Local Love

It’s been said that love begins at home and, in the case of Valentine’s Day in Vancouver, it couldn’t be more true. We’ve found some West Coast wares for your little cherubs to keep the love close to home.

What child doesn’t have a sweet tooth? On Valentine’s Day, spoil your cherished one with an adorable package of Kiss Me truffle frogs from Hagensborg Chocolates, a boutique chocolate company in downtown Vancouver. Shelley Miller, Hagensborg owner and mom to two chocolate eaters, believes in the magic of chocolate and fairy tales. Her deliciously rich milk chocolate frogs, each bearing a silly grin, surround the dark chocolate Prince Charming, who is wrapped in stand-out green…‘if life were only so simple’. Kiss Me frogs offer guilt-free pleasure: they are all natural, trans-fat free and made from fair trade cocoa. Choose the size of your fairy tale ending: either a three-piece ‘they’re-all-yours’ pack or a decadent nine-piece ‘share-the-love’ pack. 

Couple Kiss Me frogs with a whimsical card from Designs by Val. Valerie Lau is a local designer who followed her dream a few years ago to create modern, chic, sweet and fun greeting cards. Her timeless designs are eco-friendly, and some are hand-embellished with ribbons and jewels. This powered-by-one business produces beautiful cards for every occasion which are created, printed and sold in Vancouver and on-line. Val’s playfully worded and illustrated Valentine cards, like Bee Mine and Lovebugs, will tickle little ears, while you fill the card’s inside with your own love.

We’ve got a Valentine bonbon of a different sort for your toothless wonder: the Organic Teething Bonbon from Dress Me Up Organic Accessories.  Owner, designer and mom extraordinaire, Tressa Brotsky, conceived the Teething Bonbon with little gums in mind. Reminiscent of a French sweet, each Bonbon is made of thick certified organic cotton with its centre filled with eco-friendly lamb’s wool, which is naturally antibacterial. Teething moms (don’t we go through it too?) simply soak the knotted ends of the Bonbon in water, then freeze it until it is needed and then voilà! Victoria-based Dress Me Up sells the Teething Bonbons, along with a garden full of other organic baby accessories, on-line or through select stores in Vancouver and beyond. An eco-sweet pour les petites!

This Valentine’s Day, there really is no place like home.

Savvy Special: Designs by Val is offering SavvyMom readers 25% off the regular price when you enter the code SAVVYMOM until March 1 at Designs by Val.

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