Here’s a thought that will make most of you happy, and maybe some of you a little disgusted….
That’s right, I said:
All You Can Eat Chocolate!
All you can eat chocolate is not just something I made up, it’s a real phenomenon here in Beaufort SC. Once a year, the local candy store, The Chocolate Tree, has an all you can eat night. It is a happy event, let me tell you, and an experience like no other. Fifteen dollars gets you all of chocolate you can eat. Prefer Jelly Bellys? You can have your fill of those too. Or saltwater taffy. Or peanut brittle, or all of the above. There are too “seatings” for all you can eat chocolate night, and you’ll find a long line of people waiting for the doors to open before each one. Since it’s a BYOB event, some of those folks have bottles of milk, water, and even champagne with them to help wash down the chocolate.
The event started on a summer’s night 29 years ago when the Chocolate Tree’s owner was still struggling to get the store off of the ground. She got a cut off notice from the power company and didn’t have the money to pay the bill. Since all of her chocolate would melt in the blistering Beaufort heat if she lost power, she called everyone she knew and asked them to come down and eat all of the chocolate they wanted for ten dollars. Not only did she raise enough money to pay the bill, her friends had such a good time that they begged her to make it an annual event.
This chocolate is really delicious too! I’m in the habit of giving Chocolate Tree chocolate for gifts, so you’re likely to get a box of it from me if I’m ever one of your house guests, or if you ever teach one of my children. If that’s not likely to happen, you can get a box from me anyway with this happy, happy, happy giveaway! Consider it your own personal all you can eat night. (Because really, you can’t eat all that much chocolate in one sitting anyway! I usually attend just for the happy atmosphere, but after about three or four pieces, I am usually done!)
Now, I know the BEST gift for writers and other busy people out there is what Debbi Ridpath Ohi captures below in her aptly named comic, Will Write for Chocolate. (Writers especially will be relate to these comics and can follow them on FB by clicking HERE.)
But since I can’t really give you time from here (and besides, I don’t have any to spare!), I hope this will make you happy: We’re giving away a one pound box of chocolate from The Chocolate Tree in honor of all you can eat night, (which is happening tonight…) The winner can select from one of two or three varieties of one pound boxes, or you can special order. Maybe I will even take you on a virtual shopping trip to pick out your own… assuming the technology will work for us. The point is… you get free chocolate!
And we’re making things super easy for this GIVEAWAY, since the whole point is to make you happy.
Giveaway Details:
To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment citing something that makes you happy!
Contest ends on midnight, Monday, August 26.
One name will be randomly drawn from an interesting hat on Tuesday, August 27.
We will ship the chocolate anywhere in the continental US.
We highly recommend that the winner opt to have it shipped a little later in the year, when the risk of melting isn’t so great.
While I would love for you to like my Facebook page and Sudipta’s, and we’d love for you to follow this blog and follow us on Twitter (You can easily do all of that right here in the right hand sidebar), all you have to do to enter this giveaway is to leave a comment about something that makes you happy! We highly recommend that the winner opt to have it shipped a little later in the year, when the risk of melting isn’t so great.
We look forward to reading your happy comments! 🙂
My six-year old reading to me, and asking to stay up to read some more.
My family makes me happy, all of them, husband, kiddos, 5 dogs, 10 cats, brothers, nephews, nieces, sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, mother-in-law, father-in-law, parents, and all of their 4 legged family members. I love my family!!
My spunky, jack russell-poodle, Oliver, makes me very happy. I call him my happy pill. 🙂
Advice from Irma Bombeck: If you have teenagers, get a dog. At least someone will be happy to see you when you get home.
Spending time with my sister and eating desserts make me happy.
Love returned from those I love 🙂
Dancing my face off. Also, little kids telling stories.
Aside from chocolate? Reading makes me happy!
Nothing makes me happier than seeing smiles on the faces of my special-needs grandkids.
Oh, girls, SO many things make me happy (seeing my son and new daughter-in-law so happy just thrills me!), but I have to tell you…along the lines of Debbie’s comic, one of the things that tops my list is when someone I know is paying attention and cares enough to do something for me that I need—without my having to ask. Only my mother and a couple of dear friends do it and I’m VERY grateful for it—and them!
There is nothing in this world that makes me happier than being able to see my puppy, Princess, when I get home and to see her wagging that tail out of pure excitement to see me too!
Both years I’ve been to the Beaufort Film Fest, The Chocolate Tree provided coupons for a free piece of DELICIOUS chocolate, and I gobbled mine right up. The all you can eat night sounds amazing. I mean, just the thought of that makes me happy. But besides chocolate, another thing that makes me happy are my dogs. They bring a smile to my face with their silliness no matter what my mood.
Going on vacation with my entire family to a tropical island. I miss my collegiate daughters!
Rice Krispie Treats make me happy. 🙂
The memory of attending all-you-can-eat chocolate night makes me happy. Next time we will take more champagne!
Spending time with my friends makes me happy
My husband and puppy make me happy!
I’m a freaking lucky woman, and there’s a lot of things that make me happy.
One of them a few months ago was sitting next to a super-friendly published author at the New England SCBWI event. Oh yeah, that was Kami Kinard!
(Do I get extra points for brown-nosing?) 🙂
This contest has officially ended. Wow Ladies! Thanks for all of the happy thoughts. The winner will be announced later today … but first I must find an interesting hat.