Italy’s Version of Confetti: Hooray, It’s Candy!

You might imagine Italy to be a land of traditions – the kind of traditions you don’t mess with if you know any better – and you’d be right. For reasons I don’t quite understand, for instance, the number 17 is extremely unlucky. Let this be a lesson to you – if you want to host a party in Italy and have anyone show up, don’t have it on the 17th of any month. It’s like Friday the 13th, only worse. I feel for the poor Italian kids who just happen to be born on the 17th, through no fault of their own.

Festivals and celebrations are rife with traditions – and weddings are no exception. Shelley has been planning her own Roman nuptials, and she went on an errand recently to get the supplies for the traditional party favor: confetti. Not the kind you throw at people on their way out of a wedding reception, though; these confetti are edible. We know them as sugared almonds, but in Italy they’re practically an art form.

Confetti are a party favor for any number of celebrations in Italy, especially weddings. Shelley discovered that they can take on many forms (check out the pictures in her post – scroll all the way through – the candy is practically an afterthought in some of them). After she’d already filled most of the favor bags with confetti, she also was informed that there’s a certain number you’re supposed to put in each one. Which isn’t the number she put in each of hers. She’s hoping the Italians at her wedding (especially her future in-laws) will forgive her mistake – she isn’t Italian, after all, how could she know? And really, it’s not as if she put 17 of the things in each bag. That would be unthinkable.