This week's Fun Friday starts with a double whammy from Crumbl: it's collaborating on a new makeup line, and also introducing mini desserts.

Crumbl is proud to announce its partnership with Kylie Cosmetics in celebration of the New Skin Tint Blurring Elixir. To kick-off the collaboration to launch the new makeup, Crumbl and Kylie Cosmetics will host a social media giveaway through July 27. During this period, participants can win one of five prize packages, each including $100 gift cards from both brands and exclusive Kylie Cosmetics merchandise. The winners will be announced on Crumbl's Instagram account on Monday, July 29.

For more information about the giveaway and to participate, visit Crumbl's Instagram page.

Secondly, Crumbl is expanding its menu to include an array of new dessert items. Crumbl’s commitment to innovation and delivering exceptional quality to its customers led the team to implement this strategic product addition.

Crumbl’s new dessert items will complement its famous weekly cookie flavors, offering customers even more reasons to indulge. The rotating menu will feature a variety of sweet treats, from poke cakes and pies, to puddings and cheesecakes, ensuring there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

To celebrate this milestone, Crumbl will host three exciting pop-up events in the following locations across the country:

• Los Angeles, July 26, The Americana, 157 Caruso Ave, Glendale, California
• Nashville, August 2, 1716 21st Avenue S Nashville, Tennessee
• New York City, August 9, 238 7th Ave, New York, New York

These events will be open to the public beginning at 3 pm while supplies last, providing attendees with an exclusive taste of Crumbl’s new desserts.

Clif Bar outdoor play initiative aims to increase access to nature-based, climate-friendly playgrounds

Clif Bar's energy snack bar brand for active kids, Zbar, announced a significant $1 million partnership with nonprofit Kaboom! to help communities nationwide build nature-based play spaces for kids, focusing on areas that are lacking access to green space or opportunities for outdoor recreation. Zbar brand's multi-year contribution will also support Kaboom!'s goals to create more sustainable play spaces by investing in research and new programming focused on climate-forward playground design. This includes introduction of climate-friendly architectural elements such as adding trees and other shade structures and replacing heat-retaining materials like asphalt and metal with cooler options.

On average, children in the U.S. spend only seven minutes each day engaged in unstructured outdoor play—less than previous generations—and nearly 30 million kids live farther than a 10-minute walk from the nearest park. At the same time, climate change is making traditional playgrounds and schoolyards, which can act as "heat islands," dangerously warm.

Launching this program during back-to-school season, Zbar brand's new initiative plans to address these problems by working with Kaboom! to create modern outdoor play spaces. Building on its legacy as a leader in organic and the first kid's snack bar brand to be Climate Neutral Certified, Zbar will also serve as a signature partner, investing in Kaboom!'s capacity to influence and build a more sustainable playground industry.

Zbar's outdoors play initiative will also focus on driving awareness about the value of active outdoor play and advocating for state and federal government to invest in providing equitable access to outdoor play spaces. This will include engaging with the White House Council on Environmental Quality to plan a series of outreach events as well as advocacy for the Living School Yards Act, Explore Act and other legislation aimed at improving opportunities for outdoor recreation.

Additionally, to encourage families to spend more time in nature during the back-to-school season, Zbar will be sponsoring a "Calling All Outdoors Experts" sweepstakes featuring the chance to win a $500 gift card to REI for outdoor gear or a year's supply of Zbar snacks, among other prizes. Parents can enter by snapping a photo of their kid playing outdoors (no need to show their face) and sharing their photo to the sweepstakes pinned post on Facebook @zbarofficial with the hashtag #zbarsweepstakes, or by posting with the hashtag #zbarsweepstakes on Instagram. Parents must also follow @zbarofficial on the social platform used to enter so the brand can notify them if they win.

"Vegan" bakery exposed for buying, reselling Dunkin' doughnuts to customers

Back in March, a Long Island baker was exposed for passing off Dunkin' bakery items as her own, and also claiming that they're vegan and gluten-free. Just a bit problematic ... 

Vegan grocery store CindySnacks revealed the controversy on Instagram, saying that the owner of vegan bakery Savory Fig, Michelle Siriana, dropped off a box of baked goods that included the doughnuts. The treats even had Dunkin's signature letter "D" sprinkles.

"I (John) immediately became concerned as to why this one donut was decorated differently than all the others and in such a strikingly similar way to a recognizable chain. I pulled all of the items delivered out of our racks immediately and stored them in the back out of precaution until I could confirm what was or wasn’t happening here," the CindySnacks account posted on Instagram.

Despire Siriani assuring CindySnacks that she baked the doughnuts herself, the CindySnacks owners tested the product for gluten with a kit - and found substantial amounts of it. 

"We then ordered an at-home gluten test trusted and used by gluten-sensitive and allergic individuals. The test results as seen in slide 4 proved to us that at the very least, this donut (and most likely ALL of her donuts) contain substantial amounts of gluten," the statement continued. "We can only assume, given this recognizable logo design, where these donuts really came from and what other ingredients they might contain."

The owners have contacted the Division of Food Safety and Inspection from NY Agriculture and Markets, which will be opening an investigation. Siriani did not make a statement, and deleted The Savory Fig's Instagram account. At the end of April, she voluntarily recalled her baked goods, reports @newsdayfeedme on Instagram.

Read the full story here at Delish.

Goetze's Candy Co. partners on Caramel Creams ale

Goetze’s Candy Company, Inc., a manufacturer of caramel products produced in Baltimore, MD for nearly 130 years, has announced a partnership with the Guinness Open Gate Brewery. The confectioners of Goetze’s and the brewers of Guinness came together to create a 4.5 percent ABV cream ale brewed with the same vanilla in the Goetze’s signature recipe, resulting in a toasty, slightly sweet beer. The Caramel Creams ale will be released at the Beer From Here Festival hosted by Guinness Open Gate Brewery and the Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM) on Saturday, August 3. The beer will be sold at the brewery while supplies last.

Now in its 129th year in business, Goetze’s Candy Company, Inc. continues to maintain the longstanding family tradition with both new and original flavors, winning over the taste buds of generations, from great-grandparents to great-grandchildren.

Read the full article here.