As a consequence, this is a very short post.

We have just finished creating chocolates for Children’s Party Bags that will be eaten on the 22 January! This was for a new customer and I’m always a little ‘apprehensive’ because I just want people’s expectations to be met. I think we did that with this order as Deb’s comment proves:

That’s great, thank you sooo much for all your help! Will definitely use you again sometime!  Deb

Here is the chocolate bar we designed.

All ready for the Party Bags

This is just to say a short (1 minute) Thank You to all our supporters this year.

We wish you a restful Christmas and exciting 2011.

There's lots of sheep in Shropshire!

1. “Beware of chocolate squares, cos they make you round”
Me

2. “Life without chocolate, is life lacking something important.
Marcia Colman and Frederic Morton American writers

An example of a Christmas bar

3. “The 12 step Chocoholics Programme: Never be more than 12 steps away from Chocolate”

4, “Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.”
John Q Tullius

5. “There is no Chocolates Anonymous because no-one wants to quit”
Unknown

6. “There’s nothing better than a good friend … except a good friend with Chocolate”
Linda Grayson “The Pickwick Papers”

7. “Life is like a box of chocolates – full of nuts!”
Unknown

8. “If I were a headmaster, I would get rid of the history teacher and get a chocolate teacher instead and my pupils would study a subject that affected all of them.”

Roald Dahl British writer

9. “All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt!”

Lucy Van Pelt – From “Peanuts” by Charles Schulz

My favourite – that’s easy – it’s the first one and I’m a testament to it! Ha ha

See you next time

• Personalised Christening Gifts
• The perfect addition to children’s party bags
• Personalised Wedding Favours
• A lightweight addition with a Christmas card
• Promotional gifts to woo your customers
• A thank You to someone who has helped you this year
• Invitations to a product launch
• The opening of a new gallery

You could even use them as place cards at a special dinner party – now that beats a traditional place name any day of the year!
BUT, you do not have to wait for a special occasion to give a gift of chocolate. A meaningful quotation, a photo or a short phrase will be appreciated at any time.
Go on, do something different and special for someone today.Have

There is an assumption here that all you lovely folks that are reading this Blog like chocolate! You must email me if this isn’t the case – Ha ha. So whilst the post isn’t about personalised chocolate as such, it is about chocolate in general and how well you know your choccie bars!

So, the task is to decided which famous chocolate bars you think the description is referring to. For example if the description was ‘Outside Meal’ then this could be describing a ‘Picnic’ bar. Get the idea? Okay, so off we go.

Email me your answers and I’ll send you a personalised choc bar of your choice for whomever you want. Go to it and I’ll speak to you soon.

Photo Credit: J Jones

White chocolate was developed after World War 1 and has grown in popularity since then.
It is often eaten by people who don’t like milk chocolate.

White chocolate is a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter and milk solids, but doesn’t contain any
cocoa solids, unlike milk chocolate.

It has a similar texture to milk chocolate because cocoa butter has a low melting point
and so will easily melt in the mouth.

As white chocolate doesn’t contain any cocoa solids, it also doesn’t contain any caffeine. This means it can be eaten by people who aren’t able to take caffeine, for medical reasons. (Caffeine is only found in cocoa solids)

Some white chocolate is not technically chocolate at all. For example, that used for decorating or coating, known as confectioner’s coating, is made from hydrogenated vegetable fats. You can tell the difference because the colour is white rather than the creamy colour of the usual white chocolate. I haven’t seen any white chocolate that can be made into a personalised chocolate bar, but I’m sure someone will tell me where I can get it from? Until next time, happy chomping!

Photo Credit: Our thanks to Nestle

I have had a couple of people recently enquiring as to whether or not it’s possible to personalise their choc bar in different languages and so I thought I’d have a bit of fun with this and share some (hopefully) useful translations with you.

What you’ve to do is guess what the language is.

In all cases the message is Happy Birthday.    

And okay, there’s a prize for the person who emails me with the first correct  (or mostly correct) answer. To give you a clue – they are all spoken on the shores of the British Isles. You can email me at caroline@wrappedinyourownwords.com

1. Penblwydd Hapus
2. Là breith sona dhuit
3. Penn-bloedh Lowen
4. Laa-ruggyree sonney dhyt
5. Feliĉan naskiĝtagon
6. Lá breithe shona duit

And for those people who have asked, here are some translations of the word Chocolate.

French:  chocolat
Spanish:  chocolate
Italian:  cioccolato
German:  Schokolade
Dutch:  chocolade
Portuguese:  chocolate
Esperanto:  cokolado
Danish:  chokolade
Polish:  czekolada

I look forward to all you clever people emailing me your answers.

There are loads of ways to do this ranging from the small inexpensive gifts like pens or calendars, to the more expensive and luxurious gifts to show your appreciation to long-standing customers and/or exceptional employees. However, whoever you are giving the gifts to, you will be promoting your company and increasing your brand by the use of your company logo or message.

However, before you rush out and buy some random gifts, you do need to plan and organise your promotional campaign in order to get the best results. You should consider the following:

• The person who will be receiving the gift
• The budget for the gift
• How long will the delivery take (particularly important if you are using personalised items)
• Should you look at quantity over quality or vice versa?
• Is the time of year an important factor? (You don’t want to give out a Sun Screen sample in the depths of Winter)
• Also take account of the seasonal holidays e.g. Easter

Personalised Chocolate is universally liked by everyone – well, everyone that I’ve met! You can use them for many types of events such as trade shows, exhibitions, product launches, Thank Yous at a company AGM, or even as a reward for customers spending over X amount with you.

All promotional chocolates can be branded with your company logo, and usually with your marketing message or a personal message you want to communicate. Speak to your supplier as they can usually guide you as to the best ‘attention grabbing’ design or message.

What’s more, using Personalised Chocolate to promote your company offers a lot of fun and impact for a low price. Chocolate is enjoyed by young or old, so go on, try something different today and try a Personalised Chocolate bar to add sweetness to your marketing campaign.

A personalised chocolate gift is an excellent way to communicate a personal message to your customers, friends, conference delegates, wedding guests – whoever it is that you are wanting to make a connection with.

So what do you say?  The main thing to think about is what do you want to communicate with your message and here are some ideas.

A birthday bar for the boys

1. Do you want to give them information about a forthcoming event? You can use them to let people know in advance to save the date for a special occasion, such as a Wedding or a party. Or perhaps you want to use the personalised chocolate as an invitation. This is definitely a novel and excellent way for people to remember the occasion.

2. How about using them as a reward for being a loyal customer. Thank You gifts for your customers can create even more loyalty and you can be sure that your customers will tell their friends. You can design a specific message to the occasion and add an incentive to re-order your services again.

3. What about using them as a goal setting tool. This can be done with children or adults alike and can be linked to a serious or fun activity. How about something like – ‘By the 22 March we will have lost 14 pounds and we can eat our chocolate as a reward!’ Ha ha!

4. You know when you want to send a special message to a friend and usually send a greeting card? Well, how about sending them a personalised chocolate bar instead. You could even send a ‘Get Well’ bar; just think how nice it would be to receive chocolate instead of grapes!