Mr Kennedy said he received regular requests for charitable donations.
Mr Kennedy submitted the £35.75 bill for the items, which paperwork suggested were to be used as "prizes", under the Incidental Expenses Provision (IEP) which is meant to cover MPs' office costs.
The Commons Fees Office paid up for the three boxes of "dark chocolate mints" at £5.95 each and the two "toffee bears" at £8.95.
Mr Kennedy said on Saturday night that the claim had been an "error" – and that the money had been repaid earlier this month.
He said he received regular requests for such charitable donations. "These I meet from my own pocket and am happy to do so," he added.
Mr Kennedy, the MP for the seat of Ross, Skye and Lochaber, also attempted to use his taxpayer-funded office costs allowance for Remembrance Sunday poppy wreaths.
He successfully claimed £18 for a poppy wreath in November 2006 – but an attempt to claim £49 for wreaths a year later was disallowed.
He said on Saturday night that the 2006 claim had – once again – already been spotted as a mistake and the money repaid this month.
Mr Kennedy, who stepped down as leader of the Liberal Democrats in 2006 after admitting he had sought professional help for a drink problem, claimed either the maximum amount permitted or close to it on his second home allowance from 2004 to 2008.
Last year, Mr Kennedy claimed a total of £174,232 for travel, home, office and staffing allowances. Yet he turned up for only 31 per cent of votes, spoke in 9 debates and asked 13 parliamentary questions.
The former Lib Dem leader's claims under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA), mostly made up of mortgage interest payments, were for a house in South London he bought for £775,000 in 2003.
However, he also claimed thousands under his IEP, including the £198 cost of a taxi ride between Peebles and Fort William – a distance of 109 miles – after giving a speech at the Scottish Borders Manufacturers annual dinner in October 2005.
Mr Kennedy said an overnight stay for the occasion had been impossible because he had "constituency engagements" the following morning and that public money had therefore been used "appropriately."
The following month he claimed the cost of redirecting mail from his previous address in London to his current home – which he insisted on Saturday night was "legitimate"
The Fees Office paid the £34.90 after Mr Kennedy, acknowledging that it was an "unusual request", said he received post of a "sensitive and confidential nature....due to the nature of my work.".
In February 2005, under the IEP, he submitted a bill to himself from "the Office of the Leader of the Liberal Democrats" for research services at £5,000.
In February 2006 he submitted a similar bill, this time for £5,200, and both were paid in full by the Fees Office rather than by Liberal Democrat party funds.
Mr Kennedy said: "A limited amount of additional staff time in the Leader's office was required to assist with constituency-only matters.
"This was always kept separate from anything to do with party political activities and therefore quite properly recorded and reimbursed as such."
Mr Kennedy succeeded Paddy Ashdown as Lib Dem leader in 1999, taking the party through two general elections. After he stepped down in 2006 he was succeeded by Sir Menzies Campbell.
When Sir Menzies resigned, in turn, in 2007, Mr Kennedy said that it was "highly unlikely" that he would try to return as leader, but did not rule it out completely.
Rt Hon Charles Kennedy
Job: Liberal Democrat MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Salary: £64,766
Total second home claims
2004-05: £20,902
2005-06: £20,249
2006-07: £22,110
2007-08: £21,287
Total expenses
2007-08: £174,232
Rate of attendance
at votes: 31 per cent.
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