So...What's the deal with the "Lumps of Coal"?
Why do you have Hot Chocolate Balls in the shape of lumps of coal and what's up with the naughty tag?
This is mostly my fault (Hector). I did not fully appreciate that this was not common knowledge, but not everyone grows up with Christmas and not everyone grows up even hearing about this. Looking at the holiday shows of my youth, it never really comes up. So, I actually did a little research and learned a little bit as well.
Origin
Putting coal in someone's stocking was done by many different cultures (for the same reason). Sicily, Holland, and England being most notable, but not exclusively so. Your Santa (or La Befana, or Sinterklaas) would put candy or toys in stockings hung by the fireplace (super keyword here), but for the kids that maybe were not so good and needed more encouragement, the stocking was not left empty. And since they were SO close to the chimney anyway...an alternative was given, coal, likely from the fire (unlit).
Creation
We hand shape our hot chocolate balls and I realized that if I sorta just molded it in a random blob and wrapped it in shiny black foil it looked a lot like the coal that a few people still use in coal fired ovens. So, it looked the part, but we wanted it to look extra festive so rather than a regular bag, we used our snowflake bags just to give it that special something...The naughty tag was a no-brainier and more controversial that you would have thought.
Give us the Naughty
The naughty tag serves two very important roles.
- If Santa should happen to have these appear in the stockings, you need to see that something is there. Our idea is that you (or Santa) will put the tag in a strategic way so that it is the first thing they see when going to their otherwise loaded stocking.
- It's an easy place to put the directions on how to make the hot chocolate balls!
So all's good right? (Not quite)
Some people don't like to give naughty anything. I have gotten a ton of requests for "Nice" tags. No. That doesn't make sense. The gift is not really actually naughty, that's the point. It's actually killer hot chocolate! (completely unbiased opinion)
"Naughty" can also take many different connotations depending on your background / dirty dirty mind. I actually had one critic say that they didn't like the font choice because it was "too sexy".
???????
It's "Edwardian Script ITC". It comes with Windows.
The real problem with "coal". Some kids KNOW what it means!
Although I honestly have never had it happen with my product (as far as I know). When customers come up to the product at shows they start talking about the time they gave real coal or coal candy (yuck, just saying) and a child got upset and started to cry. Seriously. This is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek and a fun thing to have for the season. If you think that the person receiving this will not take it well, don't get it.
We have other hot chocolate gifts including regular sleeves and our ever popular, potentially sold out, Marshmallows.
So who should get them?
Oh! That's easy. If you have slightly older or very older..."too cool for school" kids or grandkids. This works on multiple levels. Siblings...you know it. (any age). Supervisor or manager - - chocolatesU will not be held responsible for your eventual dismissal - - but sure. Spouse? See previous disclaimer. They are also a good price point for White Elephant and other gift swap type events.
What is required to receive "Lumps of Coal" in your stocking is a sense of humor. Most people, even young kids, will realize right away it is not real coal. They'll have a laugh, make some hot chocolate and enjoy chocolaty goodness. (If you are really lucky, maybe they'll share!)
Thanks for letting me ramble. Enjoy the season. And you now know exactly who needs a lump of coal in their stocking...don't you...Here's the link for our Lumps of Coal!
thanks,
hector