Tag Archives: The Enchanted Manor

Celebration – Children’s Parties (Part One)

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2012 Cupcake party - sign

Over the years I have planned many birthday parties for my children.  I’ve enjoyed the entire planning process from deciding on a theme, to shopping for invitations and party supplies, to creating party decorations, special party favors and gift bags, to deciding on what type of birthday cakes.  When I was a single Mom and planning my son’s birthday parties I purchased mostly store bought items for their convenience and held most of the parties at pizza places or park venues.  With my daughter’s birthday parties I was able to create most of the decorations and have most of the parties at our house.  Either way, during the planning process there are a lot of decisions to be made concerning a children’s birthday party, like the date, location, budget.  Most blogs give ideas about specific theme parties, but I’m going to talk about the process involved and give some tips and suggestions.

Theme/Decorations

When deciding on themes there are a lot of different choices, but try to think of ideas to personalize the theme in some unique and different ways to make it special for your children.  After a theme is determined the next step is setting a reasonable budget.  With the cost of children’s birthday parties being so expensive, my idea is to keep the budget from getting out of control by creating the party decorations myself or if I do purchase party items I make sure they can be recycled or re-purposed after the party.

As an example, for our daughter’s fourth birthday party we decided on an Ariel theme, her favorite Disney character.  We could have gone crazy with mass produced Ariel items from the party supply store but instead I made most of the decorations with seashells.  There was a seashell front door wreath to welcome the guests, a hallway column decorated with inexpensive ocean netting covered with more seashells, and a seashell “rose” arrangement for the buffet table.  I know these decorations sound unusual for an Ariel party but I was able to recycle and repurpose these items after the party.  (Check out how I recycled the seashell “rose” arrangement in this month’s post, Floral Arrangements)   For the other Ariel party decorations, our family room fireplace mantel was decorated with an Ariel doll and Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle stuffed toys.  To add a personal element, I framed two photos of our daughter taken with Ariel on our visits to Disneyland and also two autographed Ariel photos signed by Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel.  Our daughter played with all the Ariel items for years after the party and the framed photos and autographed pictures are now displayed in our home.

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Another example of keeping party costs within budget are the decorations we used for our daughter’s Ladybug theme sixth birthday party.  I found several inexpensive small stuffed ladybugs from the dollar store that I hung from the kitchen chandelier over the buffet table, inexpensive lady bug masks also purchased at the dollar store were used as decorations and foam/paper/letter stickers were used to create a Happy Birthday banner.  With all these low cost items we were able to keep within our budget.

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In keeping with the idea of creating the party decorations, the scrapbook aisle of the local craft store is an excellent source for solid and pattern paper.  Also in the craft store there is a wide selection of foam colors to make birthday banners and signs.  For a seventh birthday animal theme party, I used several different animal print papers to make a Happy Birthday banner and another sign that said “the Jones Safari Headquarters” that we put on our backyard wooden swing set/fort.  Another example, for an eighth birthday princess sleepover party, I made a “The Royal Bedroom” sign leading down to our basement where the girls were spending the night.  For a ninth birthday Littlest Pet Shop party, which was another sleepover party, I made a “Pet Den” sign for her bedroom and on our front door I added a welcome sign and enlarged copies of Littlest Pet Shop animals tucked into our front door wreath.  For a twelfth cupcake theme birthday party, I made a Happy Birthday banner out of several bright colored foam pendents and white foam letters.  After the party, this banner was stored away in our basement waiting to be recycled and used again for another party.

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Food and Birthday Cakes

When planning your child’s birthday party try to keep the food menu limited to easy to make and simple to serve foods.  Years ago, we had two different birthday parties for my son’s at our local Chuck E. Cheese Pizza restaurant.  It was so easy because the food and entertainment were all provided by the restaurant and the best part was that there was no clean-up afterwards.  Check other local venues with activities like miniature golf, bowling, aquatic parks and movie theaters   These are some fun ideas if you are looking for an easy and simple party and the entertainment can easily be provided by the venue.

When having a child’s birthday party at your home consider ordering a pizza delivery or a 4-6 foot long sandwich for a local sandwich shop.  Add some drinks like soda, juice or bottled water, serve some simple snacks like vegetables/dip and maybe a salad and don’t forget the birthday cake for an easy to serve party menu.

Birthday cakes are such an important part of the birthday celebration and we have such a fun time coming up with ideas to fit the theme for each party.  For our daughter’s Ariel party we had a birthday cake that was frosted to look like a sandcastle with seashells scattered around the base of the cake.  For her Ladybug party we had a birthday cake with a Boyd’s Bear Ladybug figurine on top and it was decorated with leaves and more ladybugs.  For her animal themed birthday my husband baked, frosted and decorated a large green snake cake, the kids really like that one!  For our daughter’s first sleepover party, my husband made a really fun birthday cake.  It was made to look like the girls were sleeping in a cute pink bed.  Twinkies were used to make the sleeping girls who had their heads on marshmallow pillows.  The girls loved this cake!

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There is so much information, ideas and suggestions for children’s birthday parties that I have to divide it into two different posts.  Please check out the Birthday Party (Part Two) post about birthday activities/entertainment, gift bags, etc.

Decor – Floral Arrangements

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Floral arrangements are the perfect decorative accessory for any room of a home.  Floral arranging is a favorite hobby of mine; I find the process very relaxing.  By using my creative skills to create lovely arrangements, I can get the exact colors and style that I need for the room’s decoration.  Most of the arrangements used throughout our home were used for the many special events during our family’s lives together and each one has great sentimental value.

Before I start describing the floral arrangements in our home, I would like to say that I use artificial flowers.  I know most people would say to use only fresh flowers when decorating a home, but the quality of artificial flowers currently available are very realistic looking.  Fresh flowers can be very expensive to purchase weekly throughout the year.  Buying artificial flowers keeps the cost to a reasonable low onetime expense. When shopping in your local craft store, be selective in choosing artificial flowers for the arrangements because there are still very poor quality ones available but there are also some excellent and realistic looking ones.  Before shopping it is helpful to have a basic idea of the style and colors needed for a particular room and to also pre-select the vase.

In our entry, there is a dark wood pedestal next to a low bench.  On the pedestal, for most of the year, there is a beautiful white rose arrangement.  This one is very special because it was used on the buffet table at our small and intimate wedding ceremony/reception in our home in California several years ago. Seasonally, I add blue feather sprays in Spring and several peasant feathers in the Fall.  This slightly changes the look of the arrangement for each season.

Entry floral arrangement - spring     Library floral arrangement

In the library, on a painted table in front of the window, is a lovely arrangement of pastel flowers in a tall ivory vase.  This tall floral arrangement was used last year for my Mother’s rosary and funeral.  I knew I wanted to make something special to honor my Mother and creating the arrangement allowed me some quiet time to think of our shared memories and to grieve for her.  After the funeral, I brought the arrangement back to our home.  It is not a sad remembrance but a joyful one for the life of a very special person in my life.

In the family room there is a table behind the sofa with two tall lamps.  Years ago, when I was creating the floral arrangements for our small and intimate wedding ceremony/reception at our home in California, I used a ceramic vase with dark pink roses and some greenery.  This floral arrangement was used on the welcome table at our wedding and it now sits on the sofa table between the lamps.

Family room floral arrangement 1     Dining room floral arrangement - fall

In our dining room, there is a floral arrangement of golden roses and greenery in a crystal vase, a wedding gift from a dear friend.  It sits on our dining room table with an antique crocheted doily that was bought a few years ago on one of our road trips.  Seasonally, I add several peasant feathers in the Fall.  This slightly changes the look of the arrangement and with the golden roses fitting in with the fall colors there is no need to purchase an additional seasonal one.

This is not a floral arrangement, but in the kitchen there is a straw basket filled with artificial fruit.  This basket sits on the kitchen counter year-round and for the different seasons I add a chocolate bunny for Spring and a jar filled with wooden candy canes for Christmas.  This is a perfect example of adding something to a display that makes it fit the season without purchasing additional items.

Kitchen vegetable arrangement - spring      Kitchen vegetable arrangement - christmas

Upstairs in our master bedroom we have lovely dark wood furnishings; a bed, dresser/mirror, armoire, old-fashioned roll-top desk and in the corner a reading area with a comfortable recliner chair.  On the dresser I have displayed our wedding photos plus photos of both of us as children.  I recently added a small floral arrangement of pale pink roses, white and green hydrangeas in a small ivory porcelain vase.  As a finishing touch I tied a pale green ribbon to the vase.

Master bedroom floral arrangement     Home office floral arrangement

As previously shown in last month’s Décor post, Home Office, there is a lovely small floral arrangement that sits on my office desk.  It started as a small ivory porcelain container that held several sprigs of green berries, clear and green crystal beads.  It is something that I look at every day.  I really liked the arrangement but it seemed like it was incomplete, so I recently added several pale pink roses.  Sometimes a little “tweaking” of an existing arrangement is required and I think it looks better.

California room floral arrangementWe jokingly refer to our downstairs as the “California Room”.  It is decorated with items that remind us of our home back in California.  There is an entire wall of black bookcases filled with our Disney memorabilia, check out this month’s Décor post for photos.  The first few years that we lived in the Midwest, we really missed Disneyland.  We also missed spending time on the weekends at the great beaches in Southern California.  On the wall opposite the Disney bookcases is a lovely oil painting of a seascape that we bought in Santa Barbara.  There are lots of seashells and other beach themed items that decorate our downstairs space.   For our daughter’s fourth birthday back in California we had an Ariel themed party.  I had purchased several dozen seashells over the internet to use as decorations around the house and for cake decorations.  With the remaining seashells, I made an arrangement of seashells that looked like white rosebuds.  It was a simple arrangement made with the seashells hot-glued onto long stems that we left over from another project.  A couple of years ago I was in Home goods and found a resin vase that resembled stacked seashells.  With the new vase and I rearranged the seashell “roses”, added some greenery and this is the arrangement that sits on the bar area in our downstairs room.

That completes the tour of the floral arrangements in our home.

Travel – Custer State Park, SD

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn 2004, we took our annual road trip from California (where we were living at the time) to visit relatives in Illinois.  We always seemed to take the same trip every year and visited the same places in Utah and Colorado.  Don’t great me wrong; we really like that part of the country!  We enjoy the beautiful scenery along the route, visiting cities like Las Vegas, Denver and Salt Lake City and Zion, Bryce and Rocky Mountain National Parks.  This time we decided to make our return trip from Illinois to California by the northern route and planned to visit some different places.

Our major destination for this trip was Custer State Park.  This would be our “home base” for several days with daily trips from there to see nearby attractions, such as: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind and Jewel Caves and the Mammoth Site.  The Black Hills of South Dakota has so many historic places to visit and the scenery is absolutely amazing and beautiful in this area of the United States.

Custer State Park, founded in 1912, is named for the famous Lt. Colonel George Custer.  It is the first and largest state park in South Dakota with over 71,000 acres of spectacular views of granite peaks and an abundance of wildlife with more than 186 species of animals that live or migrate through the park.  Visiting this area a person can truly gain a sense of why the Native Americans considered this area so scared.  There are a variety of outdoor activities available at the park, such as: fishing, canoeing, horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, chuck wagon cookouts and Buffalo Jeep Tours.  (Our daughter was only four at the time we visited, so we didn’t participate in many of those activities but it gives us a reason to come back!)

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We stayed at the State Game Lodge during our visit to Custer State Park.  This location was the “Summer White House” for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927 and was visited by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953.  We actually stayed in the Coolidge Room, which was a comfortable two-room suite that the President Coolidge stayed in during his time at the State Game Lodge.  (It was a little pricey, but how often do you get to sleep in a room that a President once slept in?)  The beautiful stone and wood lodge, built in 1920, is located in a picturesque mountain valley filled with ponderosa pines and oak, birch and aspen trees with the Coolidge Creek running through the valley.  The lodge served as a perfect location and “home base” for several days while we visited all the attractions in the surrounding area.

During our stay, we ate at the Historic State Game Lodge Dining Room.  It offers a casual but elegant dining experience with a dinner menu of entrée selections featuring local game such as trout, pheasant, buffalo and venison.  (Our daughter was so excited to eat her first buffalo burger!) The dining room also serves breakfast and lunch.

Custer State Park is a wonderful place for scenic drives.  When we visited the park we saw bison, pronghorn antelope, mountain goats, deer, wild turkeys and burros and even an owl that my husband was able to spot!

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When driving on the park’s roadways remember the following:

  1. The speed limit is generally 25 miles or less.
  2. Use caution as traffic can suddenly stop, especially for animals sightings.
  3. Please pull off the roadway while photographing the scenery and wildlife.
  4. Remember all the animals in the park are wild and can be potentially dangerous.  Bison can be extremely fast and lethal when provoked.
  5. Don’t forget a camera and a pair of binoculars!

We highly recommend the following three drives for their beautiful scenery and wildlife:

Wildlife Loop Road – This 18 mile drive takes visitors through open grasslands and hills.  In this area you are likely to see bison, pronghorn antelope, white-tailed deer, elk, wild turkeys and burros.    This particular drive is never the same twice, so if you are staying over several days, we recommend taking the Wildlife Loop Road drive more than once.  (When we visited the park in the off season, this area was so quiet and peaceful; we were almost the only car there.  We were very excited to see a large herd of bison, there were even some young calves.  The herd of bison was an amazing sight to see in the distance as they come over the hills!)

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Needles Highway – (SD Highway 87 between Sylvan Lake and Legion Lake) The 14 mile drive takes visitors on winding roads through several granite tunnels into beautiful pine and spruce forests and meadows lined with birch and aspen trees.  The highlights of the drive are the amazing views of the granite rocks formations called “Needles”.  (At the “Needle Eye” we stopped to take photos and even a fun video of my husband drive through the narrow tunnel!)

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TRAVEL NOTE: Tunnels on the Needles Highway are as low as 10 feet, 7 inches and as narrow as 8 feet, 4 inches.

Iron Mountain Road – (U.S. 16A) Only 17 miles of this scenic highway are in Custer State Park.  If you are traveling to or from Mount Rushmore the highlights of the drive are the three granite tunnels which frame Mount Rushmore in the distance and the three wooden pigtail bridges that were built in the 1930s.  The particular drive is very popular and should definitely be on the list of things to do!

TRAVEL NOTE:  Tunnels on Iron Mountain Road are as low as 12 feet, 2 inches high and as narrow as 13 feet, 2 inches wide.

Custer State Park information

  • Custer State Park’s biggest and most exciting attraction is the free-roaming herd of 1,500 bison.  The bison herd is one of the largest public-owned herds in the world.  Bisons, or tatanka, can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds and they were essential to the lives of the Lakota (Sioux) Native Americans who lived in this area and provided them with food and clothing.At the end of September is the annual Buffalo Roundup and auction which began in 1965.
    Several hundred bison are sold at the auction each year so that the park bison herd can remain at a manageable number for the rangeland forage. The event, which is open to the public, attracts more than 11,000 people each year. Preceding the roundup/auction, is a Buffalo Roundup Festival where more than 150 exhibitors offer their western themed arts and crafts and there is also a chili cook-off with the only requirement being that buffalo meat be used.

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  • The “Begging Burros” of Custer State Park are located in a specific area, so check with a park ranger for their current locations during your visit to the park.  There are approximately 50 burros and they will approach a car to “beg” for food.  Be attentive when traveling through the park as sometimes the burros will block the roadway as they cross from one side to the other.
  • Be sure to stop by the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center in the park.  It is a wonderful place to find out about the park’s natural history and cultural heritage.  The exhibits include wildlife dioramas and information on the annual Buffalo Roundup.  Many of the park’s naturalist programs begin at the center.

Custer State Park is located nearby other Black Hills attractions, such as Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Crazy Horse Memorial, Jewel Cave and Wind Cave National Parks and the Mammoth Site.  By planning in advance, this area of South Dakota can be a wonderful family destination!

For more travel information on Custer State Park, please see their website at www.custerstatepark.com and for information about park accommodations at Custer State Park’s four lodges, visit www.custerresorts.com

Decor – Disney Memorabilia Collection

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Growing up in Southern California, our family has been going to Disneyland since it first opened in the 1950s.  Later with my own children, I continued the family tradition of annual trips to Disneyland.  When I was a little girl, I also remember seeing all the Disney animated films (… the price of a movie admission was just 50 cents!)  Later, with my own children, we watched the same Disney classic movies re-released on VHS then DVD.  Then, when Disney started making new animated films again and later with Pixar, we went to the movie theater to see those films, too.  (Of course the price of a movie ticket was much more expensive and don’t get me started on the price of a drink, candy and popcorn!!)

Disney bookshelves 1  Disney bookshelves 2 Disney bookshelves 3

Over the years, we started to collect Disney Memorabilia during our numerous visits to Disneyland and we also made purchases at the Disney Store and later on the Disney website.  Our collection varies from simple park souvenirs; like admission tickets and annual passports, park brochures/maps, fast passes, collectible pins and Mickey Mouse ears, to more expensive items like water globes, character figurines, animation cels, lithographs and even autographed items.  The photos of the bookcases displaying our Disney Memorabilia only show a portion of our collection.

Disneyland E-TicketWhile going to Disneyland for almost 60 years, I have a collection of different types of park merchandise and souvenirs. Shortly after Disneyland opened in 1955, in addition to the park admission, they began selling ticket books for entrance to the different attractions. These ticket books were used until the late 1970s when they were replaced by the single admission/unlimited-ride park ticket.  I have several complete ticket books in addition to a few iconic “E-Tickets”.  I have also been saving our Disneyland parking passes, admission tickets, annual passports and brochure/park maps for the last 40 years.  When the fast-pass tickets were introduced in the late 1990s, I started collecting one for every ride that offered them.  Other “free” souvenirs include the autographs of Disney characters that our daughter has collected over the years.  Like all young girls, her favorite part was meeting the Disney princesses and getting a photo taken with them.  I know that these different paper souvenirs do not have any monetary value but it is fun to collect them.

Disney bookshelves

On the top of our Disney bookcases, there is a shadow box that displays an old Disneyland pennant, a popular souvenir item from Disneyland’s early years.  I also have stored away two Disneyland Park maps that were originally purchased for my children.  It is fun to look at the Disneyland maps and see the attractions that have come and gone over the years.

Three souvenirs displayed in our Disney Memorabilia collection are very unique items.  The first item is a Pilot’s Certificate that we received when we rode in the Pilot’s wheelhouse located on the upper deck of the Mark Twain Steamboat.  The second unique item is a signed copy of a map of the Jungle Cruise which was given to our daughter by a cast member; it makes a very rare souvenir.  The third item and one of my favorites, is my daughter’s Tinkerbell shoes autographed by the “original” Tinkerbell, Margaret Kerry, who was making a personal appearance at the Disneyland Resort and kindly signed the shoes and took a photo with my daughter.

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Some our other Disneyland souvenirs include over two hundred Disney collectible pins.  Most of these pins were purchased individually and I have only engaged in the pin trading phenomenon once or twice.  The pin purchases were mostly made during our visits to Disneyland or online from e-bay when I am looking for rare or discontinued pins.  A small part of my pin collection is displayed in shadow boxes and the rest of the pins are stored away.

The first Disney characters that I started collecting were the classic Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie and the Fantasia Mickey Mouse items.  The collection started with two medallions that were issued back in the 1980s.  From there, the collection continued to grow with a variety of stuffed Mickeys, several large and small Mickey figurines, lithographs and animation cels.  The first time that my son and daughter visited Disneyland I bought each the classic Mickey Mouse Ears with their names embroidered on the back.  These are stored away with other special Mickey Mouse Ears, like the ones from the exclusive Club 33 and Disneyland’s 50th anniversary.

My favorite Disney character is Pinocchio.  I love the story of the little wooden puppet trying to become a real boy with the help of Jiminy Cricket.  Somehow, during the time I was a single Mom raising my son, I associate the character of Pinocchio with him and I was his Jiminy Cricket being the “conscience” that guided him through life.  For this reason, I began collecting Pinocchio items which include framed animation cels and lithographs, large and small figurines and collectible water globes.

Like most little girls, my daughter liked all the Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell but her favorite Disney character was Ariel.  Over the years, I have collected items which include both large and small porcelain Disney Princess dolls and other figurines, music boxes, autographed pictures and books.  Another special item is a “Small World” attraction water globe/music box that my daughter received as a birthday present.

Other Disney items collected include over 50 books on the subjects of Disneyland, Walt Disney and the Disney movies, as well as magazines (mostly the discontinued “E-ticket” magazine), music albums and CDs and almost all the animated Disney movies on DVDs.  We love Disney so much that we celebrated our daughter’s 5th birthday party with over 25 family and friends at Disneyland during their 50th anniversary.  We have several items commemorating the event such as: a special 50th anniversary picture frame which displays our group’s picture taken in front of the Sleeping Beauty’s Castle on the day of the party and also a lovely Disneyland 50th anniversary water globe/music box.  Since we moved to the Midwest, we have visited the Walt Disney Resort in Florida and items from those trips are also displayed in our Disney bookcase.  We have several photo albums and scrapbooks filled with photos of our Disneyland adventures over almost 60 years.  Finally, displayed seasonally on our Christmas tree every year is our large collection of Disneyland Park and Hallmark Disney ornaments.

Collecting Disney memorabilia has brought me great joy throughout the years and it provides many memories of our trips to Disneyland and all things Disney.  Let me know if you also collect Disney items, I would love to hear how your collection is displayed.

Travel – Hershey, PA

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DSC08245During a road trip to Gettysburg in 2008 we stopped in Hershey, PA.  Hershey is the home of the Hershey Company and is sometimes referred to as “The Sweet Place on Earth”.  Hershey’s Chocolate World is open year-round and nearly 3 million visitors take the Chocolate tour.  This attraction was opened in 1973 when the original Hershey chocolate plant tour reached capacity and was no longer able to handle the large number of annual visitors.

At our visit to Hershey’s Chocolate World we took a 10 minute ride, the Chocolate Tour, which quickly takes visitors from the harvesting of the bitter cocoa beans to the making of a delicious Hershey’s Chocolate Bar.  In 2006, animatronic singing cows were added throughout the ride and our daughter enjoyed the cows so much that we went on this ride twice!  At the end of the tour, visitors are given a free sample of a Hershey’s product. (at the time we visited their newest product was the Bliss candy)

Hershey Chocolate World 1     Hershey 2008

Hershey’s Chocolate World has various shops selling Hershey chocolates and souvenirs.  The main candy store has the world’s largest selection of Hershey brand products.  If you are hungry, there are several different food choices in the Hershey’s Courtyard Food Court and Hershey’s Ice Cream Shop.  While we were at Chocolate World, we had our photo taken and the image was printed onto Hershey’s chocolate bar wrappers to make a great souvenir!  We also purchased a cute Hershey chocolate bear for our daughter to add to her stuffed bear collection.

Hershey Trolley Tour

Before we left Hershey we took the Hershey Trolley.  Since 1988 this green trolley takes visitors on a 60 minute round-trip tour of the town of Hershey.  The singing conductors tell the history of Milton Hershey’s chocolate company and point out the interesting historical sites.

Some sites along the tour included:

  • The Town of Hershey –  Hershey wanted to create a complete town where his employees had access to quality homes, decent transportation, schools for their children, recreation at parks and community centers, a variety of churches for religious services and even their own bank.  Hershey named the two main streets in town Chocolate Avenue and Coca Avenue.  In 1963, 107 streetlights in the shape of Hershey Chocolate Kisses were added to Chocolate Avenue. (55 look like the traditional foil wrapped candies and 52 look like the unwrapped chocolate candies)

Hershey Street Light 1 Street Sign Hershey PA Hershey Street Light 2

  •  High Point – The home of Milton Hershey was built in 1908 overlooking the original chocolate factory.  The residence features 22 rooms, as Hershey was a humble man, their home is less ornate than the homes built by the other Hershey executives.  Today the home is used as the offices for the Hershey Trust Company.
  • The Hershey Gardens – The gardens opened in 1937 and are over 23 acres filled with 7,000 roses bushes in a varieties of 275 different roses.  (we wished we had the time to walk the beautiful grounds!)
  • The original Hershey Chocolate Factory – The Hershey Company has the largest chocolate factory in the world.  The original factory started construction in 1903 and was completed in 1905, it has grown from the original six acres to 2.2 million square feet today.  The red barberry bushes outside the factory spell out “Hershey Cocoa”.

Hershey Plant 2     Hershey Plant 1

  • The Milton Hershey School – Milton Hershey and his wife, Kitty, had no children of their own.  The home and school for orphan children were founded in 1909 and housing, meals, clothing and medical/dental care are provided free of charge to students.
  • The Hotel Hershey and Spa – Built in 1930 to accommodate the growing number of tourists to the area, the Hotel Hershey offers “elegance without pretense” in their 276 rooms.  Located within the facility is their luxurious spa, known as the “Chocolate Spa” because guests can experience exotic and innovative treatments, like the Whipped Coca Bath, Chocolate Bean Polish and the Chocolate Fondue Wrap!

A Brief History of Milton Hershey and the Hershey Company

Milton Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) founded the Hershey Chocolate Company in 1894 and it is the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer.  He is also known for his philanthropic work and founded the Milton Hershey School which is a full funded home and school for orphan children.

Hershey was raised in rural central Pennsylvania, had a very limited 4th grade education and nearly went bankrupt a couple of times.  As a teenage boy in Lancaster, PA he served a four year apprenticeship with a local candy maker.  In 1876, he made an attempt to start his own candy business in Philadelphia and despite six years of hard work it failed.  Hershey then moved to Denver, CO and found work with a confectioner who taught him how to make caramels using fresh milk.  He tried starting another candy business in New York City but this new venture also failed. Returning to Lancaster in 1886, Hershey established the Lancaster Caramel Company and finally he had success business.

While attending the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Hershey became fascinated with the process of making chocolate.  He purchased the machinery used by a German company at the exposition and shipped everything to Lancaster to make chocolate coatings for his Lancaster Caramels.  For the next few years he experimented with various recipes for making quality milk chocolate.  In the process, Hershey realized the growing consumer demand for chocolate and developed a system of mass production and distribution to market his Hershey Chocolate bar.  He sold the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1900 for an enormous sum at the time of $1 million.

With proceeds from the sale, Hershey was finally ready to establish his most successful business venture.  In 1903, he found a suitable location for his Chocolate factory in nearby Derry Township and started construction.  This area was surrounded by local dairy farms to supply fresh milk and several port cities were convenient to provide shipments of cocoa beans and sugar needed for his chocolate production.

In 1898, Milton Hershey had married Catherine Sweeney, known as “Kitty”.  The couple had a very happy marriage but sadly they were unable to have any children.  The couple decided that if they could not have children of their own, they would become the benefactors to those orphan children that needed help. In 1909, Hershey signed the Deed of Trust establishing the Hershey Industrial School, later renamed the Milton Hershey School.  After a lengthy and debilitating muscular disease, Kitty died from pneumonia in 1915.  In 1918, honor of his beloved Kitty, Hershey transferred the majority of his considerable wealth to the Hershey Trust.  A heartbroken Hershey never remarried and spent the next thirty years continuing to build his company and the Milton Hershey School.  He died in 1945 at the age of 88 and is buried at the Hershey Cemetery alongside his wife.

Hershey Trivia and Interesting Facts

  • The first Hershey’s Chocolate Bar was created in 1900, followed by Hershey’s Kisses in 1907 and the Hershey’s Chocolate bar with almonds in 1908.  Other products followed including the Mr. Goodbar (chocolate and peanuts) in 1935, Hershey’s Syrup in 1926 and the Krackel (chocolate and crisped rice) in 1938.
  • In 1912, the Hersheys were scheduled to return to Pennsylvania after an extended European vacation on the ill-fated RMS Titanic.  They canceled their reservations when Kitty became ill and booked passage later on another ocean liner.  The Hershey Museum displays a copy of the check Hershey wrote to the White Star Line for a deposit for a first class stateroom on the Titanic.
  • The Hershey’s Kisses got its name when the machine that produced them made a “kissing” sound when the chocolate mixture was dropped onto the conveyor belt.  The Hershey’s Kisses were originally wrapped by hand with aluminum foil and a paper strip was included to guarantee a genuine Hershey product until 1956 when the process was automated.  Over 24 million Hershey’s Kisses are produced at the Hershey Chocolate plant in a single day!
  • Harry Reese, a dairyman, began working at the Hershey factory in 1921.  By 1925 he had developed an assortment of candies and with Milton Hershey’s permission he started selling them in Lancaster, PA.  Hershey and Reese continued to have a good relationship and in an agreement with Hershey, stipulating that he was required to label his candies as “made in Chocolate Town”, Reese left and built his own company and factory in 1926.  With the sugar rationing during World War II, Reese limited his candy line to only the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  After Reese died in 1956, his company was sold to the Hershey Chocolate Corporation in 1963 for over $23 million.