It’s time to order for Valentine’s Day!
Next Monday, many people will realize that Valentine’s Day is the very next day, Tuesday. 
We’re here to help you avoid the last-minute stress. Since the mail-order nature of our business necessitates a little advanced planning, we’re good at it. So, this is my gentle reminder to you that it’s time to order now.
Even though February 14th is still a whole week away from today, the weekend gets in the way of shipping, so this really is your last chance to order luscious fair-trade gifts for the people you love. After tomorrow (Wednesday, the 8th), delivery for February 14th won’t be impossible, but it will be more expensive.
We’re ready to uncomplicate your life; at least when it comes to the pleasures of chocolate. All of your Sweetheart’s chocolate needs can be easily gratified by our delectable collection of gifts for this celebration of love–vegan chocolates, fair-trade coffee and tea, and Gourmet Coffee Gift Baskets. See? You really can send gifts to all your loved ones and friends, wherever they live, from the comfort of your own computer.
Give Love: Give Chocolate.
Eco-Compassionate Business Holiday Gifts
It’s that gift-giving time of year and along with the pumpkin pie and holiday cheer, December also inevitably includes crowded malls, incessant Christmas music and those horrible corporate gifts sitting around the office. You know, the baskets of strange, stale and sometimes unidentifiable edibles no one would ever actually eat. Well, we’re here to make that old basket a thing of the past and give this year’s corporate food gifts a make-over.
We’ve designed five fabulously elegant and decadently delicious vegan gift baskets with green and compassionate corporate gift-giving in mind. In varying sizes to match any office or budget size, these gourmet coffee gifts baskets include a variety of healthy, cholesterol-free baked goods, artisan chocolates, vegan confections, and fair-trade coffee and cocoa. Impress your colleagues and share your good taste; say goodbye to the corporate holiday gift that no one wants and instead offer your business partners premium-quality desserts that everyone will enjoy. Our products even come with a complete satisfaction guarantee!
Weekly Wrap-up: Birthday Season, Contest Entries and You!
We hope you’ve had as nice a week as we did here at Allison’s! Great contest entries continue to ro
ll in for our first ever Tee and Tote Design Contest. Public voting begins in mid-September and then we’ll have some lovely designs printed (on Tees and Totes!) just in time for the holidays. Yummy…
Seems like there were a million birthdays this week among our Facebook friends, so again, a happy birthday to all of you! Gift baskets sure make a birthday even more special! Whether the person you’re shopping for would just be happy with a monthly subscription or fall in love with a gourmet coffee gift basket that pairs premium-quality fair-trade coffees with cookies, brownies and confections like toffee, caramels and vegan peanut butter cups,
Tessa reviewed our price and size selection that ranges from modest Classic Elegance to superb Ultimate Nirvana decadence in her blog post earlier this week.
And you can still (I know, still?!) vote for us in VegNews, if you haven’t already…we’re so humbled to be nominated for three awards this year: best online vegan bakery, best confection, and Allison herself is nominated for best column in VegNews, Veganize It!
Keep your comments coming in over on Twitter and Facebook–we love hearing from you!
Gift Basket Giving for All Types
We know that not everyone loves shopping. While some people enjoy looking at all the options and weighing the pros and cons of each product, other customers simply want to find the quickest and simplest way to a beautiful and delicious gift. 
Now, lovers of shopping are pretty easy to please, as our website offers a multitude of delectable treats of all kinds, each with its own mouth-watering photo. But, we try to cater to all types here at Allison’s. We offer a wide range of products to please all tastes, our clientele includes vegans and non-vegans alike, and we do our very best to make shopping as involved or as simple as each person wants it to be.
So, how do we please those clients who don’t like shopping or who simply don’t have time to look through our whole product inventory for that perfect present? 
For these non-shoppers, we’ve done the work for you to make gift-giving easy and enjoyable. Stop shopping around and look no further than our elegant vegan gift baskets. We select and pack them with the utmost care and attention to detail, they make gorgeous and delicious gifts and are available in a range of sizes and prices. We work hard to make sure that our collections include something for everyone. Our gourmet coffee gift baskets pair premium-quality fair-trade coffees with cookies, brownies and confections like toffee, caramels and vegan peanut butter cups, while our price and size selection ranges from modest Classic Elegance to superb Ultimate Nirvana decadence.
As a special bonus for those of you who do love shopping around for your own selection of treats, we also offer a semi-secret custom gift basket option. Simply add this Custom Gift Basket to your cart along with all the things you’d like us to put in it. We recommend that you include at least eight items in your custom basket to ensure an elegant and abundant presentation. Happy shopping (or not)!
Fudge Wins!
A few weeks ago, we learned something new from our customers. For Father’s Day, we promoted what we thought were most Dads’ favorite things: peanut brittle, fair-trade coffee, chipotle caramels, and organic brownies. 
But, you all obviously know better than we do, because the majority of you chose vegan fudge for the important Dads in your lives instead. We had no idea how many men love chocolate, specifically fudge! We always thought that the guys in our lives were unusual in their ardent love of chocolate, but I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. As one woman put it:
“I wanted to get him something nice, and I thought about what would make him the most happy. Right now, the thing that makes him most happy is your fudge, so I’d like to order some for him.” —L.C., Piedmont, CA
So, fellas love our fudge; especially the Chipotle Cinnamon, Sour Cherry, and Java Crunch flavors! Hopefully, knowing this fact will make gift-giving a little easier from now on. Do you have any guys’ birthdays coming up this summer? How about special occasions like a new job, a project finished, or a dream fulfilled? If so, and you’re wondering what to get for him, take my advice. Go with vegan fudge.
Dad of the Day Giveaway!
Looked at a calendar lately? It’s almost Fathers Day! We love the Day O’ Dads over here at Allison’s and this year we’re looking for the Dad of the Day. Comment here on our blog telling us how you are going to celebrate your dad and what makes him so fantastic and June 19th might get a little sweeter! We’ll pick a winner next week, Monday the 13th, and if you win, we’ll send you or your pops a $30 gift certificate.
This Giveaway is now closed.
If you don’t win, don’t worry, we’ve still got you covered. Here’s a curated selection of products any dad (vegan or otherwise) is sure to love:
The Spice Lover’s Gift Set
For adventurous dads with a (slightly) daring palate! Spiced Peanut Brittle and Chipotle Caramels.
Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
Sweet and salty peanut butter hugged by delectable dark chocolate. Chocolate-loving Dad’s dream come true.
Chocolate Caramels
Buttery caramel. Smooth chocolate. Tootsies just rolled over.
Sweet Desires Gift Basket
For the dad who deserves it all! Peanut butter cups, vegan cookies, two flavors of brownies, four flavors of organic coffee, chocolate peanut brittle, vegan toffee and perfect gift packaging!
Salted Chocolate Brittle
If there was an edible Dad metaphor, this would be it. Classic buttery peanut brittle, rich dark chocolate topped with pink Himalayan salt.
Pecan Brownies
Sumptuous organic brownies fit for a king! Crowned with buttery toasted pecans.
Dad doesn’t have a sweet tooth? Here’s a variety of impeccable organic and fair-trade coffee. Excellent black, iced or otherwise.
Feel great about spoiling the ones you love. All Allison’s products are totally organic, use only the highest quality ingredients, and are cruelty free. And if Daddy loves you, he might share!
Healthy Dad!
It’s June 1st and there are only two weeks left to order for Father’s Day! Do you know a special Dad who deserves a treat but is trying to stay healthy or get fit? You can support healthy Dad and show him that healthy eating does not have to mean complete deprivation. Our vegan baked goods, confections and chocolate gifts contain zero cholesterol and use all organic, superior-quality, real-food ingredients; no animal products, preservatives or artificial anything. Tickle his taste buds with decadent organic brownies, a perfectly picante Spice Lover’s Gift Set, or elegant chocolate caramels. Treats should, of course, be consumed in moderation and a healthy lifestyle should also include several servings a day of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as regular exercise. 
For a little of everything, treat Dad to a complete vegan gift basket with plenty of goodies share!
If Dad’s really not eating treats at all, there’s always our elegant fair-trade coffee or tea samplers that ensure guilt-free gift giving for every lifestyle.
Brownie Points
We don’t like to play favorites with our desserts, but in the season of wintery mixes and cold rain, nothing comforts quite like a vegan brownie. We’re currently addicted to the pecan brownies crested with golden toasted nuts. Our brownies are dense, decadent, and 100 percent wheat free. Even Alicia Silverstone agrees. They’re basically the foodie equivalent of cashmere sweatpants. Just add a warm fireplace and a mug of our Decaf Vanilla Nut fair-trade coffee to erase all signs of a bad day.
Here are 5 exciting ways to enjoy our decadent brownies:
1. Heat up in the microwave for 20 seconds and serve with a scoop of Purely Decadent made with Coconut Milk Vanilla Bean ice cream. Sprinkle on some dark chocolate shavings for an elegant and easy sundae.
2. Make a magical milkshake. Combine non-dairy ice cream, your milk substitute of choice (we like So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk), and a crumbled brownie in a blender. Sprinkle on another brownie and serve with a spoon.
3. Add a candle to the top for a sophisticated and chic alternative to a standard birthday cake.
4. Cut into tiny bite-size brownies and toss a few into your lunch for a midday treat.
5. Spread some peanut butter on ‘em for a super rich snack.
How do you enjoy eating Allison’s Gourmet vegan brownies?
Unique Fudge Flavors, Deliciousness Delivered Year-Round
Here at Allison’s we specialize in uniquely flavored sweets. Allison is a master of interesting flavor combinations and loves to make products that no one else is making. Some of her most exciting flavors can be found in our selection of fudges. A few years ago, Allison’s Gourmet only made three fudge flavors, Original, Walnut, and Half Original/Half Walnut. There’s nothing wrong with those flavors, in fact many people enjoy these simpler and more classic flavors, which is why we keep them around. But, when Allison decided that she wanted to expand our array of fudge flavors to create a fudge of the month club, we all sat down to a brainstorming session and came up with some pretty crazy flavor ideas. 
Some, like Key Lime Pie fudge, were too similar to already existing flavors of our cookies or brownies, while others like Cookies ‘n’ Cream would have required too many steps or ingredients that didn’t fit our standards for purity and quality. Even so, narrowing down the list to just 12 flavors was quite a challenge. The result, however, is a rotating schedule of vegan fudge flavors that are out-of-this-world-delicious! 
Some of my favorites available right now are Java Crunch fudge, made with our own fair-trade coffee, Apple Pie white fudge with our signature spice blend, and, of course, Chocolate Orange fudge, which is just plain amazing.
After great success with our new fudge flavors, Allison moved on to create exciting new flavors for her confections including Chipotle Caramels, Spiced Peanut Brittle, and our new line of Salted Caramels and Salted Chocolate Brittle. So come on, join us on a flavor adventure!
Flex Your Spending Power!
As the holiday shopping season gets going, I’d like to take this moment to remind everyone (including myself) of the impact that our spending habits have 
on the global economy, human rights, animal rights and the health of the environment. Each purchase we make supports whatever system or company is behind it. For example, by purchasing fair-trade gifts like our vegan chocolates, fair-trade teas, and fair-trade coffees, you will be directly supporting eco-conscious agriculture, healthy working conditions and a decent wage for farmers around the world. 
It seems like an obvious choice, when the alternative – buying non-fair-trade items – supports child labor, hazardous working conditions, impossibly low wages and the destruction of the environment world wide. What’s really wonderful about buying fair-trade gifts is that you get higher quality products as well as the knowledge that your purchasing power is making a positive impact on the world. And, the same goes for buying vegan and organic!
