Chocolate and Wine: #ASweetPairing Anyone Should Love

(Note to readers: I was chosen to host a party as part of a #SoapboxInfluence campaign and compensated to do so. As always, my opinion remains my own.)

If you want to show me the love, line up a babysitter, pack up a suitcase, and whisk me off to Bora Bora for a few days.

If you can’t do that, bring on the chocolate and the wine!

Lots of it.

It’s simple enough these days with a quick run down to the local Walmart where two of the more premium brands can be found– without premium price tags.

I’m easy like that (no, not like that).

What I’m trying to say is you don’t have to spend a lot to show me the love (though that’s always nice). You just have to make sure it’s the right chocolate (dark in my case) and be certain that wine is chilled.

Bonus points if you get the Ghirardelli chocolates that are out for Valentine’s Day with special little love notes stamped into the chocolate hearts. Double bonus points if you get the Sauvignon Blanc from Josh Cellars wines (I’m a sucker for the hint of citrus).

And you don’t have to be ‘my man’ to spoil me with these yummy treats on this day when we honor all things Cupid. I believe Valentine’s Day is also about showing the love to your besties who have gotten you through the days when maybe that love for your guy wasn’t flowing as freely as that wine. We all have those days. So, I say pour on the love to your girlfriends, too, when you’re picking up your Valentine’s Day treats.

I had about 20 of my pals come over for an afternoon of fun last weekend while we were all captive to Old Man Winter—with road conditions too rough for us (it doesn’t take much for us to shut down for snow in the South) to be doing most of our regular weekend of running from sports games to picking up the groceries to taking care of the animals.

We turned the snow day into a snow party, uncorked the wine (ok, twisted off the top in this case) and pulled out my favorite plates printed with love messages suitable for Ghirardelli chocolates.

And then we broke out the paints and got creative, decorating wine glasses that we could drink from all year long to remember our fun afternoon. How can you not smile when you see your personal work of art and reflect back on an afternoon of #ASweetPairing of chocolate and wine?

Think you and your friends would like to do the same? Well, here’s a quick look at some of the fun we had, in case it inspires you to duplicate the day. We didn’t have to spend a lot (again, Walmart prices for premium products), and I was able to get everything we needed in one shopping trip. Yes, Walmart had the wine glasses and the paints, too, along with party plates, wine and chocolate.

Take a look at our works of art and tell me you aren’t impressed. You can see most of them in the video, but there are pictures of many of them below. Is there one you like best? And what about the chocolates? Which flavor would you go after first?  Whatever you end up doing for Valentine’s Day, make it sweet. xoxo

We then made a party of it again a few nights later with some of my ‘online’ friends from around the country.  You have to admit, it’s easy to make a party of it whenever you have wine and chocolate.

One last note, my friends. If you do decide to host a party where you’re serving alcohol, have a plan in place on how everyone will get home.  You don’t want anyone drinking and driving on your watch (or ever). Drink and party responsibly!

Some of my blogging pals also hosted parties and came up with some incredible recipes of foods to make with their chocolate and wine…check them out in the links below.