Happy 4th! Celebrate all year with the NEW Red, White, and You Candies from Sweethearts {Review}

Happy Independence Day to everyone! I hope that your 4th will be filled with lots of fun, family, fireworks, and, of course, food! With all of the excitement it can sometimes be easy to forget the true reason behind our celebration this time of year, but Sweethearts has come up with a brand new way to help us celebrate America and remember the important people who have gotten us where we are today - the brave men and women who have fought, and are fighting now, for our country and freedoms. We all know and love the traditional Sweethearts, you know with all of the mushy gushy love sayings, that are a Valentine's Day staple. But, this year Necco has decided to something new with their Sweethearts for the 4th of July (and beyond!) - Red, White, and You Sweethearts. These are the classic Sweethearts in patriotic colors featuring sayings to honor our soldiers and America. Example sayings are "home safe", "I love you", "thank you", and many more. I think it's an awesome idea and that these will become a staple for all of our memorial celebrations, including Independence Day.

Here is some information from the Necco website about the new Sweethearts:

"The classic Sweethearts you know and love were already a part of the fabric of American culture, but now they’ve taken things to the next level. We’ve taken our Sweethearts and redesigned them to incorporate new All-American colors, phrases and packaging. Red White & You Sweethearts are a sweet and simple way to show your true colors – the individual candies come in red, white and blue (strawberry, blueberry and vanilla crème). They are also fat-free and gluten-free, so everyone can express their patriotism and feel great about it!"

These Sweethearts are awesome by themselves, but Sweethearts sent along some great ideas of how you can incorporate these candies into fun family crafts and treats. We decided to try out the flag cake, and it turned out so cute (kind of...lol...the Sweethearts were cute anyway!). Now, as you can see, it's no piece of art (EG wanted to "help"...a lot!) and the numbers of stars and stripes is off, but it's the thought that counts (right?), and it made for such an easy and festive treat. I'm sure you guys can think of some fabulous ways to use these candies, but here are a few more suggested by Sweethearts:

- Party Favors: Wrap up the boxes in festive scrapbook papers, and add pipe cleaners, stickers, and other embellishments to create fun party favors.

- Flag Cookies: Roll out cookie dough, cut into rectangles, add a popsicle stick on one end (to make a flag handle), bake, and then decorate with Sweethearts and red, white, and blue icing to make Flag Cookies.

Check out the new Red, White, and You Sweethearts at a store near you, and make some fun of your own while celebrating our awesome country!