Every year, Vancouver is blessed to have the Hot Chocolate Festival, and we have some mom and kid time being “hot chocolate foodies”.
For years, I have been enjoying trying the various hot chocolates that many vendors and cafes come up with at this time of year. However, I never go alone and never go without at least one of my children.
In fact, the hot chocolate festival, the very first one I tried was with Caiden, years ago, and it’s stuck since then. Of course, we never try them all, and don’t endeavour too, certainly not in one year (I, nor will I allow my kids to consume that much hot chocolate over that span of time…that would mean a few a day…no judgment if you do!).
Why Do I Love The Festival?
Over the years we have tried some that are absolutely amazing, just amazing, and some that we just preferred the original version. However, one thing is for certain, we love to try them.
In fact, I think I love it because it gives me a chance to explore a new place I may not normally go to, or I don’t normally have in my direct neighborhood, or a place that I love to check out but haven’t done so yet. It allows me and the kids to be exploring together. Enjoying something new, be it with kids, or a friend gives you a fun experience…an element of something extra to the “date”.
Hot Chocolate Festival Memories
One of the fondest things I enjoyed about taking each kid, is when they would tell me what they love about this place. For example, I took them to Thomas Haas (a fave), they both loved meeting “the guy that makes all the yummy chocolate.”
Our memory at Chocolate Arts will be a fond one, as they close their doors, but seeing the wall of chocolate made Rayna giddy.
One of our first experiences was at Cartem’s doughnuts, where we went to the bookstore and stumbled in to see they had started the hot chocolate festival. Caiden will forever be my first hot chocolate festival date, but he insisted he brings his “friend” Charlie the dinosaur along, newly acquired at the bookstore (third wheel).
Another fun memory was waiting to pick-up Caiden from preschool, and having my mom join me and Rayna at 49th parallel, where they always pair a hot chocolate with a doughnut. Their flavours, truly, never disappoint.
Another idea was doing a combined mom and kid date. Grab a friend with kiddos and make it a “double-date”. We did this with some of our local faves, and was a great way for us moms to try the funky flavours at Trafiq while our kids got their own table and sipped hot chocolate and their fave desserts and talked about legos and dinosaurs and unicorns.
One thing is for certain, it’s a perfect mom and kids, or parent and kids, or anyone and kids date in the city.
I mean who doesn’t love hot chocolate!
For a list of our local favourite spots for mom and tot dates, be sure to check out my bookstore and beverages post.
For more information on the hot chocolate festival in Vancouver, dates, and flavours please check out their site.
