thread Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼 in Community Corner

Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

Lovewell — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:55:55 GMT

Yes, the Holidays in many industries can be JAM PACKED. Even if your industry slows down personal life generally picks up!

This isn’t always a bad thing. The holidays have a way of stressing people out but also

bringing people together. We’ve been talking a lot on the community about more face to face interactions. The holidays are the best time to implement that practice!

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS HOLIDAY SEASON?
The goal is always to remain positive. We can harp about all the stress that the holidays bring but what brings you joy?

Anything fun planned

for staff? Yourself? Favorite traditions?

We love this time of year! The shop is dressed up and everyone wants something yummy to drink.

Can’t wait to hear from you!

English traditions?! @doc_choc

Oh and we of course have to hear from @CareyJo ✨

@TheRealChipA have to know- do we like peppermint ice cream?

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

DinaLRosenberg — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:50:54 GMT

My husband dresses as Krampus every year.. and it's HYSTERICAL

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

Lovewell — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:55:10 GMT

That truly is what nightmares are made of 😂 I would have been SUCH a good child if this was my Christmas lore.

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

TheRealChipA — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:17:19 GMT

@Lovewell Of course "we" do! LOL. In fact it is one of our flavor concentrates, which are available year-round. Not only are those flavor concentrates great for soft serve, but they make amazing (what we call) Sweet Cream Coffees -- cold brew or cafe americano with a touch of our vanilla soft serve mix and your choice of any combination of our flavors! Rum Peppermint, anyone? Or Egg Nog Peppermint? And, of course, Chocolate Peppermint! The possibilities might not be endless but they are certainly a lot (over 100,000). Anyway.....

This will be our second even winter to be open. I'm looking forward to seeing how it grows. And, if all goes well and we seal the deal on a lease for our new space, I'm looking forward to opening our first-ever indoor seating areas. More exciting after we move, we'll be doing neighborhood movie nights this winter -- including holiday movies, of course! I am working MPLC to obtain an annual umbrella license to show all the movies I want! I've talked about the dearth of community spaces and how that has degraded and devalued our society. It's time to do something about that -- no matter how small!

Anyway, happy holidays everyone!

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

CareyJo — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:37:55 GMT

Okay... first @Lovewell thanks for the tag! Oh, boy... where to BEGIN!!! We used to have a lot of traditions but since we're empty nesters and our kids are mostly gone away and in other places for the holidays, we rarely get to celebrate them anymore. Unfortunately, our kids don't come home for Christmas and they all have yours-mine-ours situations. So we don't get to see our kids/grands on Christmas itself very often and certainly not all at the same time.

Second, since we're a service based company, we don't celebrate this with our clients other than to send Christmas cards to some of our top clients each year. I will often take a plate of goodies or a special gift to our biggest clients as a thank you, but that's about it. December 26th is actually inventory prep day for us. We're usually closed early on the 23rd, closed 24th and 25th of course and most of the time we don't need to be open on the 26th. So we do prep and then close again on the 31st and 1st and do actual inventory. It is very cold here in Montana during that time and it takes quite a while to go through the truck and the warehouse and trailer to get it all done. None of which can be heated of course. The warehouse could potentially be heated but he's never gotten around to it. So I wear about 6 layers of clothes and sit in the sun as much as possible.

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

CareyJo — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:42:58 GMT

I actually just learned what Krampus was in 2023. I had no idea. Then after learning about him, that Christmas movie Red One with the Rock and JK Simmons came out last year, which was cool. He is so ugly and scary to me, but I know he's supposed to be. I can't stand to look at him lol...

My husband is the Grinch. Like FOR REAL. Not just the costume. And yes, he LOVES to play his part and put it on! I made him a fancy Santa coat last year and he just wears the bottom half, hands and mask. He gets so hot, even at Christmas, that he won't wear anything other than a Tshirt under that coat, so no need for the top half of the costume I made. He literally cut it off a couple of years ago 🙄

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

CareyJo — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:43:47 GMT

The mixing of flavors with ice cream sounds awesome! I bet my hubby will try to do that at some point with our stuff too... he already wants to do floats.

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

CareyJo — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:45:47 GMT

Oh... I forgot to mention... what I look forward to most is the decorating! I shop all year long so I can be prepared - with about 40 people in our family, I have to... but once I get my decorating done, there is nothing finer than sitting in my living room, all cozy just looking at the trees and being surrounded by the lights 🎄

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

Lovewell — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:48:37 GMT

Love bringing treats to people at the holidays!!

One year I made 6 dozen cinnamon rolls and baked them in half dozen containers for some of my regulars. Did them more as a take a bake situation so they could pop them in their oven on Christmas (one of my fav traditions) and have the house smell delish!

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

Lovewell — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:49:21 GMT

Peppermint soft serve?!?!?! Pop in a candy cane in that thing and God bless America sign me UP!

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

Lovewell — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:50:07 GMT

Please do freezes as well!! Those are my FAV. Like basically a soda milkshake. Yummmmmm

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

CareyJo — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:52:53 GMT

I'm one of those people who wants a bucket of ice with 6 ounces of soda lol... when we go to restaurants, I say Coke or Pepsi with EXCESSIVE ice. People think I'm nuts. I don't get freezer headaches, so I will be doing lots of freezes!!!

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

Lovewell — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:54:20 GMT

Yeah I’m gonna just have to visit. It’s a must. 😂 I FORGOT I should have added to the other chat about collecting things. I collect Coca Cola ornaments. I haven’t dabbled too much in other things but a good vintage Coca-Cola sign is always so tempting.

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

Lovewell — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:58:12 GMT

This is the dream ✨🎄

OH! Colored lights or white lights?

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

doc_choc — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 09:01:07 GMT

Who doesn't love Chrimbo, even Scrouge came around to it eventually.

It's definitely a time for chocolate, a lot of chocolate! We have been flat out for the last few weeks in production making Advent Calendars and Christmas salamis.

Now you can't beat a Christmas pudding, preferably homemade that has been maturing and brandy fed for at least 8 months and definitely set alight with dads best brandy (shhh). We used to have them in school and back in the day they would add a silver six pence coin stirred in. Whoever found it would have good luck for the year ahead...starting with a trip to the dentist if you happened to find it!

We then have the tradition of the Kings Speech, on T.V. 3pm on Christmas Day where they reflect on the year and share festive wishes, at which time carbs are kicking in from dinner overload and way too many pigs in blankets (kilted soldiers if you live north of the border), the heat from the log fire weighs the eyelids and the whole family look and feel like a herd of walruses flat out asleep in the living room, power napping for the resumption of more food and drinking in the evening.

As if you hadn't eaten enough on Christmas Day, well there is always Boxing Day on the 26th to look forward with even more food and drink, usually left over turkey buffet or a turkey curry. For a lot of people there is the traditional Boxing Day walk, where you spend more time wishing people Merry Christmas than walking, but it helps work off the previous days food. Then time is spent visiting friends and family and if you haven't emptied the bank on the run up to Christmas, there are always the Boxing Day sales in the shops. Love watching the rush in to Selfridges...its like a stampede of wildebeests looking for handbags and TVs.

Then unfortunately back to work for the most....Valentines Day chocolate is on the horizon! 🎄🎅🌟🌠

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

doc_choc — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 09:03:53 GMT

You know what, I like the idea of this. We have a soft serve in the shop so I might just try this.

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

doc_choc — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 09:16:02 GMT

You know what, we generally switch our soft serve off after the mid October school holiday break as demand drops. But I have seen a change in buying patterns with the younger generations wanting soft serve later in the season (they come in disappointed to see the machine off for the winter). So I may mix things up and keep it on.

We are just about to start putting our Winter menu boards together and any suggestions you have come across we could give a go over here in the UK. Having worked in the US I do find your food and combinations somewhat interesting and innovative.

So is the Cafe Americano a bit like what we call (or the Italians) an Affogato with espresso poured over the soft serve? And what's a sweet cream coffee...sounds intriguing?

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

TheRealChipA — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 11:48:00 GMT

Cafe Americano is a term we first ran across when we were in Prague. As it was explained to me, it is their version of classic American drip coffee which is, after all, just watered-down espresso. That's how they make it -- a shot of espresso plus lots more water.

We have Affogatos here. They are on my menu, with the change that they are made with any flavor soft serve. We even put toppings on it as customers wish, though that is pretty rare.

As for the Sweet Cream Coffee.... it's sort of a misnomer. First, understand that our soft serve flavors are blended using flavor concentrates. These things are highly concentrated (1/50th of an ounce flavors 4 ounces of soft serve). They add no nutritional value and until they are mixed with something sweet, they are pretty much flavorless by themselves -- similar to what is used for "flavored" sparkling waters. Anyway....

Early on with Piper's, it dawned on us that would could substitute our liquid soft serve mix for milk and cream in coffees. Then we would be able to offer virtually limitless coffee flavors by adding our flavor concentrates to that. It's just a lazy man's version of a latte and that's the way we position it. Since we aren't a coffee shop, but rather an ice cream shop that happens to offer coffee, it's a perfect and easy way to expand our menu with an innovative product. We do the same thing with all of the beverages in our menu line, since our flavor concentrates even work in sodas, teas and lemonades that have some sugar in them.

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

DinaLRosenberg — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 11:54:11 GMT

OMG I'm such a SCROOGE at home. Honestly working retail there's nothing left for me to decorate at home and my kids aren't into it.. so... I just put up a tree without ornaments LOLOL

Re: Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

DinaLRosenberg — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 11:55:28 GMT

We do a witchy advent calendar. We already have 'em up on TikTok Shop. It's our7th year offering advent calendars- a true labor of love.