As we get ready to celebrate our fourth Lollipolozza birthday with free cake pops, 10% off all on all lollipops and a buy one get one free deal on our Signature handmade Hammond’s lollipops this Saturday, April 6th, I can’t help but reflect on all the wonderful people who have helped me make Lola’s Sugar Rush such a huge hit with locals, tourists and celebrities alike. Apparently the folks at the Denver Post were curious too. A few weeks ago, they interviewed me to find out how Lola’s Sugar Rush has found sweet success despite the sour economy. Here’s the interview in which I reveal what it’s like “Living the Sweet Life at Littleton’s Lola’s Sugar Rush.”

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Lola Salazar celebrates 4 sweet years in business with aLollipolooza party on April 6, 2013 at Lola’s Sugar Rush

Most of us have been giving and receiving Valentine candy and Valentine chocolates since we were in grade school. I remember writing out a Valentine card for each one of my classmates and stuffing the envelope with a few carefully chosen words written on candy conversation hearts.

Quite frankly, any day we were allowed to have sweets in class was a winner in my book!

The other day I started wondering why people throughout history have always considered chocolate an elixir for love. I found my answers from the experts at the National Confectioners Association:

• Chocolate has been believed throughout history to bring smiles to the broken-hearted and to prompt amorous feelings in both men and women
• It is believed that Madame Du Barry served it to all her suitors
• Casanova consumed chocolate instead of champagne to induce romance
• Montezuma, the king of the ancient Aztecs, believed chocolate would make him virile
• Physicians in the 1800’s commonly advised their lovelorn patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining.

 Wow! I need to find a doctor who will prescribe chocolate to help solve my problems!

What other holiday do we have solely devoted to expressing our love and eat candy guilt-free!

#26Acts of Kindness

This is also the perfect time of year to show some love to people in need. Why not take some bags of wrapped candies or chocolates to a shelter, a soup kitchen or to the children’s ward of a hospital. (You might want to get permission first!)

You might also consider sending Valentine’s cards to our troops overseas or visiting seniors in a convalescent or assisted living facility.

No matter how you express your love and generosity on Valentine’s, know that Lola’s Sugar Rush loves you too!

Sweetly yours,

Lola

Valentine facts and ideas courtesy of the National Confectioners Association.

In case you missed it, Lola’s Sugar Rush is challenging our friends to join us in performing 26 Acts of Kindness in honor of the sweet children and brave adults killed at Sandy Hook elementary. There’s no deadline so we hope you too will take us up on this sweet challenge.

I loved that Jennie Trujillo got her children involved in the challenge. Her little ones set about doing their acts of kindness by writing thank you letters to our U.S Service men and women.

Kids send thank you notes to troops

We’ve also heard from many of you who want to get involved but aren’t quite sure where to start. Here are some ideas to get you going:

• When someone does a great job, take time to tell their boss
• Buy a cup of coffee for the person behind you in line at your local coffee shop
• Our friend Alex Marcoux brought flowering plants to a senior home and asked one of the caregivers to give a plant to any residents having a bad day or just needed to be cheered up.

Other ideas for acts of kindness include:

• Shovel your neighbor’s driveway and sidewalk
• Give someone a grocery store gift card.
• Leave a Starbucks gift card in your mailbox for your postal carrier.
• We gave our hard-working UPS delivery guys a gift card to the Central Bistro to let them know how much they are appreciated.

These are a few ideas to get you started or to help you continue performing your 26 Acts of Kindness. We’d love to hear some of your ideas that could inspire others to take up our 26 Acts of Kindness Challenge.

Again, many thanks for all of you who have stepped-up to take our Kindness Challenge and thank you in advance for those of you who join us showing our children what a beautiful world we live in.

Like all of you, I found myself absolutely devastated and heartbroken after that horrific event at Sandy Hook Elementary. Not only am I mom, but also a former first-grade teacher. I can see the sweet faces of my kids and my students at that age as clearly as if it were yesterday. Like many of you, in the wake of this national tragedy, I felt helpless and found myself asking, ‘How can I help make this a better world for our children?’

The answer came when I heard of a tweet posted by TV correspondent, Ann Curry after covering the Sandy Hook Shooting for NBC.

“Imagine if all of us committed to 20 mitvahs/acts of kindness to honor each child lost in Newtown. I’m in. If you are RT #20Acts.”

Curry’s message immediately went viral and has since inspired tens of thousands to perform random acts of kindness.

26 Acts of Kindness: I’m in. Are you?

What a beautiful way to counter hatred! By reaching out to one another, we create ripples of kindness that spread to those we don’t know but to whom we are all ultimately connected.

In the words of Ann Curry, “I’m in!” Are you?

I am asking you join me and thousands of others by making a commitment to perform 26 Acts of Kindness this year – that’s one kind gesture in honor of each of the 20 sweet children and 6 brave adults killed.

Kind acts come in all shapes and sizes and there is no act too big or too small. Perhaps you put money in an expired parking meter for someone, or allow someone in a hurry or with a crying baby to go ahead of you at the grocery store. Maybe you pay $5 dollars of someone’s restaurant tab.

“There is no wrong way to perform an act of kindness.” ― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Pay It Forward

One woman says her friend Julie Heinig was loading up her car after shopping when a man tapped her on the arm and handed her ribboned basket full of treats. “This is for you,” he said. A tag on the basket read: “We are doing 26 Random Acts of Kindness to honor the victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School. You are #8! Happy Holidays. Spread the Love!” It was the first Heinig had heard of the #26Acts. “It really made you stop and think how connected we all are,” Heinig said. “And how we need to take care of each other.” – Detroit News

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”― Desmond Tutu

So when you do your “little bit of good” I ask that you share your thoughts, experiences and/or photos on our Facebook page with the hope of motivating some of our 2,300 followers to do the same. The Sugar Babes and I will do the same. Let’s see how far we can take this – one kind act at a time.

I’m in! Are you friends?

Sweetly yours,

Lola

Christmas candy and holiday desserts have always been a big part of our family tradition, as I’m sure they are for many of you. Like every kid on Christmas morning, I used to race downstairs and head straight to the fire place to root through my stocking and dig out all the Christmas candy. Of course, there was the obligatory orange in the toe of the sock, but my focus remained steadfast on the sweets. The Christmas candy selection has certainly expanded and evolved over the years. Candy canes are still staple, but now we get to choose from a huge array of holiday lollipops, milk chocolate caramel santas, red, white and green gummy bears, malt balls and chocolate covered almonds. (We even have holiday colored, chocolate covered, espresso beans to help sleepy parents wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning!)

So in the spirit of all things sweet for the holidays, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of our time honored holiday candy and dessert traditions. Try this holiday trivia quiz below. See how many you know. Better yet, print this out and quiz the whole family at the table between dinner and dessert!

Q) Why did early stocking stuffers always include five gifts and what were the ones you could eat?

A) Stockings traditionally contained five gifts to please each of the five senses. Fruits, nuts and of course, Christmas candies were included to please the sense of taste.

Q) What Christmas candies are popular traditions in Canada?

A) Barley candy and Chicken Bones. Barley candy comes on a stick and is shaped like popular Christmas icons, such as Santa and reindeer. Chicken bones are made from a pink, cinnamon-flavored candy wrapped around milk chocolate.

Q) How did candy canes become a Christmas tradition?

A) Candy canes are thought to have originated during the 17th century, when candy artisans in Germany created sweet white treats shaped like a shepherd’s crook. Adults distributed these candy canes to children at Nativity reenactments to help keep them happy. In the mid-18th century, a German immigrant to the U.S. used candy canes to decorate his Christmas tree. By the 1950s, candy canes were being mechanically produced using special machines.

Q) What famous children’s cookies were packaged to hang as ornaments on the tree?

A) In 1902, the now-familiar animal crackers box was designed for the Christmas season with the innovative idea of attaching a string to hang from the Christmas tree. Up until that time, crackers were generally only sold in bulk (the proverbial “cracker barrel”) or in large tins.

Q) What are sugar plums?

A) Sugarplums are actually chocolate candies with cream, fruit preserves, or other sweet fillings inside.

Q) What are Christmas Crackers and who invented them?

A) Christmas crackers (not the type you eat) are placed on the table and everyone pairs up to “pull” one. The cracker is a small tube of cardboard with a gift inside and a strip of paper that makes bang sound when pulled. Crackers often include a little joke, a toy, and sometimes a party hat – all of which is usually kept by the person who ends up with the largest part of the cracker when it is pulled. The Christmas Cracker was invented by English candy shop owner, Tom Smith.

Q) Which Christmas dessert is meant to resemble the Christmas Yule log?

A) A classic French dessert, the Bûche de Noël is a delicious confection of chocolate cake and rich pastry cream rolled into the shape of a log. The cake symbolizes the belief that a large log should burn continuously on Christmas night.

Q) A popular Christmas song tells us that we should bring what kind of food to carolers?

A) Figgie Pudding – They claim that they won’t go until they get some.

Q) How did chocolate coins become a popular Jewish tradition for kids to receive during Hanukah?

A) The tradition of giving out gold coins may have begun in 18th century Eastern Europe as a token of gratitude toward religious teachers, similar to the custom of tipping service people on Christmas. Twentieth-century American chocolatiers picked up on the gift/coin concept by creating chocolate gelt. In the 1920s, Loft’s, an American candy company, produced the first chocolate gelt, wrapped in gold or silver foil in mesh pouches resembling money bags. Typically, the “gold” coins are milk chocolate and the “silver” coins are white chocolate

Congratulations! You are now a master of all things sweet for the holidays! Cheers friends!

Sweetly yours,

Lola

Q&A courtesy of ehow.com and wikipedia

Beautiful Handmade Thanksgiving Cookies

I’ve learned to take nothing for granted and I find that when I live in an attitude of gratitude my blessings actually increase.At the end of each day, I take the time to find five things I’m grateful for. Perhaps it’s the smile and a sweet “thank you,” from a little boy or girl who finds just the perfect piece of candy at the shop, or the joy I get from seeing grandparents and their grandkids come in to sit and enjoy a cupcake and some hot cocoa. And oh how I look forward to getting all the new candy for the holidays! The Sugar Babes and I spend days giggling like school girls while we decorate and put everything out on display. What a joy it is to go to work each day and be surrounded by so many great friends who have helped make my dream of Lola’s Sugar Rush thrive and grow.

Recently, I’ve been blessed with a new son-in-law and a new daughter-in-law. We’re all healthy and doing well and this holiday when we sit down to dinner, I will look around the table and see before me all of the dear friends and family that make my world so incredibly sweet.

To everyone in my life, I am so grateful and I say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Sweetly yours,
Lola

The Sugar Babes and I will be dressed as the reptile-lovin’, mythological character, Medusa this year. We’ll be passing out snake lollipops to more than 1,000 costumed kids we expect through our doors. This fun annual tradition is a great way for little ghouls, goblins and princesses to safely trick-or-treat in the streets.

Once you’re finished trick-or-treating through the streets, be sure to visit our ghoulish neighbors, the Reinke Brothers, who’s Haunted Mansion is the oldest in the Denver Metro area. We’re talking 30 rooms filled with the latest special effects and animations! Now this sounds fun and scary!

Lola’s Sugar Rush Provides Thousands of Treats for this year’s Boo Bash!
A big Lola’s Sugar Rush thank you to our friends at Broomfield’s Flatirons Crossing! The Sugar Babes and I were thrilled and honored to supply all of the Halloween candy for this year’s annual Boo Bash Halloween at the Flatirons Crossing. LSR Manager Mary Koop and I just dropped off oodles of boxes of our favorite Halloween treats to be given out by nearly 50 participating retailers of the mall Saturday, October 20^th from 1-3pm.  In addition to trick-or-treat candy we provided, there will be a fashion show, music and lots of giveaways.

Lola’s Sugar Rush Gingerbread Workshops Sold-out!
Word has apparently gotten out that our Gingerbread Building Workshops are a huge holiday hit! So much so, the spaces for all the classes are already completely sold out! Moms, dads, grandparents, kids and friends have made this a holiday tradition not to be missed.  We’ll keep you updated on other fun holiday activities at the store.

Sweetly Yours,
Lola

If you are starting a new business or have a business but are still not using social media, I highly recommend it. You don’t have to use all of the social media tools out there.  I started off with just one. Facebook seemed like the most natural choice since I had some familiarity with it through my personal page. We built a business page, began posting fun photos of our customers, sharing new product info, posting events we’re involved with, like the Race for a Cure, and “liking” other businesses. We also began holding contests which our customers seem to really enjoy.

Despite what others think, it has not been a huge time drain. I jump on and off throughout the day and I actually look forward to connecting with our more than 2,220 fans or “Likes” as they are now awkwardly called. During any given week, our Facebook analytics show we reach as many as 4,000 Facebook users. What’s not “like” about that?

After I got comfortable with Facebook, I decided I wanted to try Twitter. While there was a bit of a learning curve, I got the hang of it. I still don’t think I use it to its full potential, but I love it! Twitter has allowed me to reach out to like-minded people all over the world. I’ve made invaluable business connections and we often promote each other (even though sometimes we’re competitors). Through Twitter I am able to keep up with the latest trends in the candy and dessert business.

My newest foray into to social networking world is with Pinterest. It’s not for everyone, but it is most certainly the right social media tool for retailers, catering primarily to women. Pinterest is just catching on, but it already has 2.5 million daily users. It’s such a rich and vibrant medium to share with others. I’ve just begun building our Pinterest boards, but I am having so much fun finding, collecting and sharing “pins” and “boards” with others. Pinterest allows me to share my personal style, tastes, dessert recipes and passion for all things sweet. It’s all good business. Currently, the site is driving more people to websites and blogs than Google, YouTube and LinkedIn combined!

My social media sites are now all integrated. What I share with one group on Facebook, I can promote on Pinterest and/or Twitter and vice versa. It’s all about integrated marketing. However, I don’t like to think of it as marketing because for me it’s much more! For me, it’s a way to reach out to people in all corners of the world. It makes this big planet feel a little smaller and a little more connected.

I invite you to join me on Pinterest. Follow me on Twitter and “like” Lola’s Sugar Rush on Facebook. I promise it’s not about promotion; it’s about sharing good content, connecting and discovering everything sweet about this candylicious world of ours!

Sweetly Yours,
Lola

Lola’s Sugar Rush Celebrates Three Sweet Years in Business with a Gummy Bear Flash Mob!
We kicked off the season with a giant birthday bash, or should I say “Bear-thday Bash here at the shop.  It was an absolute Gummi Bear extravaganza – at the center of it all was our 27-pound Gummy Bear (5,000 times larger than a regular gummy bear. A whopping 32,000 calories total and 265 snack-size pieces when all cut-up!) Sylvia Rose and her sweet daughter were the lucky winners from the drawing for the Big Daddy of Gummy Bears. Congrats ladies!

The best part of the celebration was the Gummy Bear Flash Mob.  More than 50 people simultaneously began dancing like kids in a candy store to the Gummy Bear Song.  I even managed to persuade our shop manager, Mary Koop to break-it down! Check it out the video on YouTube!

Coming-up — Get Wild on Main Street! Food. Fun. Music. Fireworks!
Be sure to join us and hundreds others on June 9^th for our 8^th Annual Wild on Main Street Block Party. This celebration is the perfect way to kick-off your summer. There will be six stages of live music and entertainment, 30 food vendors, and booths featuring downtown Littleton’s finest boutiques and restaurants (and of course the sweetest place in town!) There will also be 200 classic cars and antique fire trucks on display. Did I mention this brilliant event is capped off by two stunning fireworks displays at 9pm and 10:45pm.

Bring your family, your friends, your neighbors and even a total stranger or two down to Historic Downtown Littleton and see what being a part of a community is all about.

Tickets will be required to purchase food items. Tickets will be on sale the day of the event (10 for $10). Presale tickets (which include a complimentary drink ticket) are available Friday, May 18th through Friday, June 8th at all downtown Littleton merchants and HDLM members.

Lola’s Sugar Rush Can’t Mask Our Pride for The Denver Hospice
Lola’s Sugar Rush is proud to say we were a contributing sponsor of this year’s Club Mask Party to benefit The Denver Hospice.  In addition to creating a mask for this year’s Mask Project Auction, we also hosted Lola’s Sugar Rush Candy Bar & Lounge at the Club Mask Party held on May 12th.  Our “bar” featured fun specialty drinks and Sugar Babes handed out wax lips, candy bracelets and bubble gum cigars to the guests. We made tons of new friends and connected with old buddies. Check-out our photos of the event on our Facebook Page.

It’s never too late to help The Denver Hospice.  If you’d like to donate to this extraordinary organization that supports friends and families at their greatest hours of need click here: The Denver Hospice.

Fun New Sweet Candy Coming Soon!
Our manager, Mary Koop and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Sweets and Snacks Expo held in Chicago. Imagine if you will, 3+ acres of candy and snacks with 570 exhibiting companies from around the globe all in one place! Oh did we find some exciting sweet treats (and some of your childhood favorites to bring back to the Sugar Rush.)

Remember Astro Pops? They’re back and we’ll have them in July! We also found lots of great new things for the holidays. Can’t wait to see them on display this fall and winter!

I Scream, You Scream – We all Scream for Magill’s Ice Cream!
I don’t know about you, but I love ice cream!  We now carry locally owned and family operated Magill’s Ice Cream.  Come try our eight yummy flavors of this mouthwatering, homemade, treat. Naturally, we always carry Lola’s Sugar Rush Signature Flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry! Yum-Oh!

My Girls and I Hit the Sweet Streets of New York City
Just wanted to share one last thing – Before the summer rush begins, I was fortunate enough to take a fun, extended weekend trip with my daughter, my soon to be daughter-in-law and my dear niece. What a hoot! We left no candy shop or hot dessert spot unturned. Our faves were FAO Schwartz’s Schweet Shop, Dylan’s Candy Bar and world famous Serendipity.

The best part of the trip?  Spending precious hours, filled with smiles and laughter with my “girls.” I hope you and your family and friends are able to steal some time-off together this summer.  Stop by and share with us too!

Sweetly yours,
Lola

• Easter is the second best-selling candy holiday in America, after Halloween.
• Among the most popular sweet treats associated with this day are chocolate eggs, which date back to early 19th century Europe. Eggs have long been associated with Easter as a symbol of new life.
• The jelly bean became associated with Easter in the 1930s (although the jelly bean’s origins reportedly date all the way back to a Biblical-era concoction called a Turkish Delight).
• Over 16 billion jelly beans are made in the U.S. each year for Easter, enough to fill a giant egg measuring 89 feet high and 60 feet wide, according to the National Confectioners Association.
• The marshmallow Peeps, a sugary, pastel-colored confection has been the top-selling non-chocolate Easter candy for the past decade.
• The first Peeps were “hatched” by Russian immigrant Sam Born in 1923, but his company Just Born didn’t start selling the amusing marshmallow confection until the 1950s.
• The original Peeps were handmade, marshmallow-flavored yellow chicks, but other shapes and flavors were later introduced, including chocolate mousse bunnies.

So now we both know why we hunt for eggs and candy every spring. Stop by Lola’s Sugar Rush and pick-up your favorite Easter sweeties while they last. Be sure to check out all of our mouthwatering chocolates and fun retro candy too!

P.S. Come celebrate our 3-year birthday on April 14^th ~ Lots of food, fun and games! Oh! And I hope you’re all ready to dance in the streets of downtown Littleton on the 14^th! Stay tuned for more sweet deets at the end of the week!