Let’s face it, there’s nothing better than spending Thanksgiving with friends and family while dining on a scrumptious homemade meal of turkey, stuffing, and all the fixings. I was blessed to be able to spend the holiday gorging on all of the traditional Thanksgiving fare. This year, I didn’t have to host the festivities, rather we gathered at a friend’s home, and shared in a wonderful meal complete with a surprise dessert that my family is still talking about today.
My wonderful friend happens to be a creative hostess who delights in making parties fun for guests of all ages. Last night in addition to the homemade pies, cookies and pumpkin bars, her Thanksgiving dessert table included am accessory traditionally seen at weddings and hotel buffets—a chocolate fountain. She actually bought a chocolate fountain to add to our Thanksgiving feast.
The adults were in shock. The kids were bouncing off the walls (and that was before they consumed any chocolate). It was the hit of the party and she later revealed to me that she got it on sale at Osco for just $14.99. If you have ever seen a chocolate fountain featured on a commercial and wondered if it as worth bringing home here’s my answer: yes.
I studied the fountain and quizzed my friend who explained how it worked. It’s pretty simple. The fountain tower snaps together very easily. Once you have it constructed you plug it in, melt chocolate chips in the microwave, pour the melted chocolate in the top of the portion of the fountain, and turn the machine on. Within seconds the melted chocolate begins to flow over the top and cascade down the sides. (The product has three-tiers so the visual effect is a real crowd pleaser.) We dipped strawberries, marshmallows, pretzels, bananas, orange slices, apples (I’m telling you, I’ve never seen those kids eat so much fruit in my life) my friend even put candy canes out for us to dip into the fountain. We had a blast.
Since this blog is part product review I would be remiss if I didn’t share some of the perceived downsides of owning a chocolate fountain. First, the machine works great when it is full of chocolate, however it doesn’t work as well when the chocolate level dips below the half way mark. If you have a lot of guests you need to stay on your toes and have a fresh batch of melted chocolate to add to the fountain every 15 minutes or so. Additionally, if you let the chocolate run below the half way point the remaining chocolate starts to cool very quickly and the fountain gets a little congested. Finally, the cleanup—let’s just say it looked like a real chore to clean, but for $15 one guest made the comment that it was cheap enough to dispose of after the party was over.
Overall, the chocolate fountain was a great additional to our Thanksgiving meal. The kids loved it, the adults did too and if you are looking for a way to get your young ones to eat fruit—this could be exactly what you have been looking for.
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