It's Epidemic!

There’s a new epidemic going around. I’m going to call it “Carsonitis.” It is the inflammation of the desire to use CARSON candy bars for all of our family and friends special events and celebrations.

The latest victim: my mother. It started innocently enough last fall when she ordered, for the first time, special candy bars celebrating the autumn season for a church retreat.

Since winter isn’t much fun around these parts, she was safe until spring fever hit. As if on cue, Carsonitis flared up. A luncheon was held a couple weeks ago by the local YMCA Pioneers group, of which Mom and her husband Bill are members. She chose to make adaptations to a birthday bar, turning it into a springtime celebration bar. She put them in baskets on the luncheon tables.

Afterwards she told me, “Everyone loved the candy bars! They thought they were so pretty, and I enjoyed giving them! It was fun!”

Summer is just around the corner. My sister will be celebrating her new Master’s degree. I bet Carsonitis will strike again!

By Dianne Beeson

Bang Birthday Bash

Every year on my birthday my friends and I get together. Usually we go to one of our normal hang out spots. However, this year I decided I wanted to go to Bang Nightclub , which is located in the Soap Box District  of Cincinnati. I just knew it would be a great place to just hang out, my friends weren't so sure about it. Friends of theirs had recently opened up AVS , an art gallery across the street, and had gone. So they figured it couldn't be that bad, besides it was  my birthday.

So finally we had a good group together, we reserved a table and a big party bus.  It was going to be a great night. Pam, a good friend of mine here at CARSON , who was going with, asked if I was going to design any wrappers for the event. I gave it a quick thought and decided to create a mini wrapper.  I was worried we wouldn't be able to take them in. So Pam, being the good friend that she is, put them under her arm and in we went. They looked so nice spread out all over the table. They were a nice conversation piece!

Although I had to convince some friends to go, looking back at pictures that night, everyone had an amazing time! When we left there were only three candy bars left!

By Kelley Fulmer

Endless Possibilities

Production associate Melinda joined the CARSON team in February. Melinda’s husband, Dan plays drums and sings for a local band called Crunch. As a treat for guests at their recent shows they ordered Minis with their special message--a friendly public service reminder wrapped around chocolate!

I ordered the "Caution" candy bars as advertisement for my husband's band, putting their name and website on the wrappers. When I passed them out, everyone loved them. Some people saved them." -Melinda C.

Suddenly, she was hooked.  She also ordered the Butterfly Kisses for decoration to set out on the tables for a 44th birthday party. She added balloons and a tablecloth. It was very decorative.

But Melinda didn’t stop there! She recently ordered minis and organza bags for Mother's Day. Her plan was to fill the bags with the Mother's Day minis and some kisses for a special Mother's Day treat to add to some flowers.

Realizing the endless possibilities,  Melinda also intends to fill more of the organza bags with minis for her son's high school graduation to pass out to some of his friends. She also has some standard size graduation bars in mind to complete the party!

Fundraiser Thanks

My mom, Carol Stevie, is the director of the Catholic Inner-City Schools Education Fund, or CISE, which raises money for scholarships for Catholic schools in poor neighborhoods of Cincinnati. This year they raised over $3 million for the Catholic Inner-City schools! It takes a lot of hard work to raise that much money, so as a thank you, she ordered some Thanks A Million bars for all the volunteers that had helped with the 2007 CISE Campaign.
A party was held on March 6^th at the Queen City Club where they handed out goodie bags, which included the Thanks A Million bars. They were a big hit with everyone!

A Surprise for My Mom

My mother was in for a big surprise.  My father, David Bottles and I had been planning a surprise party for her 50th birthday.  It was held at Café Marie in Perrysburg, OH.  With the help of Mary Corbett and Bev Wagner, we decorated the restaurant with balloons, rearranged some tables to accommodate everyone and placed a Carson personalized wrapped bar at each seat.  Then friends and family started piling in.  At one point an older couple who I did not know walked in the door asking if they could get a table.  I had to break the news to them and tell them that the room was closed for a private party and they sent their best wishes on to my Mom. 

My Mom had no idea that there was a party being held on her behalf.  She thought she was stopping by the restaurant to congratulate a newly ordained Deacon from our parish.  Once she walked through the door, she thought the party was for the couple my parents had driven with.  This couple, Victor and Theresa Defilippis, had helped in the whole scheme of things.  My Mom was shocked by the party and we definitely received the reaction we were looking for.  Once she finally made her way around to everyone I showed her the invitation and the Caution bars we had made for her.  Both of these were another surprise for her, and she sure loved them.  The favors and party were a great success.

“My surprise 50th birthday party was very surprising.   I had no idea Pamela and David were throwing me a party.  In fact, it took several minutes after being surprised that I "got" it.  The standard size BRIGHT YELLOW Hershey’s bars announcing I was a half-century old were a hit with everyone.  I sure couldn't try to hide the fact that I turned 50 with those bars!!  I even sent some to my family out of town who also enjoyed them immensely!!”

A First Peek at Our New Baby Shower Designs

Designing wrappers here at Carson can be a lot of fun, especially when you're privileged to create a special one for family and friends. Just recently, the Carson Graphic Design Team was assigned the task of creating new Baby Shower wrapper designs. I was excited because a friend of mine was going to have a baby soon and wanted a way to thank everyone for coming to her baby shower and also share an ultrasound image she had of her beautiful baby girl. She also wanted to include a meaningful and very appropriate bible verse. Everyone at the shower enjoyed receiving one of these sweet thank you chocolate bars.

“The candy bars were a huge, huge success! Everybody loved them. They were great. I'm going to put one in her scrapbook...”

Thank you so much,
Laurie

This wrapper and many other new and unique baby shower designs will soon be available at wrappedhersheys.com. Watch for our fun new Graduation and First Communion wrappers too.

Football & Chocolate

I run the wrapping machine here at Carson.  This past August my 4 year old grandson Damien started playing football for the New Miami Vikings.  It has been a very interesting summer.  The boys have had a good time.  I wanted to do something special for them, so of course I ordered candy bars.  I put their team picture on the front with a congratulatory message on the back.  The boys really liked them.  Most said they would “save them forever and ever.”  So if you’d like to see some real good football, go watch your local little pro team.  They are awesome.

Vicki Evans
#32’s Grandma

Hello,

I am attaching a picture of my son's Football team.  They recently received your bars with their team picture on it complements of Vicki Evans, one of your employee's.  I wanted to see what other products you offered and in viewing your web site came across a blog.  I was a little upset that I could not share their picture with everyone on the page but would like it if someone would.  They loved it that they had their "own" candy bar.  My son did not want to eat his so he could "keep it forever and ever".  Thankfully she handed out 2 for each child.  I think you have a wonderful product and will keep you in mind for future events.  And these are the faces that won me over....

Thanks,
Jessica Whitaker
Proud Parent of #3

The Chamberlain Wedding

On September 2, Kim (Bires) Chamberlain, who works in the marketing department at Carson, and Trent Chamberlain were married in Grand Rapids, Ohio. Scott & Sharon Frederick, Jeff Wiseman, Sylvia & Randy Thornburg, Pam Bottles, and my husband, Joe, & I all drove up there to support Kim & Trent.  They had an outdoor wedding in the grotto at Nazareth Hall.  The weather was perfect and Kim looked beautiful.

The reception afterwards was inside Nazareth Hall in the Ladyglen Ballroom.  It was a very interesting building with a lot of history as it was formerly a military school.  Each of the reception tables were set with a little box for each guest filled with personalized minis that I had the pleasure of designing with Kim.

We all had a good time eating and talking during the reception.  Unfortunately, I had promised Kim that I would dance at her reception and she held me to it.  I had a great time, though, and it looked like everyone else did too.  It was a lot of fun to take a road trip and to watch one of my friends get married.

-Laura Ash

Congratulations to Matt & Shannon Riley

Congratulations to Matt and Shannon Riley on the birth of their beautiful baby girl, Josie Leigh Riley.

Josie was born on 9/20/07 at 6:47 p.m. and weighed 8lbs 11.4oz and was 21 in long.

Extreme Wrapper Design - Carson Style

At the beginning of this year, I was put in charge of creating all of the corporate and custom orders.  At first, I was very nervous because many of these orders are very large and I was afraid I would make a mistake.  Now, I look at it as a fun and sometimes challenging break from the everyday orders.

So far, it has been a very rewarding experience.  My favorite custom order by far has to be the one that I created for my own wedding.  I was able to use pieces from my invitation to create a unique wrapper that perfectly coordinated with the rest of my wedding.  I think it is cool that no one else has ever had that same design.

Sometimes it is a challenge to get the perfect wrapper.  Whether is it trying to get Carola, who emails the proofs to the customers, to agree with my design choices or if it is having to “jiggy” the design back and forth so it will cut correctly, we always get it right in the end.  I can’t think of anything better as a designer than knowing that there are people all over the world enjoying something that I have created.

- Laura Ash

Feliz Cumpleaños Papi!

Feliz Cumpleaños Papi!

Todos los cumpleaños son especiales, pero todos sabemos que cuando alguien celebra 50 Años de vida es aun más especial. Y en esta ocasión fue mi Padre quien el pasado 3 de junio celebró sus 50 años. Yo tuve la oportunidad de viajar a mi querida Costa Rica, para asistir a su fiesta de cumpleaños. Esta fue una perfecta ocasión para compartir con mi familia algunos de nuestros chocolates personalizados.

Yo seleccione el diseño llamado POPARTY; este es uno de mis diseños favoritos, porque está lleno de color, además la línea que dice “Original desde 1957” es la descripción perfecta de su personalidad. También le llevé chocolates a mi mami (¡no se fuera a poner celosa!), su cumpleaños será en julio y aunque yo no podré estar presente, mi dulce obsequio, así como mi espíritu y buenos deseos serán parte de su celebración.

Carola Stiver

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Happy Birthday Dad!

Every birthday is a very special occasion.  However, everyone knows that it is even more special when somebody celebrates their 50th birthday. Last June 3rd was my dad's 50th birthday and I had the opportunity to travel to my beloved Costa Rica to attend his party. That was a perfect occasion for me to share some of our personalized candy bars with my family.

I selected the design named POPARTY for my dad.  This design is one of my favorites because it is colorful and I like that it has“Original since 1957!” on the wrapper.  It is the perfect description of his personality.  I also took some chocolates for my mom (otherwise she would have been jealous!).  Her 49th birthday will be in July.  Although I will not be able to attend her party, my “sweet” gift as well as my heart and best wishes will be part of her celebration.

Carola Stiver