Be My Valentine

With things calmed down after Christmas, it was nice to actually be able to keep the display case full and have some backstock for making boxes. But now the push of Valentine's Day is approaching and I'm back to my old cycle of making those standard 12 flavors in quantity. But it now seems much less hectic, since I have some stock piled already. This time I can afford to do three molds of a flavor...before I was only doing a couple since I was trying to get all 12 flavors done in a day! Now, I can concentrate my efforts on only a few flavors per day.

We've got some great little things for Valentine's Day in the shop. I'm making chocolate pops, heart shaped. They are pretty popular. One is a plain heart on a 6 inch stick that is foil wrapped. Another is on a 4 inch stick but is a little heavier and has small hearts indented into the chocolate. I then try to paint these little hearts with the pink quartz cocoa butter we have. They look very classic. Pink seems to be the best color to paint as the white is too dull and the red is too dark (on white chocolate it looked like I accidentally cut my finger open...). Ellen also got a few molds with double hearts that I haven't yet tried but will get to this week probably as I'm already bored with the simple foil wrapped heart pops even though I have another million to do! :)

We're also making simple solid chocolates in heart shapes. They are similiar to our jingle bells that we made at Christmas (for the lucky few who actually saw them before they flew out the door!) They are a solid peice of chocolate, foil wrapped in red, pink, silver, and gold foils. We bag them up in a Valentine's Day bag and sell them. I have made them in milk, dark, white, and have made a few peanut butter filled ones. These solids will also make up the 4 center peices in our heart boxes.

The heart boxes are a 16 peice square box. The lid is red with a cut out heart in the center with plastic see-through. We have our standard 12 flavors around the outside and in the 4 center spots we have either the solids mentioned above or we place 4 truffles for extra charge. They are really nice looking boxes and I'm sure they'll sell like hot cakes.

At the chocolate show, Ellen and I purchased some heart shaped boxes...a little thicker and heavier than simple cardboard, they are sturdy and hold a pound of chocolate. It's hard to describe what they look like but they are definately a step up from that Russell Stover heart shaped box you see in every department store. We don't have a lot of them but they will also retail for a higher price due to the box.

Naturally, we also have smaller boxes. One is heart shaped, red-felted, and says "Happy Valentine's Day" in gold lettering on it. And then, we have a small pink box with hearts all over it for just a few peices of chocolate. These pink boxes will house our Valentine's Mix, two raspberry jells, two coconuts, and two Burg Berries.

And of course, what would Valentine's Day be without sprinkled oreos and chocolate covered pretzels! We've got them with the red, pink, and white heart sprinkles to make them festive for any kind of gift basket. We are making gift baskets for whatever budget, too. Cut-off date for special orders is Feb 5th!

Have a happy Valentine's Day!

The New Year

We knew things would slow down...way down. With only a few customers a day, it has allowed us time to really restock. Angela has been going great guns to get new product out as well as the favorites. We know have Power Rods (yellow and red sprinkles) and Aluminum Rods (silver cocoa butter ends) in the store. Snowy Roads Bark (cookies and cream) and our newly named Chocolate covered Oreo Cookies....the Ori-OHs.

Our good friend Jon Ori, who lives in Massena, is quite the chocolate lover. His wife, and marketing specialist, bought some of our chocolate covered cookies for her husband for Christmas. He loved them.... as she told me the story, it clicked. We should call them the Oris, she suggested adding the OH to the end as the play on words....voi la. They come in milk and dark covered.

We also offered chocolate for the newspapers promo for the first baby born in the new year. The ad rep needs to pick up the chocolate. Pretzels with pink and blue bears, Ori-OHs, and a 12 piece assorted.

We are headed to Atlantic City on Januyar 6-8. It is the Philiadelphia Candy Show (yes, we know it is a different state. They moved it for more excitment. We have had a great time in the past, learn a lot in the workshops, and Tom has fun at the Casinos. (Have to reward him somehow for doing all the driving.) Angela is making the trip with us, as Marylee will watch the shop and the Nezzy.

So with Valentine's Day only 21 days away...have you been thinking about a sweet gift for the sweetie. We have some cool 15 piece square boxes with a cut-out heart on the front, as well as some small, pink boxes for a little taste. We will also be looking for some cool stuff at the show. We also hope to have a new line of nuts in the shop. A local woman in Colton operates her own business, Nut Shop International. They are very yummy; a nice addition to our shop.