Nifty Fifty Surprise

It’s been non-stop surprise parties for my family.  Last fall my Mom turned 50 and had a surprise party; this past April my Dad joined her at the half-century mark.  At first my Mom and I were thinking of waiting a year or so to throw my Dad’s party to make it a real surprise however, we decided to brave it and only wait two months.  We chose Saturday June 21 for the date and my Aunt Shirley (my Dad’s sister) offered to host the party at her place.  Friday before the party, I drove to my hometown and stayed at my Aunt’s house.  My Dad had no idea I was home.  Then I called my Mom to see what my parents were planning on doing that night.  I had to make sure I would not get caught in town.  Thank goodness they planned on staying in and watching a movie.  My Aunt and I were able to go out to dinner and then hit up Target.

Awhile back my Dad’s eldest sister, my Aunt Sue, offered him a round of golf for his birthday present.  It just so happened that the day that would work out best was Saturday June 21 (hmmmm…. coincidence or not).  My Dad just thought he was having a normal Saturday where he would golf with his sister Sue, and then head over to his sister Shirley’s house for a cook-out/birthday party for two of her sons.  To his surprise when he came walking through the door he would see friends and family there to celebrate his 50th.  Perhaps he didn’t look as surprised as my Mom did back in September, but I’m sure he was just hiding it.  Of course, we couldn’t celebrate his 50th without some great wrappers.  They were made to look like his 1964 VW Bug Convertible.  The background color was Bahama Blue with a dark green license plate that said “Nifty Fifty” in the center.  Once I told my Mom the idea for the wrappers, she also had a cake done with a Bahama Blue VW Bug on it.  All in all I think everyone had a great time and there were some great memories made!

Candy Capital

In June, Sharon and I took the girls to New York City for their first trip to the Big Apple. It was a real treat. Naturally, we did all of the touristy things...well, not all of them, that would take a real long time and we only had a few days...but we did see a lot: Battery Park, Ground Zero, The NYSE, Soho, Rockefeller Center, and of course Central Park. We saw two Broadway shows: Legally Blonde, which was really fun, and Wicked. But we also enjoyed some of the “sweeter” things New York City has to offer.

Seredipity is a famous hangout for "sweet tooths" of all ages. Everyone from celebrities to simple folk have enjoyed a treat there. They also have the World’s Most Expensive Golden Opulence Sundae. Very close to Serendipity is the Mecca of Candy, Dylan's Candy Bar.

If you go to NYC for any reason whatsoever, business, pleasure or otherwise, you must go to Dylan’s. Needless to say, my daughters absolutely loved the store with candy abounding, and enjoyed some great ice cream treats from the café while they were there. They even left with some “candy couture” to wear back home. The Project Runway Season Four Hershey Dresses are on display in the window and many stop to get their picture taken with them. It was really fun to watch.

Hershey also has a wonderful store right in the middle of Times Square, and right across the street from M&M World.  These two candy giants go head to head on the busiest intersection in America, and it is us candy lovers that win.

In New York City, you can actually go on a “chocolate tour” where you can be ferried to taste some of the greatest tasting chocolates the world has to offer...some day I am going to make a point to take the sweet tour, I promise you.

Not only is New York City the melting pot, it is the candy capital !

Special August Occasions

Look who's a perfect fit for our August birthdays!

Hot anniversaries under the bright August sun!

Around the World

A question we are asked commonly is, “Do you ship internationally?” The answer is, “Absolutely! We can ship nearly anywhere in the world.” What often goes hand in hand with international shipping is printing wrappers in another language. Can we do it? Of course!

We’ve made many friends around the world over the years, including Jetteke from The Netherlands. Jetteke recently ordered a birth announcement in Dutch for her third child, Timo. After receiving her order Jetteke shared:

Thank you very much. So far we have had great responses: “I have never seen such a birth announcement.”, “How original!” and “How does the chocolate taste?” Again thank you very much for the great service, we will recommend your company to our friends should they ask." Kind regards,  Wim and Jetteke.

If you’re interested in international shipping or a custom wrapper in your language, email us at service@carsonbars.com. Let us know where you live and what you are interested in ordering and our customer service associates will make recommendations based upon time in transit as to what shipping method is best, and provide a shipping cost quote. For wrappers in another language, we’ll ask that you send us your text translation and our graphic design team will handle the rest. We look forward to helping you celebrate--no matter where you are!

The CARSON Museum

In the beginning, our shelves were void. And darkness and tears were upon the faces of the people. And Scott said, "Let there be a museum!" And there was a museum. And the people saw that it was good; and they smiled. Granted, it took a lot longer than 6 days to create; but why fuss over such a small detail as time when it comes to something as jim-dandy as the CARSON museum? After all, it is the first thing our customers see when they walk in our door. It has to be good.

The sundry and diverse items for the museum have been collected gradually over a period of years and carefully stored in anticipation of the mega remodeling effort that took place over the '07 - '08 winter. Once the renovation was completed, display cases were brought in and strategically arranged. It was then time to sift through the boxes of Hershey memorabilia that had been in systematic accumulation. Everything was labeled, cataloged, dated and described to the best of our ability. When we weren't sure of something, we fabricated suppositions, that is to say: we guessed. Hey, it's our museum.

What's in the museum, you may wonder? It's a real soup-to-nuts mix of every type of Hershey memorabilia we could get our chocolate smeared fingers on. Over the years, Hershey has put out a mind boggling variety of tins in every imaginable shape and size. We have tons of them, and the boggled minds to prove it. We've also got place mats and lip gloss, music boxes and playing cards. We've got hockey pucks, soap boxes and Christmas ornaments. We've got books and pillows and costumes. Our pieces de resistance--dare I say the crown jewels of our collection--are the dresses assembled out of Hershey wrappers (among other things, all Hershey) made on the popular TV show Project Runway.

We're very proud of our little museum; we've put a lot of effort into making it the finest display of Hershey memorabilia this side of Hershey, PA. We have no doubt that our CARSON museum will soon take its rightful place among other noteworthy tourist attractions such as the World's Largest Ball of String and the Upside-down House. Maybe someday, we'll even get our own freeway sign.

Eat More Chocolate!

As you may know from previous posts, eating chocolate in moderation can be healthy for your heart and blood pressure. Now, studies suggest there are even more benefits to this sweet treat, including fighting cavities, increasing moods and lowering cholesterol.

An extract of cocoa powder that occurs naturally in chocolates and teas may be more effective than flouride in toothpaste to fight cavities. The white crystalline powder extract has a chemical makeup similar to caffeine, and helps to harden teeth enamel, making teeth less susceptible to decay. It may be another two to four years before a cavity-fighting cocoa extract toothpaste is on the market.

Researchers believe chocolate's feel-good factor comes from the same positive neurotransmitters found in ice creams, caffeine and theobromine. Chocolate also contains tryptophan, an essential amino acid connected with serotonin, a mood-modulating neurotransmitter. Companies are currently making headway with mood-boosting and stress-reducing chocolate. Under health claims legislation, companies that make claims about a food's physiological effect must have scientific documentation to support their claims.

Researchers have compared levels of cholesterol in groups of people who eat sterol and non-sterol fortified chocolate. Only those who ate the sterol chocolate recorded significantly lower levels of cholesterol. Plant sterols, which are natural compounds found in certain vegetable oils, cereals, fruits and veggies, have also been known to be a safe and effective way of lowering cholesterol levels. The American Heart Association estimates nearly half of all Americans have high cholesterol levels, yikes! Eat more chocolate!

Summer Fun Remembered

Nothing makes a personalized wrapper quite like a great photograph; and when I saw this wrapper it put an instant smile on my face. I have a very similar photograph of my grandmother posing while sunbathing just like this. It’s always been one of my favorite pictures of her, partly because we spent a great deal of time together lying on a blanket in the sun when I was younger, and partly because I was intrigued by the fashionable swim suit she donned.

CARSON can use your picture representing a treasured memory from the past and create a wrapper design to help you celebrate today. So as you consider a special way to commemorate a birthday, retirement or anniversary of someone special, be sure to dig around for an old photo to include.

The Great Month of July

The beginning of July was filled with excitement.  From Scott and Sharon celebrating their 5 year anniversary here at CARSON wrappedhersheys.com to another Bingo winner.

Cheers to our second round Bingo winner, Dee. Once again the winner was not seen running throughout the building yelling “BINGO”.  Someday I hope to see a winner doing this and am able to capture the moment.  The third round has already begun and everyone is patiently waiting for a winner. Congratulations Dee!

The 1st of July was Scott and Sharon’s 5th year owning CARSON.  Just recently we had a company meeting and to their surprise a slideshow was shown in their honor. The slideshow was composed of pictures from now and then to even videos telling heartfelt stories of the great owners.  One of our fine graphic designers took the time to compose them all together.  Happy Anniversary Scott and Sharon!

Reds Rookie Success League

A six week camp, funded by the Reds organization, held two mornings each week to give under privileged kids a chance to play baseball and learn about good character. This is the second year for this camp here in Butler County and I'm proud to say I have been a part of it both years.

Since I'm working at CARSON wrappedhersheys.com I decided that this year I would order minis for all the kids with our baseball wrapper and have one of our character words printed on them.  This particular week the word was RESPECT.  I placed my order with Michelle and to my surprise she later came and said Scott would donate the bars!  How generous!!! After lunch at the end of the day we passed out the bars to many delightful squeals!!

They were a hit! (no pun intended)  I know our hard work of teaching good character is paying off because as I was running to my car to come to work the kids were yelling (on their own) "Thanks Coach Evans, we love the candy!"  WOW!!  How fortunate I am to be a part of such a great program AND a great company.

Thanks Scott and Sharon!! You're Awesome!!

Beach Birthday

The dynamic coastal city of Huntington Beach, California with its sunny Mediterranean climate and idyllic setting, is home to more than 195,000 residents. Internationally known as Surf City, Huntington Beach boasts eight miles of scenic, accessible beach front, the largest stretch of uninterrupted beach front on the West Coast. Tourism remains a vital part of the economy, as over 11 million visitors flock to the city during the summer, on weekends and for special events.

Recently, CARSON wrappedhersheys.com  was asked to help create a birthday bar for Millie who would be celebrating her 80th Birthday on a beautiful pier at Huntington Beach, one of her lifelong favorite places. Millie’s personalized candy bar turned out wonderfully as one of my own personal favorites!  We were able to add a picture of the beautiful Millie to the front our Hang 10 design to add a perfect touch to her beach bash.  All I was thinking was… “Wow, on a jewel of a beach with chocolate….what better way could you spend a birthday?!”

---here are the comments from the customer regarding her wrapper:

We celebrated Millie's 80th birthday right at the pier of Huntington Beach (surf city USA), CA.  This is one of Millie’s favorite beaches.  She has spent countless hours throughout the years walking on this very beach.  The chocolate wrapper was the perfect touch for this very special birthday.  Everyone enjoyed looking at that picture and many of them remember being there and said how it was the perfect choice. Getting together with friends and family that she hadn’t seen in years was the high point of her evening, but to this day (almost a month later) she still looks at the chocolate bars we had leftover and is in disbelief that they turned out so beautiful.  As you can see by both her picture on the wrapper and this picture of her party, if there is something Millie knows how to do, it’s having fun.  I assure you she does it really well. Thank you again for helping me make Millie's birthday party a smashing success.” -Maria V.