Chocolate is food poetry. Studies show chocolate beats kissing! We review the best chocolate gift baskets to buy for the person you love.
When chocolate is melting on your tongue, it feels like pure poetry. Research has even shown that our body and brain reacts more intensely to eating chocolate than to kissing!
This is why chocolate is the best gift you can send someone you love. However, which are the best chocolate gift baskets you can send your friend, lover, or spouse?
Comparison Table
Each of the gift baskets we will review is presented in the comparison table below:
| Product | Check on Amazon |
|---|---|
| Grand Ghirardelli Chocolate Gift Basket by Wine.com | check price here |
| Chocolate Treasures Gourmet Food Gift Basket by Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets | check price here |
| Chocolate Gift Basket Classic by GourmetGiftBaskets.com | check price here |
| Fames Chocolates Gourmet Chocolate Gift Assortment | check price here |
| Gourmet Chocolate Gift Basket by Bonnie and Pop | check price here |
Best Chocolate Gift Basket Reviews
1. Grand Ghirardelli Chocolate Gift Basket by Wine.com – Delicious Chocolate Candies and Hot Cocoa
Everyone loves chocolate, everyone. Chocolate has a good taste, good smell, and we delight in how it melts on the tongue. When you eat chocolate, your brain releases feel-good chemicals – chocolate literally makes you feel better about yourself.
This chocolate gift basket is a great pick me up you can send to a friend who is going through a low time.
It’s also a great present to give a romantic partner – because chocolate activates feel-good feelings. It enhances the romantic mood, and when your partner eats the chocolate, they will be thinking of you.
Chocolate connoisseurs will enjoy this gift basket, so if you have a friend who loves to pick apart the merits and demerits of a piece of chocolate, this one is highly likely to meet their approval. Wait until they learn that the confections in this gift basket are made by Ghirardelli, the world-famous chocolatier.
The basket contains chocolate candies which come in various flavors and sizes, and also hot cocoa.
This gift basket is designed, manufactured, and sold by Wine.com only. If that’s who you bought it from, then you have the original product.
Unfortunately, the basket is smaller than the picture would have you believe, which can be very disappointing.
Pros
-Contains chocolate candies and hot cocoa
-Confections made by world-famous chocolatier: Ghirardelli
Cons
-Smaller than it appears
View price on Amazon
2. Chocolate Treasures Gourmet Food Gift Basket by Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets – Beautiful Presentation in Handsome Wicker Basket
If you are confused what gift to send your friend during a special occasion, worry no more. Provided they love chocolate, this gift basket should make them very happy.
It comprises an assortment of premium chocolates which will please chocolate. You can include a personalized message with your order and tell your friend what they mean to you. The gift is a testament of your enduring bond.
The gift basket is also appropriate for the corporate world. You can send it to your clients, boss, employees, or delight your colleagues with some chocolaty goodness at the office party. You can also send it to members of your family.
Some of the chocolate treats include: Belgian chocolate truffles, Italian shortbread and chocolate cookies, double chocolate brownie crisps, chocolate crackle cookies, French chocolate raspberry flavor truffles, white chocolate caramel hot cocoa mix, almond Roca English almond toffee, and many others.
When it comes to the perfect gift, presentation is key. This basket is hand-crafted, shrink wrapped, and has a bow tied on it for best presentation effect. The wicker basket has a handsome look that will compliment any home décor.
Pros
-Wide variety of chocolate treats
-Presentable wicker basket with bow
-Includes your personalized message.
View price on Amazon
3. Chocolate Gift Basket Classic by GourmetGiftBaskets.com – Packed with Gourmet Chocolate Delights
There is something special about chocolate. It has the power to cement bonds between friends, romantic partners, family members, colleagues, business associates, and so forth. A gift basket like this one full of chocolate is a beautiful thing to receive from a friend. If fighting or having bad blood between you two, sending them chocolate is a first step towards reconciliation.
This basket contains gourmet chocolate treats such as double chocolate fudge biscotti, a Ghirardelli dark chocolate caramel bar, Belgian chocolates, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, cocoa dusted dark chocolate almonds, French chocolate truffles, dark chocolate toffee, and chocolate wafer bites. Even the names are mouth-watering.
The chocolate is delivered in a keepsake basket that is professionally shrink wrapped with a festive ribbon. This is the type of good presentation that adds an extra dimension to your gift, that of meticulousness. You may not have made the basket yourself, but you took the time to pick one which is presentable.
Pros
-Gourmet chocolate treats
-Keepsake basket with festive ribbon
View price on Amazon
4. Fames Chocolates Gourmet Chocolate Gift Assortment – Handcrafted Artisan Chocolate
Valentine’s Day comes once a year and every year you have to prove to your partner that you can step up and really dazzle them. Other than that, there are anniversaries and birthdays as well: special days to make your partner feel special.
This chocolate basket, with its red love heart tied up by a red ribbon, is the perfect romantic gift, something to melt your partner’s heart and let them know how much they mean to you.
It comprises gourmet chocolate treats like vanilla hazelnut truffle, chocolate caramel, almond patties, chocolate fudge, mango truffles, raspberry sticks, and nutty chews. Each of these is like a piece of chocolate heaven – as your teeth cut through the chocolate, you experience pure chocolate bliss.
Chocolate releases powerful feel good chemicals, which is why a romantic gesture is never complete without chocolate.
These chocolate delights are, however, not just good for romantic partners, but you can also send them to dear friends and loved ones, particularly on special occasions like birthdays.
The presentation on this basket is exquisite. Each of the chocolate confections is made with care: they are handcrafted. These artisan chocolates are made in small, scrumptious batches, and the basket they are packed in is well-wrapped.
In addition, they are kosher-certified – so if your friend is Jewish, you can make their day with this gift basket without committing a faux pas.
Pros
-A variety of chocolate delights
-Handcrafted artisan chocolates
-Beautiful presentation
-Kosher-certified
Cons
-The chocolates are in small batches
View price on Amazon
5. Gourmet Chocolate Gift Basket by Bonnie and Pop – Each Candy is Individually Wrapped and Labeled
Holidays and special days are times when we feel at our best. At such times we crave connection with our friends and loved ones. This is when a delivery of a gourmet chocolate gift basket would delight us immensely.
This Bonnie and Pop gift basket is perfect for such days. You can send it on Mother’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines, and so forth.
The recipient will be thrilled when they uncover the gift box and discover the chocolate goodness contained therein: a pound of assorted truffles, cashew clusters, pecan snappers, various white, dark, and milk butter pecan patties, double silk truffles, coconut haystacks, peanut clusters, pretzel clouds, sea salt caramels, Bavarian pretzels, and English Toffee.
Each piece of chocolate in the box is individually wrapped and labeled, making the gift highly ideal for picky eaters.
The tin they come in is a good keepsake that the recipient can keep around for other purposes or simply to remember you by.
If you have Jewish friends, you can safely send them this chocolate gift box without offending their sensibilities: it’s Kosher!
Pros
-Variety of chocolate treats
-Keepsake tin
-It’s kosher
-Each candy is individually wrapped and labeled
Cons
-The quantity of chocolate is low
View price on Amazon
Why Do We Love Chocolate So Much?
You will be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t love chocolate. There is something about the tasty, melty substance that appeals to everyone, young and old.
What you don’t know is that there is science behind this fascination with chocolate: how it affects your state of mind and so forth. There is a reason why chocolate is one of the must-have gifts you present to your romantic partner on Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, or when you just want to say “I love you” or “I am sorry”.
Chocolate is made from the beans of a tropical tree called Theobroma cacao. The cacao tree is mostly found in Western Africa, a region whose high temperatures and rainfall is ideal for the tree’s growth.
Dr. David Lewis, a psychologist, performed an experiment with couples in their 20s, monitoring their heart rates and brain activity while melting chocolate in their mouths and when kissing.
Surprisingly, chocolate gave a more intense and longer lasting “buzz” than the intimate act of kissing. It doubled the heart rates of the volunteers. The chocolate buzz lasted four times as long as the kissing buzz. In other words, eating chocolate is more thrilling for the body than kissing!
Kissing made the volunteers’ hearts pound faster, but this effect did not last as long as when they melted chocolate on their tongues. Doing the latter pumped up their heart rates from the resting rate of approximately 60 beats per minute to a whopping 140 beats per minute.
Meanwhile, all the regions of their brains got a boost that was more intense and longer lasting than the thrill given by kissing. During the tests, the couples wore heart monitors and had electrodes attached to their scalps.
We can lay to rest the myth that women love chocolate than men do. The study discovered that there was no difference in reactions when men ate chocolate and when women ate chocolate.
The findings were surprising to the research team. Though they had anticipated that chocolate would raise the heart rates due to the powerful stimulating substances it contains, the length of the increase and the effect it had on the mind was unexpected.
Chocolate contains a chemical called phenylethylamine which raises endorphin levels in the brain. Endorphins are neurotransmitters that reduce pain perception and trigger a positive feeling in your body, an effect similar to when you take morphine.
When you have been running or exercising and you suddenly feel euphoric, what we call a “runner’s high”, those are endorphins in action.
This explains why chocolate gives you such a good feeling, why we gift it to lovers on Valentine’s Day, why we give it to people who are sad, why we give it when we want to say sorry. It literally boosts their spirits and puts them in a positive mood.
Chocolate also contains caffeine, and that’s what causes the stimulatory effect on your brain. It is why, like coffee, chocolate can give you a buzz. It is also one of the reasons why people get addicted to chocolate.
Conclusion
Chocolate is one of the most delightful things to eat. You could call it poetry in food form. Now, each of the five chocolate gift baskets we have examined here is worth buying, but one of them turned out to be the best.
This is the Gourmet Chocolate Gift Basket by Bonnie and Pop. It had stiff competition from Fames Chocolate Gourmet Chocolate Gift Assortment.
The latter is a good choice because of its handcrafted artisan chocolates. However, it is no match for the Bonnie and Pop gift basket, which comprises a variety of chocolate treats packed in a keepsake tin.
The most impressive thing about this gift basket is that every single candy in it is individually wrapped and labeled. It is also kosher-certified.
Enough about that; which gift basket are you planning to buy for your friend?
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