I know I’ve already written once about chocolate, but here I am again with more chocolate things to say. What do you want from me? I’m a woman!

As I was casually browsing the Internet this morning (as you can tell, I am a very focused worker), I had the random idea to search for what holidays July has to offer other than the obvious ones. Sounds right out of left field, doesn’t it? Well, my thought was that America is a country full of inventiveness, creativity, and under-the-radar holidays so I might as well check it out for this month.

Lo and behold, there sat the words that are every woman’s dream: “July 7 – Chocolate Day.” My eyes welled with happy tears and my heart skipped a beat. What? A day in which we can freely eat as much chocolate as we want and blame it on our keen holiday-observance skills? As if this wasn’t enough for my chocolate-loving heart, I read on only to discover that this is a joint holiday between chocolate and sundaes! What?! Was someone pranking me? I was sure of it. I actually went so far as to march around the office stopping in random cubicles and conducting impromptu interrogations, but to no avail.

So it’s true, people. It’s really true. Now is the time to order those Chocolate Bars with Business Cards, Villa Chocolate Bars, or Eros Chocolate Bars! Absorbent, Ink. offers an endless array of promotional products of the chocolate variety. It’s whatever your heart and your recipients’ hearts desire. Regardless, you can’t go wrong. It’s chocolate for Heaven’s sake!

I am now going to celebrate the holiday with my own personal stockpile of chocolate treats I keep hidden in my desk. Don’t judge.

A chocolatey day to you and yours,

Abby Ink

Hello. I am planning a holiday party for my office this year. I want to give attendees gifts for the occasion. Do you have any suggestions? Also, what could I do to promote the party? I do not know if I should make it holiday neutral or not. Thanks, Olive

Hello Olive,

Thanks for your question! Ah, the holiday party season. Fun, yet a bit stressful when you do not know what to give your employees and when you want to remain PC. I do, however, have a few suggestions that can help you in your planning process.

I will start by giving you suggestions about how to decide on a party theme. It is difficult to convey an all encompassing holiday theme with so many religious celebrations in one season. To avoid hurting any feelings or annoying anyone, you can go one to two ways:

1) Include all holidays in the party theme. Have a Christmas tree, Menorah, Kwanza lights and snowmen. This way, no one can complain; you have covered the holidays and have even included the non-religious snowman. The only downside to this is that the party decorations may look a bit cluttered.

2) Don’t include any holiday items and just use holiday colors. Luckily, red, green, blue, white, silver and gold all look nice together. You can then decorate with snowflakes. Basically, you are throwing a winter themed party before the New Year.

For both of these parties, you could use imprinted balloons, napkins, plates and glasses with holiday messages, like “Happy Holidays,” “Happy New Year” or “Seasons Greetings.”

As for a holiday gift for the office, consider giving something simple. For example, serve champagne or other beverages in glasses with an imprinted message, like, “Holiday Office Party 2007: A Night to Celebrate.” This is a simple and memorable gift that can be reused.

If you would like to get any of these items for your office party, contact our client services at 866-618-3471. They would be happy to help you figure out pricing, shipping and imprints. I hope these suggestions have helped take some of the stress out of your party planning.

Thanks,
Abby Ink
Editor’s note: Abby Ink is our resident Promotional Products Professional. She answers all questions and requests for ideas via email and selects some for publishing in this regular column on the blog. You can ask Abby a question using this form.