Ever wonder what happens when you put gumballs in a blender? We did and we found this short video that shows the destruction of assorted color gum balls in a blender in slow motion.
Continue readingFolks, we thought we’d seen it all until we found this YouTube video of a gumball sorter made of Lego’s®.
This intelligent machine made by the Lego® Mindstorms® NXT group can sort five colors of gum balls using a light sensor and 2 motors. After sorting is complete, the result is five columns of solid color white, yellow, red green and blue gumballs.
As you know, we love all things bubble gum balls and we played with lego’s as a child growing up, so we are truly amazed.
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When deciding on how to decorate tables at your wedding there are a few things to consider. If other elements are bold, keep it simple. If you have neutral colors throughout you can add a splash of color with bright beautiful centerpieces. Here are a few ideas to get you brainstorming:
Vintage glass bowls filled with gumballs
Bowls of white gumballs in green or clear bowls are elegant and would be a beautiful wedding display with short white pillar candles placed on square mirrors. You can also lay flower petals on the tablecloths to add depth to the centerpiece. If you want to use dark colors, try using goblets, baskets, frosted vases, or planters with fruit shaped gumballs or other unusual candies.
Product Recommendations: beach ball gumballs, colossal fruit gumballs
Tall vases or glassware filled with gumballs
Wrap a vase with a ribbon matching your wedding theme and attach a monogrammed sticker. This is a simple, modern idea but adds a beautiful touch and can easily be executed.
Product Recommendations: solid color gumballs, candy, jawbreakers
Use gumballs in flower vases for a beautiful, elegant touch
Use single colored gumballs as filler for tall vases holding any shape bouquet. White gumballs would look beautiful with any flower, but if you want to try adding a splash of color to your centerpieces, choose candy with deep color or use a 4:1 ratio with two colors. Use gumballs in flower elegant touch.
Product Recommendations: pink gumballs, candy by color
For a beautiful centerpiece, make a handmade topiary
Tie in the colors of your wedding by placing handmade gumball topiaries at each table. With ribbon and a terra cotta pot the look is complete. Depending on the tone of your wedding, you can leave the pots a natural color or paint them white or ivory. This would also serve beautifully if made smaller and used as a place cards.
Product Recommendations: gumballs, half-inch gumballs, white gumballs
With so many options for wedding party favors, here are a few tips to ensure your guests have “sweet dreams” at the end of the night. Always keep your color scheme in mind and know that you don’t have to break the bank to make your guests feel appreciated. Also keep in mind the size of your wedding- it can still be possible to make party favors at a large wedding feel personalized- just remember that you can’t make every item homemade.
Monogrammed gumballs
Customize any of our colored gumballs with the date of the wedding or your monogram. This personal sweet treat is a fun way for guests to enjoy the wedding and take something back with them. Put them in organza bags or frosted takeout boxes so your design shows through. Gift tags can include a simple note thanking them for coming and be left at tables early on with no worries about freshness the day of the wedding.
Product Recommendations: customized gumballs
Candy buffet
Candy buffets have been increasing and popularity and can easily be executed. Order bulk gumballs and candy and place in unusual or clear glass jars. At the table leave scoops and takeout boxes or party bags at the table. Candles, flowers, and a tablecloth complete the look. For a beautiful idea to match any theme, use glass bud vases and fill with a variety of candies but all in the same color. If you’re having an ocean or beach themed wedding, use beach ball and blueberry gumballs. If you’re into sports, use baseball gumballs and mix with green chicle. Presentation is key- use the glass bud vases with a place card in each and you instantly have an unusual and edible place card for each guest. Also have a table set up if you’re going to use the candy with place cards- this way the guests can fill up before they head out.
Product Recommendations: solid color gumballs by the pound, chicle
Mini-gumball machines
Mini-gumball machines can be refilled and used over and over. This sweet gift is low cost and popular for kids and adults. They can also include a note attached to them and left at each table. This could also be used in lieu of a place card depending on how the tone of your wedding is set.
Product Recommendations: Mini-gumball machines (please call 800-260-0010 if interested)
Spiral wizard gumball machine
If you’re throwing the bash of the year or just want to wow your guests, place a gumball machine at the entrance to the wedding party. Order a special color to match your wedding and fill with monogrammed gumballs or the colors of your choice. It’s also another idea that is fun for both kids and adults. Use smaller machines if you want to set them up at a table or sports-themed machines if you and your spouse-to-be are both sports fanatics.
Product Recommendations: Wizard spiral gumball machine, Carousel brand gumball machine
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By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer
“Yes we can!” shouted the large group assembled at the King Kennedy Center in Ravenna on Monday.
And later, yes, they did.
On the eve of the presidential inauguration, more than 100 children and adults came together to craft a mural of President-elect Barack Obama made up of nearly 13,000 gumballs. The event was part of events at the center to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and pay tribute to Obama.
Two by two, participants fed 136 gumballs into plastic tubes, which were then assembled on the large loom to form an image of Obama’s face. Each tube had a “map” instructing the mural makers on the order the gumballs were to be put into the tube. Participants could take the map home as a souvenir so they could later identify their part in the project.
The mural, sponsored by Ripley’s Believe it or Not, will be framed and then sent to one of Ripley’s museums. Ripley’s sponsored the piece, and funds over and above the expenses of the piece will be donated to the King Kennedy Center for its building fund.
Artist Franz Spohn said he thought it was a fitting metaphor for the president-elect’s call for public service.
“If you do something as a community, you’ll be amazed at the results,” he said.
Spohn has created two previous murals with children from King Kennedy. The first one, which depicts King and Rosa Parks, hangs in the Kent State University library but is owned by the center. The second, which hangs at the community center, depicts King with his wife, Coretta Scott King.
He said he enjoys the energy of the Ravenna group.
“This is what I love, utter chaos,” he said as he watched the activity. Before they began the project, Spohn addressed his “participating artists.” “I do not chew or eat your crayons,” he said. “Please do not chew or eat my gumballs.” Tubes were distributed to children, and a few were carried by surprised adults, who looked like kids at Christmas. “You never saw gumballs create so much excitement, did you?” said Ann Gosky as she placed bowls of gumballs on the tables.
The most prevalent color in the mural is purple ” 6,801 gumballs of that color were used to create contrast in the image and to depict Obama’s dark hair, suit and the blue in the American Flag. The image also contained 2,411 orange gumballs, 1,240 blue, 225 green, 801 red, 191 pink, 756 yellow and 349 white.
Spohn buys the gumballs by the case and sorts them by color. Before purple gumballs existed, he would go through the painstaking process of spray painting the gumballs black.
The event also included songs, poems and speeches in honor of King and Obama. The Rev. Eddie Harris, pastor of Upper Room Ministries in Ravenna, led the packed crowd in shouting, “Yes we can.” “One person can make a difference,” he said. “We have a splendid example in our president-elect.”
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Are you looking for a really fun party favor that you can create yourself? Look no further… how about making gumball party favors for your wedding, birthday party or special event?
Required Materials
Instructions
The Canadian Press
Oct 20, 2008
The best part about these creepy bloody eyeball cupcakes — aside from being delicious – is the surprise factor. Don’t warn your guests that when they bite into the cupcakes, they will get a bloody (and maybe messy) surprise.
Adding white food coloring to the frosting isn’t essential, but it will make for a more vivid contrast between the bloodshot eyes and the blood. White food coloring is available at baking supply shops and online. Gumballs can be purchased online at Gumball.com.
Bloody Eyeball Cupcakes
Cupcakes
425 ml (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) baking powder
3 ml (3/4 tsp) salt
250 ml (1 cup) sugar
175 ml (12 tbsp or 3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs
175 ml (3/4 cup) milk
7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
Filling
90 ml (6 tbsp) seedless raspberry jam
4 drops red food colouring
45 ml (3 tbsp) light corn syrup
Frosting
250 ml (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
500 ml (2 cups) powdered sugar
22 ml (1 1/2 tbsp) milk
7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) table salt
15 drops white food coloring (optional)
Decoration
12 small red gum balls
2 small tubes red decorating gel
Cupcakes: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Lightly coat two 6-cup muffin tins with baking spray. Alternatively, coat tins with cooking spray, then dust with flour and tap to remove any excess.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on low to combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add butter, a piece at a time, and beat until mixture resembles coarse sand, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Add milk and vanilla, then increase speed to medium and mix until light and fluffy and no lumps remain, about 3 minutes.
Fill muffin cups three-quarters full (do not overfill) with batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
Filling: In a small bowl, whisk together jam, food colouring and corn syrup. Set aside.
When cupcakes have cooled, cut a cone of cake out of the centre of each. To do this, insert tip of a paring knife at a 45-degree angle about 3 mm (1/8 inch) from the top edge of the cupcake and cut all the way around the top (cutting about 2 cm/3/4 inch into the cupcake).
Remove the cone of cake from the center. Cut away all but the top 5 mm ( 1/4 inch) of the cones, leaving only small disks of cake. Set aside.
To fill the cupcakes, spoon about 7 ml ( 1/2 tbsp) of the filling into the cavity of each cupcake. Gently place the disks of cupcake over the filling, being careful not to press too hard. You do not want the filling to ooze out.
Frosting: In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on high to beat butter until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Slow mixer to low and add powdered sugar, 125 ml ( 1/2 cup) at a time, and mix until combined.
Increase mixer to high and beat until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium and add milk, vanilla and salt. Increase speed to high and beat until fluffy, about another 30 seconds. If desired, beat in white food coloring.
Spread a generous amount of frosting over each cupcake, being careful not to detach the top disk of cake. Place one red gum ball in the frosting at the center of each cupcake to form the pupil.
Use red decorating gel to draw veins in the frosting radiating outward from the pupil.
Makes 12 servings.
Source: The cupcake portion of the recipe is from “The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book” by America’s Test Kitchen (2008).
Continue readingSpend your time playing this adorable fun filled Bubblegum Eater game. It’s free, its online and there is nothing to download. The objective is to help the bubble gum eating dinosaur collect tasty gumballs and avoid the mean and nasty sour gumballs in this online arcade game.
The game is easy to play. Simply use the left and right arrow keys to move from side to side. The up arrow key is used to open the dinosaur’s mouth to devour the bubble gum. The down arrow is used to protect you from mean sour gumballs. It sounds easy, but there is a catch: the Bubble Gum Eater can’t walk and chew gum at the same time!
Note: It takes a few seconds for the game to load. CLICK TO PLAY
Continue readingFriday, October 31, 2008 Photo by Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette
Okay, we admit that we are crazy about any and all things that relate to bubble gumballs. This year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper in Pittsburgh, PA held a Halloween costume contest where they asked readers to create a costume made up of old newspaper and miscellaneous household items.
One of the winners in this years contest was 10 year old, David Luxbacher, who dressed up as a gumball machine. “The topper is made from a broken Halloween decoration, the head is made from newspaper (papier-mache), wire hangers and painted with grandma’s discarded bingo daubers. We used an old aluminum cookie tray for the neck and a plastic laundry basket covered in felt for the body,” says his mom, Sandy.
Total cost to make this creative eye catching costume? A big $5. How about that price point in these tough economic times? “The gumball dispenser was from a broken gumball machine. It actually dispenses gumballs,” she said.
What a fun costume! We think this is great low cost idea for a Halloween costume.
For other creative Halloween costumes ideas (photos), click here.
Continue readingAhead of the bubble, gum snaps into place as a modern-age economic indicator.
Gum.
That’s how the world’s richest man, Warren Buffett, plans to get even richer.
Last week the American investor committed $6.5 billion (U.S.) for a 10 per cent stake in the Wrigley brand, a world leader in the bubble biz.
Buffett’s betting the gum market will stay chewy during the economic downturn that is darkening skies in the United States.
And he might be right. During the last economic recession in North America in the ’90s, food spending dipped drastically, but candy consumption stayed strong.
In fact, some confection makers say sweets sales are an inverse indicator of the economy. Big purchases go on hold during recession, but a cheerful chew never put anybody into bankruptcy. The gum industry is worth an estimated $19.5 billion a year worldwide.
From bubble gum to sugarless, there’s a mouth-boggling proliferation of forms and flavors: spicy cinnamon sticks, lemon-lime lozenges, even explode-in-your-mouth pineapple pillows. Sex-ified packaging bumps it up a notch, with its innovative shapes and colors that turn packages into pretty purse accessories or hot dashboard décor.
What started as a fun candy is now functional. Since the 1980's, sugarless gums have ruled the marketplace as gums that contain the sweetener xylitol, have been proven to fight tooth decay.
Chewing gum may have other health benefits, too. A 2006 study by doctors at California’s Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, published in the journal Archives of Surgery, showed that gum helped patients recover from colon surgery faster. And a British study published in 2002 in the journal Appetite said chewers did better on memory tests, though subsequent studies have challenged that finding.
As to whether gumming prevents snacking, and therefore promotes weight loss, the jury’s still out. But that hasn’t stopped contestants on the show The Biggest Loser from chomping Extra gum at every opportunity. Wrigley’s strategic placement of the sugarless gum on the show about losing weight was the company’s first attempt to market gum specifically to dieters.
Over the years, gums infused with drugs have tasted moderate success.
Aspergum delivers a shot of aspirin to sore throats, and Nicorette, spiked with nicotine, aims to cut cigarette cravings.
The trend of health-enhancing gum is set to explode.
In a 2006 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Danish scientists found people absorbed three times more of the antihistamine loratadine when they chewed it as a gum than when they took it as a pill.
That is because medicine in gum enters the bloodstream directly through the lining of the mouth, while pills have to work their way through the digestive system.
Gums containing caffeine are already available in the United States. In Asia, gums contain green tea extract, a powerful antioxidant, and in Finland researchers have created a gum containing cysteine, which may help prevent cancers of the mouth, esophagus and stomach, especially in smokers.
That’s all good news, but eventually, the bubble must pop and cities around the world are stuck with the results, usually on sidewalks, under restaurant tables or attached to the sole of a shoe.
In Toronto, gum comprises more than 30 per cent of litter, according to a 2006 litter audit by the city’s waste department. It’s expensive to remove, so it stays right where it’s laid to rest.
“We tried to educate people to put it in the garbage receptacle,” says Robert Orpin, the city’s director of collection operations. “But there’s a misperception that it’s not litter.”
Gum is garbage. And because it’s made from synthetic rubber, it’s not biodegradable.
But it is recyclable. One Toronto-based company, Envyrobubble, created specialized gum disposal bins in order to collect it and turn it into fertilizer. Ontario Place and Seneca College have units, for example, but gum recycling hasn’t gone mainstream.
“We haven’t really sold that many,” admits Ornella DeCola, co-founder of Envryobubble, noting the company is designing a smaller recycling unit that could improve public acceptance.
Other municipalities are trying gum boards on hydro poles, which encourage passersby to stick it instead of spit it. The boards are coated in peelable plastic, which is removed daily.
In some places, unofficial gum boards have evolved into folk art. In California’s San Luis Obispo, for example, Bubble Gum Alley has been blowing since 1960 and now attracts tourists who want to add a wad of their own.
Gum companies say they’re doing their part by researching biodegradable gums. But they’re keeping trade secrets and won’t say how close they are to actually producing environmentally friendly gum.
Continue readingFROM CLOTHING:
For washable clothing, scrape off any excess gum with a dull knife and rub the area with ice until the remaining gum rolls off into a ball.
Or seal the dry garment in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer. Once it is frozen, remove and gently scrape with a dull knife.
FROM CARPET:
Scrape excess gum off your carpet with a dull knife and rub area with ice until the remaining gum rolls off into a ball.
Use an extra-strength deep-heating rub to remove the gum. First, heat the gum residue on your carpet with a blow dryer for 1 to 2 minutes. Then, using squares of plastic (sandwich bags will work nicely) remove as much gum as possible. Apply more heat if the gum hardens. This should remove about 80 per cent of the residue.
Next, spread half a teaspoon of the deep-heating rub evenly over the remaining gum residue. Heat with a blow dryer set on high for 30 seconds. Use plastic squares in a circular motion to remove residual stain. Apply a mild detergent and water solution with a rag and leave area to air dry. Test carpet first to ensure colour fastness.
FROM HAIR:
Natural solvent extracts from citrus peels often remove gum from hair. If a citrus peel solvent is not available, mineral oil, cooking oil or peanut butter sometimes work.
Add a small amount and knead the gum with your fingers to soften and disperse. Pull out gradually as gum softens. Rinse with soap and water. Shampoo hair to remove residue.
FROM SIDEWALKS, PATIOS AND OTHER HARD SURFACES:
When scraping is not enough, many commercial organizations and municipalities have found a power washer to be effective in removing chewing gum from hard surfaces. Warm water under pressure – with or without solvents – yields the best results.
From the International Chewing Gum Association: gumassociation.org.
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