the campfire and a good place to relax after a long hike.
  8. Cellphone or two-way radio: I don’t think anyone goes without their cellphones anymore, but in case of an emergency, it’s always nice to have. The radio will come in handy if you lose signal on your cell.
  9. First-Aid-Kit: Another “obviously”.
  10. Toiletries: Toilet paper, mouth wash, and the whole works.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a great Father’s Day camping trip without some of our delicious gourmet popcorn! We suggest any one of our best-selling popcorn tins. The tins are perfect to keep our popcorn snacks and treats fresh, bug-free, and scent-free from other critters that come your way! Plus, you can reuse the tins for storage or to help you pack up your belongings when it’s time to leave.

fathers day gift pick a fill gourmet popcorn tin Our Father’s Day Gift Picks:

Check back with us next week for another Unique Father’s Day Gift Idea!