Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Laketown Chocolates

Whether you are Irish or just pretend you are on St. Patrick’s Day, we hope your day is filled with luck, parades, corned beef and cabbage, green beer, and shamrock shakes.

How much do you really know about St. Patrick’s Day and the Irish?

• St. Patrick’s Day is the traditional religious feast day of Saint Patrick.
• 34.7 million U.S. residents have Irish ancestry. That’s more than 7 times the actual population of Ireland.
• Irish is the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, German is the first.
• Approximately 144,588 current U.S. residents were born in Ireland.
• Roughly 26.1 billion pounds of beef and 2.3 billion pounds of cabbage were produced in the United States in 2009.
• The first St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S. took place on March 17, 1762, when Irish soldiers that served in the English military marched through New York City.
• More than 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades are held across the United States. New York City and Boston have the largest celebrations.
• There are seven places in the United States named after the shamrock,  including Mount Gay-Shamrock, WV; Shamrock, TX; Shamrock Lakes, IN; and Shamrock, OK.
• Sixteen U.S. places share the name of Ireland’s capital, Dublin.

Enjoy your day and even if you aren’t Irish, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day like you are.

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Fact Source: http://www.history.com

Get Dipped on National Potato Chip Day

Saturday, March 14th is National Potato Chip Day. It’s just another one of those wacky national holidays where potato chip lovers across the country rally together to celebrate this most amazing salty snack.

Fun Facts about Potato Chips*:

• The potato chip as we know it, was invented in 1853 when a customer at a restaurant kept complaining that is potatoes were too thick and soggy. The chef, George Crum, came up with the idea to slice the potatoes extremely thin, fried them to a crisp and topped them off with salt. The customer loved them and they soon became a regular item on the restaurants menu. They called them “Saratoga Chips.”
• Mike-Sell’s Potato Chip Company was founded in 1910 in Dayton, OH and deems itself the oldest potato chip company in the U.S. However, New England based Tri-Sum Potato Chips, originally founded in 1908 as Leominster Potato Chip Company also claims that title.
• The first potato chip queen was crowned in 1946, and she had a court of five members.
• Flavored potato chips starting popping up in the 1950’s.
• Potato Chips have been considered America’s top snack food spot for over 50 years! 
• A potato chip factory can make 7,000 pounds of potato chips in just two hours.
• Worldwide sales of potato chips are over $15 billion a year.

If you are anything like the folks here at Laketown Chocolates, then for you, the combination of salty and sweet is about as good as it gets. We don’t stop at just potato chips. We dip those bad boys in chocolate. Never tried it? We suggest that you do.

The “chipper” as chocolate dipped potato chips are more formally known as,  were thought to first be produced by Fargo, North Dakota company, Widman’s Candy. North Dakotans have been enjoying these salty and sweet snacks for years.

Make your own homemade potato chips:
Ever tried to make potato chips from scratch? Here is a great recipe to get you started. Don’t forget to dip or drizzle them in chocolate!

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*Fact Sources:
http://www.punchbowl.com
http://nationaldaycalendar.com
http://wikipedia.com

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts

Most of you reading this are likely thinking, it’s only 3 days until Valentine’s Day and I still have not gotten my Valentine’s gifts. Fear not procrastinators, Laketown Chocolates is here to make sure that your sweetie pie is tickled pink (or red) this Valentine’s Day. No matter who you are shopping for, we have the perfect item for you, with a huge selection of Valentine’s Chocolates, Gift Sets, and even small treats your kids can use in their school Valentine’s. Stop in at either store location, Waconia or Excelsior, and get your last minute Valentine’s Gifts for your special someone.

Valentine’s Day Gift Baskets

Chocolate Roses on a Stick

Chocolate Lips

Chocolate Hearts

And Heart Shaped Rice Krispie Treats with a Twist

Love, Sweet Love

Throughout the ages, there is but one thing has stood the test of time and endured. LOVE. Love makes us feel like we are on top of the world, that we can take on anything and overcome it. It makes us feel young and innocent. It can make us do crazy things and take chances we would never consider otherwise. It takes shape in everything around us. It can be found in the most unexpected of places. It inspires us to write songs, poetry, novels and plays. It lives on even after we have gone. Love is a very powerful thing.

This time of year, we can’t help but feel giddy and we hope that feeling is contagious. This Valentine’s Day, share the love with your special someone and let them know just how much you care. All kinds of goodies are hitting our shelves in anticipation of the season of love.

Here are some of our favorite Valentine’s Day Gifts:

Or Click below to view details of our best selling Valentine’s Kits.

Mini Heart Basket
Be Mine Basket
Ultimate Valentine’s Basket
Mini Valentine Cube
Valentine Kit

View our full selection of Valentine’s Day chocolate gifts.

Stay tuned for more great Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas for your special someone to help you share the LOVE. If you don’t have a love song or two stuck in your head by now, try rereading this post.

12 Shopping Days til Christmas

It’s crunch time friends and that means it’s the perfect time to swing in to Laketown Chocolates to pick up those last minute holiday gifts for friends, family, teachers, co-workers, employees, and bosses. Need a few things to fill up the stockings? Or a larger gift for a gift exchange? We’ve got you covered.

The stores are fully stocked with holiday themed chocolates and gift ideas for everyone on your list, naughty or nice (yes we even have chocolate lumps of coal for those naughty folks).

Gifts for everyone on your list

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The holidays are here and you are likely busy decorating, shopping, baking and getting into the holiday spirit. It’s holiday central at Laketown Chocolates and we are gearing up for the busiest time of the year. We’ve got great gift ideas for everyone on your list.

View all of our Holiday Gifts

View our Holiday Chocolate Shapes

 

Give Thanks

We are furiously molding and wrapping Thanksgiving themed chocolates and stocking up our stores just in time for the holiday. If you are hosting Thanksgiving this year, use festively colored Thanksgiving themed chocolate shapes as your table decorations, place settings or after dinner treats. You know they’ll be wanting more even after the pie! There is a lot of football to be watched that day.

Turkeys, pilgrims, the Mayflower, horns ‘o plenty, drumsticks, Happy Thanksgiving chocolate coins, or a chocolate bar with a Happy Thanksgiving message embossed on it. Wrapped in fall foil colors, your guests will be impressed!

If you really want your guests to be wowed, how about this monster of a centerpiece. Almost 3 pounds of chocolate in this 3D turkey. You might want to keep the carving knife out for this one.

Not hosting dinner this year? Bring your hosts a Thanksgiving gift basket filled with chocolates and other treats as a host gift.

Hurry in to our Waconia or Excelsior stores and grab up your holiday goodies, shop online or give us a call. And on your list of things to be thankful for this year, don’t forget chocolate. Life wouldn’t be the same without it!

Last Minute Halloween Shopping

Don’t forget to stop in to either of our store locations to pick up your special Halloween treats to add that special touch to your Halloween party! Both stores are loaded with special Halloween treats for kids and adults.

Waconia Store

Open 8am-5pm Thursday and Friday
141 West 1st Street, Suite 2
Waconia, MN 55387

Excelsior Store

Open 10am-8pm Thursday and Friday
270 Water St.
Excelsior, MN 55331

We hope you have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Give Something Special This Halloween

You don’t have to be a kid to love getting in the Halloween spirit. In fact, we think Minnesotans of all ages go above and beyond when it comes to celebrating this spooky holiday. The city of Anoka, MN has been deemed the “Halloween Capital of the World” by congressional proclamation.

This year, give something a little special for Halloween. We are featuring lots of new items including several chocolate lollipops that the kiddos will be sure to love and our new Pumpkin Truffles for the grown-ups.

UPCOMING EVENT:

The annual BOOseum and Ghost Trolley is taking place in downtown Excelsior this Friday and Saturday, October 24 – 25, 6PM to 9PM each night.

This year’s event will feature a kids’ talent show, costume contest, music, food, prizes, and plenty of spooky stuff in the museum and on the trolley trail. All proceeds benefit the Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society. Admission is $5 kids under 12, $7 ages 12 and up.

 

We’ll be there and will have lots of these Halloween goodies available for purchase. Stop on by and see us and get stocked up on your special Halloween treats for kids and adults.

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Give your Boss a big thanks

Do you have a great boss? For your sake, we hope you do! It isn’t often that stellar bosses get recognized for doing what they do. They spend most of their time doling out the compliments (or criticism, but hopefully mostly compliments) to you, their employees. Boss’s Day is October 16th and if you are lucky enough to have an amazing boss, Thursday is the day to show them your appreciation.

Of course we think showing your appreciation to your boss should be done with chocolate, but in case you procrastinate and wait til the last minute, here are some fun Boss’s Day Cards you can download and print. Although, it might not leave the best impression if you procrastinate when it comes to getting something for your boss on his or her special day….so maybe you should get them chocolate.

Why Boss’s Day?
Boss’s Day originated in 1958 when Patricia Bay Haroski registered October 16th as a holiday with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. At the time, Haroski worked for her father at State Farm Insurance and chose his birthday to mark the official holiday. Her goal was to improve relationships between supervisors and their employees. It wasn’t until 4 years later that National Boss Day was officially proclaimed as a holiday. ¹

We want to hear from you! If you have or have had a great boss, we want to know what makes them so great. What do they do that makes them a great person to work for? If you are a boss, what do you do to make your employees love working for you?

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References
¹ http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/boss-day