Click or Treat
If Kit Kats and Hershey Bar’s aren’t posh enough for your ghosts and goblins, you might want to try going a little more upscale for spooky sweets.
I visited the sites of three regional candy makers – See’s, Fannie May and Lake Champlain – to see what they were scaring up for October 31 and beyond.
The first stop was Chicago-based Fannie May (http://www.fanniemay.com). There, I was greeted with a block ad alternating promotions for Autumn Leaves chocolates and pink candies (10% of the proceeds for the later go to breast cancer research).
In the “shop online” drop down menu, I was a little alarmed to find listings for Valentine’s Day and Easter. Um, are these candies made ahead for next year’s holidays or leftovers from 2006? And if the latter, how deep are the discounts? Thankfully, the listings for both holidays are merely previews of items not available until much closer to the dates.
I move on to Halloween and click on the link for the Spooktacular candy bar, which is sold for $1.29 each. There’s also a notation that the bars are available by the case, but no price or ordering information.
Many of the other Halloween items are sold out, but the “Trick or Treat Teddy” is still available. I notice with amusement that there’s also a “Santa Bear” under the holiday listings and wonder if someone at Fannie May has the job of “bear redressing” for each new holiday.
The next stop is on the west coast, at San Francisco, CA-based See’s Candies (http://www.sees.com). There, the immediate eye catching item is the Halloween Pumpkin Assortment of brown and orange hued chocolates adorned with pumpkins and ghosts. Disappointingly, the flavor of the orange colored chocolates is….orange, not pumpkin. So much for seasonal tastes.
A free candy history book is offered with purchase of the $39.50 “Halloween Treat Pack.” Hmmm, that might be useful for research. Wonder if I could get away with expensing candy to acquire it?
See’s also has some offerings up already for the December holidays, and unlike Fannie May, recognizes that there are other celebrations that month besides Christmas. Several Chanukah items are also offered.
My final destination was back on the east coast, in Burlington, VT at Lake Champlain Chocolates (http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com). Their site was an inviting chocolate brown, an interesting contrast to the predominantly white pages of See’s and Fannie May.
Instead of offering treats specifically for Halloween, Lake Champlain proffered “Autumn” chocolates, in the shape of turkeys, cats, leaves and squares, as well as seasonal chocolates and truffles. Their only true seasonal truffle flavor – which is divine BTW, I’ve tried it – seems to be spiced pumpkin. (Or is raspberry now a fall flavor? Did I miss a memo?)
Lake Champlain also has an interesting “When to Give Chocolate” feature on its site. If birthdays, anniversaries, major holidays and the like aren’t enough occasions for you, the company offers a listing of every possible event for each month of the year one might want to share a sweet.
For example, did you know October is National Caramel Month? Or that this year’s Mother-In-Law’s Day (the fourth Sunday of the month) coincided with National Nut Day (October 22)? I can’t imagine why. (Love you Gloria!)
Personally, I’m waiting for Groundhog Day to send all my loved ones some sweets. How about you?
