The fun we have at our Bon Bon Parties is often compared to the hilarity of that famous I Love Lucy episode – the one where Lucy and Ethel go to work in a chocolate factory. They can’t keep up with the speed of the conveyor belt, so they stuff their pockets, their mouths, and their blouses with chocolate. We don’t have a conveyor belt, but we do allow people to stuff as much chocolate into their mouths as they wish during the bon bon-making demonstration. And, there is inevitably a lot of laughter!

The Candy Factory episode is actually entitled Job Switching because Ricky and Fred think doing housework is much easier than earning money. Naturally, Lucy and Ethel think the opposite. So, the boys try doing the housework while the girls attempt to hold down a job at a candy factory. Often, people tell me they wish they had my job; that being a Bon Bon Queen must be an easy life. I’m not complaining, but it often feels like that speed-increasing conveyor belt. It’s not just about sitting around and eating bon bons!

I will say, Lucy’s job interview at the candy factory felt a lot like my first interview with a professional in the chocolate industry:

Supervisor: Ricardo, I’m going to put you to work chocolate dipping. You say you’ve had experience.
Lucy: Oh yes, ma’am. Yes ma’am. I’m a dipper from way back.
Supervisor: Yes?
Lucy: They used to call me "the big dipper."

Of course, Lucy’s only dipping experience (like mine) was dipping her hands into a box of chocolates. Reportedly that epsiode was Lucille Ball’s favorite, and I can’t help but wonder if it was because she knew it was a piece of comic genius or if it was just because she loved stuffing her mouth with all of that yummy chocolate. It wasn’t the only episode where Lucy downs a whole lot of sweets: on one show, Lucy goes to Schwab’s Drugstore because she wants to be discovered by Lana Turner. While she waits to be discovered, she has 3 chocolate malts, 2 hot fudge sundaes, 1 banana split, and 1 pineapple soda!

This summer, I was lucky enough to receive a custom handmade bag that encapsulates the fun of that wonderfully wacky piece of television history. You’ll notice that my bag even has a little front pocket, perfect for transporting bon bons. I have a few more things in common with Lucy besides job experience in a chocolate factory. Here’s more insight via some memorable lines from the show: 

Ricky Ricardo: Lucy’s actin’ crazy.
Fred Mertz: Crazy for Lucy, or crazy for ordinary people?

Ricky Ricardo: Lucy, you got some ’splainin’ to do!  

Arthur: But… You’re a woman.
Lucy Ricardo: Yes, my husband likes me that way.

Ricky Ricardo: Fred, I’ve got an awful problem on my hands.
Fred Mertz: You should have thought about that before you married her.

Lucy Ricardo: [at false seance, introducing Ethel in disguise] This is Madam Ethel Mertzola. She’ll be our medium tonight. She’s psychopathic.

Ricky Ricardo: What’s the matter with you? Are you crazy or something?

When guests come to our place for a Bon Bon Party, we try to incorporate lots of special touches – fresh flowers, candles for ambiance, great background music, and a pleasing bathroom. We can’t help but smile when the first guest visits the bathroom and then comes back to the party and starts nudging friends: "Go check out the bathroom".
What do we do? We fill our old clawfoot bathtub with water and float rose petals, candles, or other flowers on top. During the holidays, the entire bathtub is filled with vintage Christmas tree ornaments. And, on occasion, we’ve been known to line the entire bottom of the tub with seashells (a trick of this recessionista when the budget was too tight for fresh flowers). These little surprises make a big impact (as evidenced by this photo which was taken by one of our Bon Bon Party guests – yes, people actually take photos of our bathroom!).

Of course, we are not the only people who understand the importance of marketing all of the way from the front door to the water closet door. Check out these crazy restrooms found in hotels, restaurants, and even jewelry stores.  From gold fixtures to voyeuristic women in the men’s bathroom, these water closets may not be our style, but they certainly achieve the same effect: they give customers lots to talk about!

Variety is the spice of life. It’s why we have seven different bon bon flavors and why we take great pleasure in helping brides and grooms design custom wedding favor boxes that capture the spirit of their special day. 

When Pascal and I got married, long before the idea of bon bon business had ever been conceived, we had chocolates at both our wedding dinner (in Manhattan) and our wedding reception (which followed six months later in Wilmington). My friend Jannette bought us white chocolate Eiffel Towers to serve as favors to the twenty guests who attended our actual wedding. When it came time to plan for the reception, we decided to buy more white chocolate Eiffel Towers, but pair them with liquor-infused truffles that we would put in favor boxes at each place setting.  They would also double as placecards for our guests.

Our wedding colors were lavendar and white, which were determined by Pascal. He wore a suit instead of a tuxedo to our small, intimate wedding, and chose his tie at Thomas Pink. I told him that whatever tie color he chose would determine the color scheme for our wedding.  Et voila!

I bought favor boxes online and lavendar silk flowers in the wholesale district of Manhattan, and spent weeks creating handmade gift tags, the backs of which I dipped in glue and then white glitter. When we started assembling the boxes, they didn’t look nearly as lush as I wanted them to look. Something was missing–poufs!! I decided that we needed an organza pouf under each silk flower. The poufs had to be sewn by hand, and I recruited my long-suffering friend Cory (who has been roped into a million crazy jobs like this at Dupray family parties) to sew poufs which I would then glue along with the silk flowers to each favor box. After many delirious hours (and many hot glue gun burns), the boxes were finally assembled.  Then, because I simply couldn’t leave anything to chance, we went through the 120-person guest list and tried to determine which of the four truffle favors each guest would like best. At the time, I didn’t consider myself to be a Bridezilla, but as I tell this story, I’m thinking I may have to reconsider…

What I know for sure is that my first serious favor-making experience taught me a lot in preparation for the bon bon business. Since then, we’ve made thousands of custom favors (our largest order to date was 650 for one event), and I’ve learned what to do and what not to do. I also try to caution do-it-yourself brides against taking on this task. It seems quite easy, but it’s much harder than it looks.  Our last do-it-yourself bride delegated the assembly of her favor boxes (which she purchased independently before consulting us) to her parents who put every last one of them together backwards. They all had to be re-folded so that the bon bons wouldn’t fall out the bottom! At just $3 per completed favor box with one bon bon nestled inside, it’s more than worth it to leave the work to us professionals!

Here are is the wedding favor that started it all followed by favor boxes we’ve recently created to match the themes and the moods of three very different events:

Before Ratatouille, there was Anatole.

Although I do not yet have children, I have a good-sized collection of children’s books that grace my personal bookshelves. Some of them I acquired thanks to very fortunate connections (friends who worked in children’s publishing); some of them were gifts; some I bought for myself; and some are from my own cherished childhood collection. With a love of children’s books and a passion for all things French, one would think that I would have already met the legendary Anatole. But I hadn’t.

Several weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of enjoying lunch at the home of my friend, Joan, a retired librarian who has been introducing me to wonderful books for the past twenty years. Our lunch was an intimate affair – I thought the only guests would be me and my mother. Turns out the dining room was set to accommodate Joan, my mother, me, and an entire village of French mice. Joan made a delicious lunch of quiche and salad and savory muffins. As she finished her preparations in the kitchen and plated our food, she encouraged me to read aloud a children’s book that had been carefully placed in front of my chair on the dining room table.

The book, by Eve Titus, starts like this: "In all France there was no happier, more contented mouse than Anatole. He lived in a small mouse village near Paris with his dear wife Doucette and their charming six children – Paul and Paulette, Claude and Claudette, Georges and Georgette." I instantly fell in love with our fictitious guests!

Anatole is an honorable mouse, and when he realizes that humans are upset by mice sampling their leftovers, he is shocked! He must provide for his beloved family – but he is determined to find a dignified way to earn his supper. He goes to work at the Duvall Cheese Factory, leaving tasting notes to guide the cheesemakers in their work – "good," "not so good," "needs orange peel" - and signing his name. When workers at the Duvall factory find his notes in the morning, they are perplexed – but they realize that this mysterious Anatole has an exceptional palate and take his advice. Soon, thanks to Anatole, Duvall Cheese Factory, is making the best cheese in all of Paris! They would like to give Anatole a reward – if only they could find him…

This year marks Anatole’s 50th anniversary. And it is truly a classic, still fresh and charming and utterly delightful. I see so many possibilities for this wonderful book; I’d love to organize a reading of Anatole followed by a basic lesson in French cheeses. It would be great fun for both children and adults. Eve Titus wrote several books about the adventures of Anatole, and I cannot wait to read them all!  I thank my friend Joan for a wonderful lunch and for introducing me to a new friend. Anatole may be the smartest mouse in the world, but Joan is the sweetest woman.

As for me, I’m inspired to take a break. I think a little snack of crackers and fromage is in order…

Bearing my self-proclaimed title of Bon Bon Queen has taught me many lessons. I’m perfectly comfortable with the regal side of my nature, as I believe that there is a queen in every woman. You can’t claim what you don’t name. And, as the old adage goes: 
"Carry yourself like a queen and you will attract a king".  Or, a prince.  Or, in my case, a sweet French frog. 

Just one look at my crazy hat and my campy polka-dotted outfit should tell you that I don’t take myself too seriously. Still, I am a queen because my bon bons rule; I am a queen because I love pomp and circumstance; I am a queen because I’d rather be Queen Bee of my own little hive than a corporate worker bee drone. I am a queen because Queen rhymes with Charlene; it’s catchy and memorable and fun, and I strive to be all of those things. When I introduce myself as a queen, I’m making this subtle suggesion: all I ask is that you treat me no differently than you would the queen. And, as Princess Diana once said: "I’d like to be a queen of people’s hearts". I am the queen of my castle. I am Queen of the Day almost every day.  And yes, it is indeed good to be queen.

But some people just can’t bring themselves to acknowledge my light-hearted nod to my queenly nature. Instead of addresssing me by my proper royal title, they usually end up calling me something like: "The Bon Bon Lady". One time, I walked into a business networking event, and a guy said: "Oh, there’s the Bon Bon Lady." A fellow female entrepeneur corrected him: "Nooo!!", she exclaimed, "She’s not the Bon Bon Lady, she’s the Bon Bon Queen!" Spoken like true royalty.

Is there anything that trumps a queen? Some might say a king. I never truly believed that, preferring to subscribe to that classic piece of wisdom from My Big, Fat Greek Wedding: The man is the head of the family but the women are the neck and they can turn the head any way they want. I believed that queens were the ultimate in royalty until I learned about Peggielene Bartels a beautiful, powerful woman who is a secretary by day and a Ghanaian king by night.

Peggielene is the new king of Otuam, a town of 7,000 residents an hour’s drive from Ghana’s capital. The town elders chose her to succeed the late king. Fondly and respectfully addressed as Nana by her subjects, she has the power to resolve disputes, appoint elders, and manage more than 1,000 acres of family-owned land. In this day and age, I guess that old adage needs a bit of modification: Carry yourself like a queen and you can become a king!

My deepest bow to Peggielene. Long live The King!

You might think that all of our customers are women who enjoy watching afternoon soap operas while lounging on the sofa eating bon bons. Man, oh man… would you be wrong!! We have lots of male customers, and these guys are manly men! Ex-marines, carpenters, surfers, mechanics, firemen, and more. Not so long ago, a new guy called to ask if he could come over to buy bon bons. "Absolutely", I exclaimed. "Come on over!".

He arrived shortly thereafter and knocked on the door. I was a bit surprised to see a guy who looked like this standing at the threshold.  He wore earrings that stretch the ear lobes in both ears (I think it’s called gauging), he had tattoos all over his body, he sported facial hair, and he wore a wool beanie on his head even though it was almost 90-degrees outside. He also happened to be an incredibly nice guy.

I ask every new customer how they learned about South ‘n France, but this time I was really curious! 
"How’d you hear about us?", I asked. 
"My bone crusher sent me", he replied.
"I’m sorry?", I pressed, trying to mask my astonishment.

Turns out "Bone Crusher" is the affectionate nickname he has given his chiropractor, Dr. Arian Kelly. The way "Real Man" described it to me, the conversation went something like this. Dr. Kelly (aka Bone Crusher) and Real Man were talking about the fact that Real Man is kind of unforgettable thanks to his unique body decorations. Dr. Kelly says: "Yeah.  It reminds me of someone else I know who is very memorable–The Bon Bon Queen." Seriously! Can you believe it? Is that not the coolest thing? To think that manly men talk about The Bon Bon Queen while crushing bones just makes me swoon. I have arrived, folks! I have arrived!!!

Anyhow, Real Man turns out to be a real chocolate lover, so he asks Dr. Kelly (aka Bone Crusher) to tell him more about the bon bons. Naturally, Bone Crusher insists that they are the best chocolates in the world. So as soon as Real Man’s bones have been thoroughly crushed, he drives over to our place to eat bon bons. He really liked the Pistachio flavor.

As for me, don’t tell Pascal, but I think I have my own kind of crush…