You know we are big fans of chocolate around here! We’ve got an awesome collection of chocolate inspired fun! Have you tried our Chocolate Tasting date? What about this fun Chocolate Body Paint?! It’s perfect for a sweet night with your spouse…. but for now, let’s get back to the Chocolate Tour! When traveling or exploring a new city, a Chocolate Tour is often one of the many tourist attractions you can find available. The idea is simple: Visit different chocolate shops. Learn more about chocolate with a factory tour. And, of course, sample some of the best chocolate around. It sounds amazing—because it is!! We decided we wanted to create a DIY version for date night. Now you can create your own DIY Chocolate Tour anywhere! These gorgeous Chocolate Tour printables were created by our designer Carisa from Messes to Memories.
How to Create a DIY Chocolate Tour
In order for this date to be a success, you’ll need to do a little prep work. We promise that it’s totally worth it!
Get online and research chocolate shops & restaurants in your area. Search “best chocolatiers near me” or “best desserts near me” to get started. You can even search for a specific kind of dessert if you know there is one you might prefer, for example, “molten lava cakes near me” or “where to get chocolate gelato in {name of city}.” The chocolate brainstorming sheet can help you find your favorite types of desserts.
Use the planning sheet insert to list out the shops that you are most interested in visiting, make sure to make notes about the cost and what you are excited to try there. Try to find at least 5 different shops and desserts for your spouse to choose from.
Chocolate Tour Brochure
Leave the Chocolate tour brochure out where your spouse can find it with the planning sheet already filled out, a blank agenda and the instruction card. Your spouse will fill out the agenda before date night!
We decided on the Videri Chocolate Factory and a little chocolate shop called Escazu. They sounded super fancy and had the most unique chocolates I’ve ever seen. We actually enjoyed them so much and spent a little more time there than planned and didn’t get to our last destination! On date night, you can place the Agenda, Chocolate Questionnaire and Chocolate Trivia in your brochure and you’re set to explore! The brochure makes the whole night seem more official!
Chocolate Tour
For our Chocolate Tour, we decided to focus on chocolate bonbons or truffles and choose some of the most unique and best-rated chocolates in our city – Raleigh, NC. These chocolates were absolutely gorgeous! It was so fun to see all the unique flavors. There were some that I would have never thought to use and then there were the good ol’ classics. My favorite was the salted caramel… I know, I’m super boring. But my husband loved the Grapefruit and Hibiscus truffles. He is always a bit more adventurous and loves to try new things.
Both of the shops we went to also had other chocolate treats and desserts to try. In addition to the bonbons, we tried a Frozen Hot Chocolate and a Chocolate Push-Up Pop on our Chocolate Adventure.
Tips for Your Chocolate Tour
Get organized!! This will save time, stress and help you enjoy the night. Figure out the order you want to visit each shop based on things like location and times shops close. Then hit the road and start sampling some delicious chocolate desserts all over the city! Many shops even offer free samples, so be sure to ask while you are enjoying the sweet smells and sights! Savor each bite and see if you notice any difference between the chocolate you’re sampling and your everyday Hershey’s chocolate! While sampling, ask questions to see how much your local chocolatier knows about their chocolates! We loved sampling the different dark chocolates. We learned some were made from single origin cocoa while others were from blends. The single origin chocolates each had a unique flavor. The blended chocolate had a more balanced flavor. We were expecting them to all be bitter because that is what we usually taste when we buy dark chocolate from the grocery store. When we did this Chocolate Tasting date, we definitely tried a few bitter chocolates! We were pleasantly surprised to find that bitterness was not the predominant flavor. Some had hints of citrus or even blueberry, while others were more nutty and they all had different levels of sweetness. We learned that the bitter flavor usually is a result of not roasting the cocoa beans correctly. We also sampled cocoa nibs which are just bits of roasted cocoa beans before being made into chocolate. The nibs had a very nutty flavor and were crunchy. This is such a unique experience, so be sure to relax and enjoy your evening out on the town! And don’t forget to snap some pics of your date. If you share on Social media tag @datingdivas – we love seeing your date night adventures and definitely want to see your Chocolate Tour date night in action!
Chocolate Trivia
Every good tour includes a few tidbits of wisdom from a tour guide! Since this Chocolate Tour is put together by you, we provided you with some facts to help you get the whole experience. While out on your tour, take turns reading the Chocolate Trivia. You can always pretend you’re a tour guide and simply share these facts with your spouse. But we also formatted them into 2 types of questions so that you can make it more of a game! See how much you know about chocolate!
For example, did you know that chocolate comes from a fruit tree? Or that chocolate milk is considered an effective post-workout recovery drink? Or that chocolate increases your heart rate faster than kissing? We’re not quite sure about that last one! 😉
How COOL are those chocolates?? That bright red one is a Strawberry Balsamic bonbon. Mmmmm. My hubby and I always enjoy learning more about things we love and were surprised to learn some of these fun facts on our date! Trivia gives you a chance to discover some facts you probably would never hear, which always sparks great conversation. After your tour, use the Chocolate Questionnaire to get you talking about your chocolate tour! Decide which chocolates were your favorite and why? Which ones were overpriced or worth the money? Would you recommend any to friends? Chocolate makes everything better! Get out there and try this fun chocolate-themed date night with your spouse! SaveSave
