season Archives - Womens Post

What says “thank you” or “thinking of you” better than a beautifully arranged and decorated chocolate platter, especially around the holidays?

Nothing — or at least that’s what Jennifer Snider, founder of Sugar Mommy Inc., believes. “It goes with it,” she said in an interview with Women’s Post. “You think of holidays you think of chocolate.”

SugarMommy is a chocolate and treats company that specializes in packaged gifts and decorative arrangements. Their clients are mostly corporate; however they also cater to special functions and seasonal occasions.

The chocolate sold by SugarMommy is different than something you may purchase at a drugstore or a specialty-shop. First of all, the chocolate is delectably smooth. Made from quality ingredients, Snider’s treats are all hand made and sold at reasonable prices. Everything is customizable, so you only get the chocolates you want.

“I use products that are gourmet, but not so gourmet that people can’t afford it,” she said. Snider made it clear she is not out to gauge anyone’s pocketbooks this holiday season — she wants people to enjoy her chocolate, even if they only have $30 to spend.

The other difference is the presentation, something Snider says gets her a lot of compliments. Her platters, pails, and baskets are all meticulously prepared, with special emphasis on colour balance and variety. Whatever you choose make sure it includes the chocolate bark. The mint white chocolate and the toasted coconut bark are absolutely divine. Other top selling items include fudge toffee, white chocolate popcorn, Oreo bark, and sponge toffee.

Every single item is put together with care to create a work of art.

“It’s really important to me,” she said. “It’s handmade stuff and if you put passion into what you do, it comes across in your work.”

Most of Snider’s clientele come from corporate offices or medical offices looking for referral gifts for their own clients. She has also expanded to provide treats for parties and events. Her pails and baskets contain individually-wrapped treats and her martini glasses can be customized to fit specific colour schemes. She describes her work more as a centrepiece than a dessert.

One of the newest additions to SugarMommy is the candy table, beautifully decorated with martini glasses and an array of colours. Snider says it’s great for kids, but also for the parents as the presentation can appear quite elegant. “People take bags and fill them up, and they go crazy. It’s unique. It’s quite different and it looks beautiful and people love it.”

Snider started making chocolate when she was a teenager. “My mom taught me how to make it and I made it as gifts,” she said. “I think it was the creativeness [I liked]. I was never a great baker. It was the creative aspect that I loved – putting things together, making things pretty.”

She went to school for early childhood education and worked in the field until 2007. With five children of her own, Snider was spending most of her time at appointments. She continued to send out her chocolaty gifts until a few friends told her she should sell her creations. She decided to teach part-time and focus on building a business that he could run from her home.

“A lot of people pushed me and said you have a great product and you need to get out there. We put some money and investment into it,” she said. “Now we have a lot of return customers. They appreciate the hand-made touch to it. It is not the mass produce look. Clients take the time to send letters and emails appreciating the gift. It is much more personal then a gift card or a lunch.”

Snider is always on the lookout for new flavours and creations! Her inspiration come from her travels, as well as the trends in the market.

Interested in sending out the gift of chocolate this year? Holiday packages are available now! Go to sugarmommy.ca to check out all of the options.

Gardening can be used as a powerful tool to teach children the interconnectedness of all things — including our dependence on and understanding of how the cycle of life works. It may appear to be a bit deep of a conversation to have while your family plants their tulips and herbs, nevertheless I think it’s an important connection to emphasis.

Plants are born, and once they die, they can return the next year in a new form, or grow into something else that helps the earth. This process of gardening helps children understand the concept of life and death cycles in a larger context. We are all born, we all die, and what happens to us is merely within the nature of life itself. Using gardening as a teaching tool for kids to understand the philosophical inquiries of the meaning of life may seem a bit far-fetched, but what better way to concretely show how the life works in its most natural state.

When my daughter was young, we had a garden of beautiful hybrid tea roses in our backyard and the two of us would tend them in the summer. She would help me dig up the dirt with her little bucket and we would watch these beautiful flowers bloom. On the other hand, we would also watch these flowers die at the end of the season. Every year, it would make my daughter sad. She couldn’t quite comprehend why we would tend so carefully to a set of flowers that would wither away at the end of season. Through a child’s eyes, it made me realize how truly sad it is to watch a brilliant flower slowly shrivel up and fall apart unto their inevitable death.

I explained to my little girl that the roses would return next year and that the flowers have to die in order to be born again. Explaining the cycle of life and death to a child through gardening ultimately helps when a loved one dies as well. It is a way to explain to a child that everything from a flower to a person has to die, but that it gives way for something else to be born in its place. The following year when my daughter saw our beautiful roses bloom again, it also helped to prove that the cycle of life is constantly moving and changing.

Understanding that all living things from plants to people are intrinsically a part of the same world is a connective and vital experience as well. It may also be interesting to explain that the cycle of life means that we return to the ground once we die, and become something else again.

It is hard work to tend to plants and help them grow, and ultimately is an example of how life works in itself. Next time you are in the garden with the kids, talk about the cycle of life — it is sure to be a beautiful, philosophical experience for everyone involved.

season

Send the gift of chocolate this holiday season

Teaching the cycle of life — with gardening