Jelly Belly Factory Tour

Jelly Belly makes its products for U.S. distribution in California, but they also have a big factory here in Thailand, just a couple hours outside of Bangkok, where they make products for Asia, Australia, and Europe.  During regular production they make about five tons of candy a day, crazy!  They were slowing down a bit for a holiday break, but there was still plenty of candy and Jelly Belly goodness for us to enjoy.

We started our tour in the conference room.  There were some little touches you would expect, like a Jelly Belly clock.

Then there were some things that cracked me up.  For example, the projector was propped up on a Jelly Belly box.

But the best was the Ronald Reagan wall.

He's probably the most famous Jelly Belly fan.  When he was president, he had a standing order of over 300,000 jelly beans a month which were distributed throughout the White House and other federal offices.

One of the head American people at the factory came to show us around.  There were also several Thai employees who helped us out as well.  They started the tour by handing out hairnets for all and coats for the adults.  Viv was not too pleased about the hair net, but she got over it.

We got a little more information, and then it was off to the factory.

They make other candy there too, so our first machine and sample was a round jelly candy. 

Then they took us to see where they mix the jelly beans.  They boil the ingredients in big vats.

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Can you guess what the main ingredient is?

Yup, sugar, and boy did they have a lot of it.

Oh no, that's not all of it.  They had big cans full,

and a whole warehouse section, full of sugar.

There were other ingredients too.

Not sure I want to know too much about those.  There was a big flammable sign, but the mixing guy seemed to know what he was doing.

Our guide showed us how they do periodic checks during mixing to make sure that all the mixtures have the same color and flavor, for a consistent Jelly Belly experience.

Usually, they spin them in these big drums to build up the jelly layers and then add wax to make them shiny, but the drums were empty because they're slowing down production for a holiday break.  They close the factory for a week.

They had a picture of what they look like full in the conference room.

We were a little disappointed not to see them in action, but we got over it when our guide took us in to see the cooling trays.  We were in a refrigerated room with stacks of Jelly Belly trays.

They pulled off one of the trays to show the kids.

They even gave them some to try.

As our guides were holding out gloved hands of jelly beans, one of the kids noticed two jelly beans fused together.

When he asked what they do about those, our guide told us that those are called "Belly Flops", and they actually package them and sell them separately at a discounted rate.  He also told us that, ironically, there's a growing demand for Belly Flops, so there's a factory in California that makes them on purpose now.

After that we got to see how finished jelly beans are transported, sorted, and packaged.  The grape Jelly Belly conveyor belt was Vivian's favorite.  One of the ladies gave her a big handful, so her smile looks funny, because her mouth is stuffed full of grape jelly beans.

The jelly beans take lots of interesting paths to the packaging floor.

Those tubes are FULL of blue jelly beans.

The mixed fruit one was my favorite though.

Even at this point, there's still lots of quality control.

They let the kids hold one of the finished bags.

Vivian's favorite assembly line though was the one to fill the Jelly Belly boxes.

The boxes got a final quality check after going through the machine line.

Then they got put into big boxes,

and sent to the warehouse with all the other candy.

We had a lot of fun.  By the end, Vivian was pretty tired and totally in love with Jelly Belly.

NNR Christmas House Tour

The NNR is our local women's group.  They organize monthly outings and work on many charitable causes.  For the holiday season, they organized a tour of the Christmas decorations in six different neighborhood houses and they did a coin collection to raise money for a new playground for the daycare that our neighborhood has for local workers' children.

I went on the tour last year and getting a peak at the different houses was just as much fun as ogling the Christmas decoration decadence, so I signed up this year as soon as I heard about it.  I spent most of the tour with friends who also have small children and another big part of the fun was imagining what our houses could look like when we don't have toddlers anymore.

The big group was broken into smaller groups and we rotated through the houses in different order, so that no house was too crowded at any one time.  Ironically, the first house we went to was on my street.  I've admired the incredible exterior decorations, but it was even more fun to go inside and see what she'd gotten up to in there.  The house is the same layout as mine, but I don't think I could ever reproduce what she's done.

You know before you even go in, that Christmas is important in this house.

Near the front door, they have one of the most complex nativities I have ever seen.

There's one main Christmas store near Nichada where most people get their decorations.  This house had things from there, but you could tell that she's been working on her Christmas decorations for a long time, and she's picked things up from all over.  She also has incredible furniture pieces that you notice as soon as you walk in the door.

It was quite a house to start off with, but our second house was just as much fun.  It was back in a little neighborhood that I drive by almost every day, but hadn't gone in to.  The houses had a totally different layout than mine, and lots of Santas and angels.  

The next house was REALLY the super Santa house though.

Even though I doubt I will ever reach this level of super Santa, the houses also had fun ideas for things I could pull off once the girls are old enough to be trusted not to throw and pull on things.

The decorations at the next house though are on a level and scale that I will never be able to replicate.  This is the house that starts out with a custom made gingerbread house door.

Then you walk into their pool area.

The regular front entrance is also fantastic.

Many of the decorations were ones I had seen last year, but they were still awesome.  I mean a purple themed room and a black and white Christmas tree, how cool is that??

The new thing this year is upside down Christmas trees.  They had one on display at the Christmas store when I went a couple days ago with friends, but it was something else to see it in a house.

Again, not something I could pull off in my own home, but definitely something worth seeing.  Each house also had little treats to eat, and, not surprisingly, this house had some of the best, including mincemeat pie, which I had never tried before.

There isn't actually any meat in it.  It's fruit, nuts, sugar, and some citrus.  It was really good!

The final tour house, wasn't a house, but an apartment.  I was really excited to see it, because it's in the new buildings that just opened this year, and it's all the way on the top floor.  They even have their very own rooftop pool.

I also liked the sun room with a view.

But again, it was the beautiful furniture with fun Christmas touches that really made the house special.

After that, we went back to our starting point house for a party, Christmas store sale, and a raffle.  Even though it wasn't officially on the tour, it was a beautifully decorated house.  It's also fun to see the Thai culture seeping through our Christmas tour, since everyone took their shoes off before going in.

The house is right on the lake, so that's what you see when you walk in the door.

I didn't win anything in the raffle, but it was a lot of fun to get in the Christmas spirit Nichada style.