The Chocolate Fountain

Oh my. This thing wore me out tonight.

I bought a chocolate fountain a couple years ago at Costco. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Oh! This will be so much fun for the kids!" I said. "What a great party idea!" I said.

It's actually a hassle, and a heck of a lot of work. You need an absolute ton of chocolate, it's tricky to get it thin enough so it will move up the spout, but not too thin that it runs right off the food and into a big puddle, and it's a big mess.

Little kids waving around sharp bamboo skewers of fruit and cake, dripping chocolate all over the floor, all over themselves? And cleaning it up at the end? Nightmare. Washing chocolate out of the insides of long, plastic twisty parts with a fat, square sponge? Ridiculous.

What was I thinking?

We've used it twice, in two years.

But my boy was in heaven when I brought it out after dinner for the Valentine's Surprise. He'd been asking about it for days, telling me that Valentine's Day was the perfect day for the Chocolate fountain.

"I thought you said you didn't think you could manage to do this tonight..." he said. My exact words.

"I changed my mind," I said.

"You are the best mom ever!" he yelled, as he hugged me, with his chocolate fingers and chocolate face.

I guess some things are worth the hassle.