It’s more or less common knowledge that Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest chocolate holidays of the year, its only other real competition for the top spot being Easter!

This year I’ve got some very tasty, affordable ideas for a Valentine’s treat for your loved ones — and yourself, too!

At the top of my list is always See’s Candies. You really just can’t go wrong, for the mere fact that they have such a huge selection of chocolate and chocolate-covered goodies that everyone can find something they like, and if you don’t have a shop close by you can order online!

I wrote about Sucré last spring and recently got another little package of heart-shaped chocolates to try out. They come in three different flavors: Red Raspberry (dark chocolate heart filled with raspberry ganache), Heart of Rose (white chocolate heart filled with rose water and island vanilla scented white chocolate ganache) and Grand Coeur (milk chocolate ganache infused with orange and triple sec coated in a dark chocolate).

Patric Chocolate had renowned chocolatier Christopher Elbow lend his talents for a special Valentine’s bonbon. The elegant four-pack of decadent chocolates are ganache-enrobed squares of Patric Chocolate available only from their site, and only until February 13th or until they run out! They’re also currently offering free shipping on orders over $50.

I love the idea behind the All-Green M&M’s, which are said to, well, enhance libido! (Not really, it’s just “one of those things,”) I think it’s cute that M&M’s is running with it!

What treats are you giving away this year?

[images: flickr; sees.com; shopsucre.com; patric-chocolate.com; mms.com]

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I always look forward to Valentine’s Day, especially with kids of my own who will be getting the usual goodie boxes just like my moms gave us! I also like to put yummy little hearts in their lunch boxes each day leading up to the 14th.

See’s is offering a $25 Gift Card for one very lucky Chocolate Bytes reader!

To Enter:

Leave a comment here telling me what you want for Valentine’s Day. That’s it!

* Contest closes at 5:00pm PST on Thursday, January 29. Winner will be notified by email and will have 24 hours to respond with mailing information before a new winner is chosen.

* Open to U.S. residents only.

* One entry per household. Multiple entries will all be discarded.

* One winner will win one $25 gift card.

* All current Bloggy Giveaways at Chocolate Bytes may be entered one time each. Good luck!

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I was recently offered the chance to try out one of See’s Candies new chocolate gifts, a cute little poinsettia box with five See’s chocolates and three chocolate balls in it. It was a nice little treat and I love that I can keep the box out for the season!

Having had two parents that worked at See’s for many years (my mom and my step-mom) and having worked seasonally there myself, we always had See’s at Christmas, particularly the Santa Boxes and foil balls. We always gave our friends the Candy Climbers (which I don’t see anymore!) or the solid chocolate bars.

There are also other Christmas and Hanukkah treats like Egg Nog Truffles (I’ve got to try these), Fudge in a pretty seasonal box, Peppermint Twists, chocolate coins and party tray.

Make sure you check out what else they offer under $10 (perfect for stocking stuffers, teachers, and kids’ friends!) and you can even do some chocolate fundraisers!

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1. I have a soft spot for the See’s Signature Red Heart. It’s such a classic, timeless Valentine’s gift and one that’s sure to please just about anyone. My mom liked it so much that we still have a “vintage” See’s heart box from the mid-60’s tucked away into storage! The satin-covered box holds two pounds of milk and dark chocolates, including Soft Centers, Nuts & Chews, Marzipan, California Brittle®, Almond Square, and Molasses Chips.



2. Hotel Chocolat has a seasonal Goody Bag that makes a fantastic gift. It comes with a Raspberry Crème chocolate mini slab (don’t let the dried raspberries scare you off – it’s delicious!), 40% milk chocolate mini slab, six seasonal chocolates, a bag of Caramel Canapés (which are my new favorites), and a milk chocolate dipper. It’s packed with so many goodies that Valentine’s will last a lot longer than just one day!



3. You may not be able to eat it but a theobromine molecule t-shirt is still one of my most favorite chocolate items! YellowIbis created this one especially for this month’s contest, but if you don’t want to wait or don’t want to enter, you can purchase one for yourself and a loved one (think how cute those would look layered over a long-sleeved tee!). They’re available in three colors — raspberry, brown and pink — and can be worn long after Valentine’s Day is over!



4. Emily’s Chocolates dark chocolate covered strawberries. They also have dark and milk chocolate covered fortune cookies (be still my heart) and you can choose friendly fortunes or love fortunes.



5. A chocolate of the month club! Now, I have no experience with this and haven’t tried the chocolate, but of course I love the idea. You can sign your loved one up for three months, six months or a full year. You’re billed monthly so it doesn’t kill you wallet in one fell swoop, and what’s better than getting chocolate delivere right to your door?

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

I can’t let a gift idea list go without mentioning my beloved See’s! See’s are so interwoven into so many of my holiday memories because my mom was a store manager for over two decades. Christmas in particular always meant Chocolate Santas, Santa Boxes, and foil chocolate balls. Our school friends always got Climber Canes from us kids.

Over the years they’ve introduced new things – Treasure Gift Bags (with milk and dark chocolate foil balls), Chocolate Snowman Boxes, Egg Nog Truffles, Candy Totes, Cinnamon Lollypops, and Sour Stars among many, many others.

And don’t forget the chocolate chips (they’re huge!) for baking and candy making!

Part One

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Yesterday was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than with chocolate?

My husband found me a chocolate cake with whipped topping frosting and chocolate over top with Oreo cookies. I was only able to get through a sliver of it for fear of sugar overload but there are plenty for leftovers. He and our twins (who helped pick it out) did well!

He also was able to take part of the day off work and took me to the mall for my birthday box of See’s. This has been a tradition for many, many years (my step-mom brought one home from work for us when we were kids — talk about a treat! — and as we got older and moved away she continued by sending gift certificates). I also got to check out the foil-covered chocolate leaves and they are very cute!

My sister also included some M&M’s and Utah Truffles in her goody box to me (including an awesome coffee mug that holds the perfect amount of morning coffee, not to mention hot chocolate in just a few more weeks!). So I’m hooked up for a good while now! Does my family know me or what?

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Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year and it also signals the start of safe mailing for chocolate, so this month’s prize is:

See’s Candies foil-covered chocolate leaves! Each box includes nine solid milk chocolate and six solid dark chocolate leaf shapes (15 pieces total) wrapped in fall-colored foil.

These little chocolates make me very happy! I have a longtime affinity for See’s — my mom started working there when I was 8, my step-mom worked there for over 20 years, and I worked there seasonally for several years as well (and as soon as the kids are old enough to take care of themselves after school I’ll be going back!). This is the first year I’ve seen these chocolate leaves and I’ll definitely be heading to the mall over the next few weeks to get some of my own!

So here’s the deal: Find me other fall/autumn themed chocolate items — it can be actual chocolate, chocolate recipes, pictures, etc. If you’ve found it online, link to it. If it’s something you own or a recipe you’ve had for years, put it in the comments (or type it up in your own weblog and put the link in the comments here). Just like last month’s contest there are two ways to enter:

Get two submissions to win: Leave a comment here with a link to other fall/autumn themed chocolate items that you have found. Then link to this contest from your own site or weblog and include the URL to the entry with your submission and you now have two chances to win!

OR

Get one submission to win: If you can’t find something chocolaty and autumn themed then just link to this contest from your own site or weblog and comment here with a link to your entry; this is good for one chance to win! (I need to be able to see it though, so make sure it’s not a locked or friends-only entry.)

However, if you have more than one weblog or site that you use to link to the contest, you may submit each one to count as separate entries.

If you live in a hot climate and are afraid these would melt if mailed to you, you can opt to wait for cooler weather and give me the go ahead to order them at that time.

That’s it! If it’s something you actually own then take a picture of it, upload it to a site like Flickr and leave the URL in the comments of this entry. Make sure you leave a valid email address with your submission (it will not be displayed on the site and will not be used for anything else), and a URL if you have one so I can feature everyone at the end of the contest.

The contest will run until September 30 at 11:59pm Pacific. A name will then be drawn from the eligible submissions on October 1 using the super technical method of pieces of paper in a hat, and the winner will be notified by email and announced here on the site.

Once again, this is open only to residents of the US and Canada. If you live elsewhere and can talk someone else into receiving and mailing the chocolate on to you (the second mailing at your cost!), that’s fine, but I don’t count!

Disclaimers

~ The winner will need to provide me with their mailing address to have the chocolate sent to, so if you’re not comfortable with that then please don’t enter (though it will never be used for anything else!).

~ You’re stuck with chocolate leaves — no substitutions or equal value cash-outs.

~ I’m not responsible for melted chocolate (see above). See’s does bounce back well after a bit of time in the fridge, though.

~ You are responsible for any applicable taxes.

~ I am not responsible for shipment problems, shipment re-scheduling, or gastrointestinal distress from eating all the leaves in one sitting.

Good luck!!

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In The Lunchbox

The most obvious is chocolate in the lunchbox. Mass Recipes has a Lunchbox Chocolate Banana Snackin’ Bar that looks pretty good.

My girls also like the regular old mini candybars for a post-sandwich treat. Just make sure you pack it close to the ice pack for a little while longer.

I came across this Charlie & the Chocolate Factory old-school style lunchbox from Lunchbox.com. I didn’t even know they made the metal boxes anymore.

Another fun way to mix things up a little: Instead of plain old peanut butter and jelly, spread peanut butter on one slice of bread and Nutella on the other.

Chocolate for Teachers

I haven’t met a single teacher that doesn’t love chocolate. My faithful stand-by for all things gift-giving is a See’s Candies gift card. I started off giving Starbucks cards a couple of times to my kids’ teachers and in the thank you notes they always mentioned using it on hot chocolate. I decided coffee is apparently more hit-or-miss than I thought and that chocolate is the universally appreciated gift. So that’s what they get and you can bet there have been no complaints! The gift cards can be used for anything in the shop, including pre-packaged boxes or pack your own.

If a gift basket is more your style Velvet Ribbon Baskets has chocolate-themed gift baskets ranging from $18.95 to $69.95.

Chocolate Electronics

Chocolate electronics? In a probably not-so-weird way when something is named “Chocolate” it makes me want to check it out that much more. Case in point: The Verizon LG Chocolate phone. I don’t need a cell phone but this one’s pretty and shiny and with the 1.3 megapixel cam, microSD slot, and a bunch of music features this is perfect for the high school or college student.

And how about the new colorful Dell Inspiron laptops? They have a brown one named “Espresso Brown” which is really calling my name. Maybe for Christmas 2009.

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It goes without saying that I’m a big fan and though I do it in moderation, I try to have some chocolate every day! I will try to do the site justice as I bring you chocolatey news, products, reviews, and recipes!

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