St Patrick's Day Sweets: Two Traditions, One Day
St Patrick's Day Sweets: The Complete UK Guide
St Patrick's Day means different things depending on which side of the Atlantic you're standing on. In Ireland, 17 March is a national holiday — a public day off, a parade in Dublin, a visit to Mass, and a pint of Guinness. It is a genuinely ancient celebration of an adopted Welshman who spent his life in Ireland and whose feast day has been observed for over 1,500 years.
In America, it is something rather different. Thirty-five million Americans claim Irish ancestry — more than the entire population of Ireland. St Patrick's Day is one of the most commercially celebrated days in the US calendar: green beer in every bar, green bagels in New York City bakeries, green candy displays in every supermarket and sweet shop from Maine to California. The New York St Patrick's Day parade is the largest in the world, drawing two million spectators, and has run every year since 1762.
The confectionery traditions that have developed around these two versions of the same day are completely different — and Sweet and Glory stocks products from both of them.
Two of Ireland's most recognisable export brands have crossed from the bar and the drinks cabinet into confectionery. Guinness has been brewed at St James's Gate in Dublin since 1759. The Guinness chocolate bar takes the same roasted, slightly bitter character of the dry stout — the dark malt notes, the coffee undertone — and applies it to chocolate. It is one of the few confectionery products where the flavour profile is genuinely Irish in origin rather than simply Irish in theme. The Guinness Caramel Bar adds salted caramel to the mix, which is arguably even better. The family behind it has had an unusually good few years for name recognition, too: Steven Knight, who created Peaky Blinders, took the Guinness dynasty to Netflix in House of Guinness, an eight-part drama set in Dublin in 1868 that opens on the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness and the scramble between his four children over what he left them. For a retailer it is a useful thing to know in March - a customer who has watched eight hours of Guinness family history is a customer who understands why a bar of Guinness chocolate is a considered gift rather than a novelty.
The Baileys story started in 1974 when Tom Jago, a British drinks executive, combined Irish whiskey with fresh cream and created the world's first cream liqueur. It was an immediate success — and one that nobody had attempted before despite the obvious logic of combining two things Ireland does particularly well. The flavour that results — coffee, cream, whiskey, a slight sweetness — has since crossed over into cakes, ice cream, coffee shops and confectionery worldwide. Baileys chocolate carries that specific flavour profile in a format you can put on a shelf. For a St Patrick's Day gift display, Guinness and Baileys chocolate together say something specific about Irish identity that a green lollipop simply cannot.
The American version of St Patrick's Day is the product of immigration. The Irish diaspora that arrived in waves from the 1840s onwards — driven largely by the Great Famine — built communities in Boston, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia that kept Irish cultural traditions alive, then amplified them. St Patrick's Day became the day Irish-Americans publicly celebrated their identity, and over a century and a half it grew into one of the most commercially significant calendar dates in American retail.
The American confectionery tradition for the occasion is built almost entirely around one principle: if it's green, it's St Patrick's Day. Every candy brand with a green variant pushes it in March. The colour takes precedence over flavour, heritage or logic. Green apple, green mint, green watermelon, green anything — it all goes on the St Patrick's Day display. It is one of the most visually consistent candy occasions in the American retail calendar.
The other dominant flavour association is mint. The green-mint connection is partly visual (mint = green = St Patrick's Day) and partly cultural — the Crème de Menthe tradition in American cocktail culture has bled into confectionery, and mint-chocolate combinations have become one of the defining flavour pairings of the occasion.
The most iconic American St Patrick's Day candy is now on the shelf: Andes Crème de Menthe Thins. The name is an accident of 1920s courtship. Andrew Kanelos opened a candy shop in Chicago in 1921 and called it Andy's Candies, after himself. It sold well enough, but he noticed a problem: his customers were mostly men buying boxes for their wives and girlfriends, and none of them wanted to hand over a gift with another man's name printed on the lid. Kanelos changed one letter's worth of spelling, put snow-capped mountains on the wrapper, and Andy's Candies became Andes Candies. The Crème de Menthe Thin itself did not arrive until 1950, and it was designed around a price rather than a flavour - small enough and cheap enough to be handed over with your change at the till, which is why it still turns up on the saucer with the bill in American restaurants. It is now made by Tootsie Roll Industries in Delavan, Wisconsin, and the green foil is the single most recognisable piece of St Patrick's Day packaging in American confectionery.
The rest of the American green candy tradition is built around colour first, flavour second - and green apple does most of the heavy lifting. Toxic Waste Sour Apple chew bars bring the sour-challenge angle that plays well with a younger crowd, and Hi-Chew Green Apple covers the chewy end. Jelly Belly brings it to the jelly bean format - the assorted mixes are full of green beans and a bowl of them does its own decorating. Junior Mints complete the picture: dark chocolate with a creamy mint centre in a dark green box, and the Changemaker format is the same till-side idea Kanelos had with Andes seventy years earlier.
Two sections, two customers. The Irish heritage display — Guinness chocolate, Baileys chocolate — is a gift purchase. Customers buying these are choosing something specifically Irish for someone specific. Price it accordingly and position it as a premium gift line. The American green candy display — Andes, Airheads, Jelly Belly, Junior Mints — is impulse and sharing. Position it as a party table and sharing section.
Timing is tighter than you might expect. St Patrick's Day is a single fixed date with no run-up period comparable to Christmas or Valentine's Day. The peak buying window is the two weeks before 17 March. Stock should be front of shop by the first week of March. Late January is the right time to order.
The green display is self-building. Andes green foil, sour apple chew bars, Jelly Belly green beans, Junior Mints dark green box - a St Patrick's Day candy display practically assembles itself from the colour palette. No additional theming, signage or decoration is needed. The products do the work.
The Guinness chocolate opportunity runs beyond 17 March. Guinness chocolate works as a gift for Guinness drinkers year-round — Father's Day, rugby occasions, birthdays. A retailer who introduces it for St Patrick's Day and keeps it in stock through spring will find it earns its shelf space beyond the seasonal occasion. The same is true of Baileys for customers who associate it with special occasions.
Less contested than Valentine's or Easter. St Patrick's Day is consistently under-served in UK independent retail. Most competitors are not running a dedicated display. A focused St Patrick's Day candy section — Irish heritage brands plus American green candy — is a straightforward differentiator that requires minimal investment and has no meaningful competition on the high street.
Browse Guinness and Baileys chocolate for the Irish heritage section, and the full candy range and chocolate range for the American green candy tradition. No minimum order. Free first parcel on orders over £150 ex VAT (additional boxes £7.10 each). Free pallet delivery over £650 ex VAT. Dispatched from Manchester. Create a free account to browse and order.
Why are Andes mints called Andes? Because Andrew Kanelos could not sell candy with his own name on it. He opened his Chicago shop as Andy's Candies in 1921, then realised his mostly male customers would not give their wives a box bearing another man's name. He respelled it Andes and put snow-capped mountains on the wrapper.
What sweets are traditional for St Patrick's Day? Two separate traditions. The Irish one is Guinness and Baileys chocolate, both made in Ireland and both genuinely Irish in flavour rather than theme. The American one is simpler: if it is green, it counts - mint, green apple and anything in green foil.
Why is green candy associated with St Patrick's Day? The American version of the day is built on colour rather than food tradition, so every brand with a green variant pushes it in March. Mint doubles up because it is naturally green, which is how Andes and Junior Mints became fixtures.
When should retailers stock for St Patrick's Day? The buying window is short - roughly the two weeks before 17 March, with no long run-up like Christmas or Easter. It is also under-served in UK independent retail, so a focused display faces little local competition.
Where can I buy St Patrick's Day sweets wholesale? Sweet and Glory stocks Guinness and Baileys chocolate alongside the American green candy range, wholesale from Manchester with no minimum order. Create a free account to browse and order.
Related guides: Seasonal sweet shop calendar · Guinness and Baileys chocolate — Father's Day guide · American sweets vs British sweets · Most popular American sweets UK · Baileys and Guinness chocolate guide
Sources
Manufacturer ingredient declarations - checked per product, not per brand
Written by Sharon Wilson, Sweet and Glory. Sweet and Glory has imported American and world confectionery into the UK from Trafford Park, Manchester, since 2015.
St Patrick's Day means different things depending on which side of the Atlantic you're standing on. In Ireland, 17 March is a national holiday — a public day off, a parade in Dublin, a visit to Mass, and a pint of Guinness. It is a genuinely ancient celebration of an adopted Welshman who spent his life in Ireland and whose feast day has been observed for over 1,500 years.
In America, it is something rather different. Thirty-five million Americans claim Irish ancestry — more than the entire population of Ireland. St Patrick's Day is one of the most commercially celebrated days in the US calendar: green beer in every bar, green bagels in New York City bakeries, green candy displays in every supermarket and sweet shop from Maine to California. The New York St Patrick's Day parade is the largest in the world, drawing two million spectators, and has run every year since 1762.
The confectionery traditions that have developed around these two versions of the same day are completely different — and Sweet and Glory stocks products from both of them.
The Irish Originals: When Stout and Cream Become Chocolate
Two of Ireland's most recognisable export brands have crossed from the bar and the drinks cabinet into confectionery. Guinness has been brewed at St James's Gate in Dublin since 1759. The Guinness chocolate bar takes the same roasted, slightly bitter character of the dry stout — the dark malt notes, the coffee undertone — and applies it to chocolate. It is one of the few confectionery products where the flavour profile is genuinely Irish in origin rather than simply Irish in theme. The Guinness Caramel Bar adds salted caramel to the mix, which is arguably even better. The family behind it has had an unusually good few years for name recognition, too: Steven Knight, who created Peaky Blinders, took the Guinness dynasty to Netflix in House of Guinness, an eight-part drama set in Dublin in 1868 that opens on the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness and the scramble between his four children over what he left them. For a retailer it is a useful thing to know in March - a customer who has watched eight hours of Guinness family history is a customer who understands why a bar of Guinness chocolate is a considered gift rather than a novelty.
The Baileys story started in 1974 when Tom Jago, a British drinks executive, combined Irish whiskey with fresh cream and created the world's first cream liqueur. It was an immediate success — and one that nobody had attempted before despite the obvious logic of combining two things Ireland does particularly well. The flavour that results — coffee, cream, whiskey, a slight sweetness — has since crossed over into cakes, ice cream, coffee shops and confectionery worldwide. Baileys chocolate carries that specific flavour profile in a format you can put on a shelf. For a St Patrick's Day gift display, Guinness and Baileys chocolate together say something specific about Irish identity that a green lollipop simply cannot.
How America Does St Patrick's Day: Bigger, Greener, Sweeter
The American version of St Patrick's Day is the product of immigration. The Irish diaspora that arrived in waves from the 1840s onwards — driven largely by the Great Famine — built communities in Boston, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia that kept Irish cultural traditions alive, then amplified them. St Patrick's Day became the day Irish-Americans publicly celebrated their identity, and over a century and a half it grew into one of the most commercially significant calendar dates in American retail.
The American confectionery tradition for the occasion is built almost entirely around one principle: if it's green, it's St Patrick's Day. Every candy brand with a green variant pushes it in March. The colour takes precedence over flavour, heritage or logic. Green apple, green mint, green watermelon, green anything — it all goes on the St Patrick's Day display. It is one of the most visually consistent candy occasions in the American retail calendar.
The other dominant flavour association is mint. The green-mint connection is partly visual (mint = green = St Patrick's Day) and partly cultural — the Crème de Menthe tradition in American cocktail culture has bled into confectionery, and mint-chocolate combinations have become one of the defining flavour pairings of the occasion.
The American Green Candy Tradition
The most iconic American St Patrick's Day candy is now on the shelf: Andes Crème de Menthe Thins. The name is an accident of 1920s courtship. Andrew Kanelos opened a candy shop in Chicago in 1921 and called it Andy's Candies, after himself. It sold well enough, but he noticed a problem: his customers were mostly men buying boxes for their wives and girlfriends, and none of them wanted to hand over a gift with another man's name printed on the lid. Kanelos changed one letter's worth of spelling, put snow-capped mountains on the wrapper, and Andy's Candies became Andes Candies. The Crème de Menthe Thin itself did not arrive until 1950, and it was designed around a price rather than a flavour - small enough and cheap enough to be handed over with your change at the till, which is why it still turns up on the saucer with the bill in American restaurants. It is now made by Tootsie Roll Industries in Delavan, Wisconsin, and the green foil is the single most recognisable piece of St Patrick's Day packaging in American confectionery.
The rest of the American green candy tradition is built around colour first, flavour second - and green apple does most of the heavy lifting. Toxic Waste Sour Apple chew bars bring the sour-challenge angle that plays well with a younger crowd, and Hi-Chew Green Apple covers the chewy end. Jelly Belly brings it to the jelly bean format - the assorted mixes are full of green beans and a bowl of them does its own decorating. Junior Mints complete the picture: dark chocolate with a creamy mint centre in a dark green box, and the Changemaker format is the same till-side idea Kanelos had with Andes seventy years earlier.
For Retailers: Building a St Patrick's Day Display That Covers Both Audiences
Two sections, two customers. The Irish heritage display — Guinness chocolate, Baileys chocolate — is a gift purchase. Customers buying these are choosing something specifically Irish for someone specific. Price it accordingly and position it as a premium gift line. The American green candy display — Andes, Airheads, Jelly Belly, Junior Mints — is impulse and sharing. Position it as a party table and sharing section.
Timing is tighter than you might expect. St Patrick's Day is a single fixed date with no run-up period comparable to Christmas or Valentine's Day. The peak buying window is the two weeks before 17 March. Stock should be front of shop by the first week of March. Late January is the right time to order.
The green display is self-building. Andes green foil, sour apple chew bars, Jelly Belly green beans, Junior Mints dark green box - a St Patrick's Day candy display practically assembles itself from the colour palette. No additional theming, signage or decoration is needed. The products do the work.
The Guinness chocolate opportunity runs beyond 17 March. Guinness chocolate works as a gift for Guinness drinkers year-round — Father's Day, rugby occasions, birthdays. A retailer who introduces it for St Patrick's Day and keeps it in stock through spring will find it earns its shelf space beyond the seasonal occasion. The same is true of Baileys for customers who associate it with special occasions.
Less contested than Valentine's or Easter. St Patrick's Day is consistently under-served in UK independent retail. Most competitors are not running a dedicated display. A focused St Patrick's Day candy section — Irish heritage brands plus American green candy — is a straightforward differentiator that requires minimal investment and has no meaningful competition on the high street.
Shop the St Patrick's Day Range
Browse Guinness and Baileys chocolate for the Irish heritage section, and the full candy range and chocolate range for the American green candy tradition. No minimum order. Free first parcel on orders over £150 ex VAT (additional boxes £7.10 each). Free pallet delivery over £650 ex VAT. Dispatched from Manchester. Create a free account to browse and order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are Andes mints called Andes? Because Andrew Kanelos could not sell candy with his own name on it. He opened his Chicago shop as Andy's Candies in 1921, then realised his mostly male customers would not give their wives a box bearing another man's name. He respelled it Andes and put snow-capped mountains on the wrapper.
What sweets are traditional for St Patrick's Day? Two separate traditions. The Irish one is Guinness and Baileys chocolate, both made in Ireland and both genuinely Irish in flavour rather than theme. The American one is simpler: if it is green, it counts - mint, green apple and anything in green foil.
Why is green candy associated with St Patrick's Day? The American version of the day is built on colour rather than food tradition, so every brand with a green variant pushes it in March. Mint doubles up because it is naturally green, which is how Andes and Junior Mints became fixtures.
When should retailers stock for St Patrick's Day? The buying window is short - roughly the two weeks before 17 March, with no long run-up like Christmas or Easter. It is also under-served in UK independent retail, so a focused display faces little local competition.
Where can I buy St Patrick's Day sweets wholesale? Sweet and Glory stocks Guinness and Baileys chocolate alongside the American green candy range, wholesale from Manchester with no minimum order. Create a free account to browse and order.
Related guides: Seasonal sweet shop calendar · Guinness and Baileys chocolate — Father's Day guide · American sweets vs British sweets · Most popular American sweets UK · Baileys and Guinness chocolate guide
Sources
Manufacturer ingredient declarations - checked per product, not per brand
Written by Sharon Wilson, Sweet and Glory. Sweet and Glory has imported American and world confectionery into the UK from Trafford Park, Manchester, since 2015.
