Making the Most of Your Trip to Candytopia

If you spend any time scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, you’ve seen the ads for Candytopia. This interactive “art installation” where nearly everything is made of candy, is all my childhood fantasies come true. It’s also the latest place to get that perfect selfie.

Candytopia has been in Houston for the past few months and as much as the Willy Wonka lover in me neeeeded to go, I had a hard time paying that much for it. Tickets are $28 for an adult and $20 for kids ages 4-12. That adds up pretty quick making our grand total over $90… and our 2-year-old was free! But something about knowing it is a limited engagement made me buy into the hype. If they didn’t already have me at “candy,” they definitely got me at “gone forever.” I’m such a sucker. Plus, I’m long overdue for a new profile pic.

So we went. And you guys, we had a blast. I say buy the tickets. Go before it leaves. It’s worth it to do it once. But before you do, I put together some tips to help you get your money’s worth.

This post is not sponsored, but whether my posts are sponsored or not, please know that the opinions I share are always my own. Though this one might be slightly influenced by an elevated blood sugar.

First, go on a weekday

We picked Harper up from school and headed straight to the Marq’E Center. When we went in it was just us and one other family but I could see where they would squeeze in a ton of people on the weekends. This way we had very few people to work around and there usually weren’t people in the background of our pictures.

Make sure you have a full phone/camera battery

You have a lot of pictures to take. Make sure your battery will last!

Download the Candytopia app and create an account before you go

They have a few places where they take your picture with “augmented reality” and then it emails them to you. We haven’t exactly perfected those but still, they were fun! There’s also something on the app about taking pictures of “coasters” but I never figured that out.

Bring an empty bag for candy

Every single room has candy. There’s almost no way you can eat it all before you get to the next room. Almost.

Take your time in each room

They told us you can spend as much time in each room as you want, you just can’t go back. Harper was excited and kept trying to run ahead but I made her slow down. I paid good money for this so we were going to enjoy the heck out of it! Others have told me they push you along, but we never got that at all. Maybe it depends on the day?

Ask employees to take your picture

A few Candytopia employees offered to take our picture, but most just hung around, likely thinking my family is a bunch of crazies (Side note: They are right). If we asked though, they were all happy to snap a few for us.

Be sure you can get out of the marshmallow pit before you get in

The marshmallow pit at Candytopia is one of the highlights of the whole experience and getting in is easy. Just be sure to judge your ability to get out before you dive in headfirst.

Brush the confetti out of your kids’ hair before you bathe them

Once you’re home, you’re likely to find bits of confetti in, ahem, surprising places. Seeing as how part of the experience is touching, rubbing up against and rolling in things that everyone else already has, skipping a bath is not an option. In my rush (it was after bedtime after all), I threw my children in the tub without brushing the confetti out first. Once it’s wet, the confetti is impossible to get out of their hair. I’m sure this is common sense to everyone else, but let my mistake be a lesson to you.

As to whether it was worth it or not… I say yes. We all had a blast. Even Dustin. His favorite part was seeing how many hours each piece took to make. I still say Candytopia is way overpriced and honestly, if you don’t do it it’s not like you’re missing the experience of a lifetime, but it was definitely worth doing it once.

Now I just need to check out the next Instagram hot spot, Color Factory!