Recently, I wrote a post on my daughter’s birthday and I feel as if I have to confess: I blew my original budget.


In the search for cooking studios that cater to kids, we came across a Toronto-based company called Chocolate Tales, run by a husband and wife duo dedicated to teaching specialty chocolate making. Even better, they bring the party and the chocolate to you and then package up everyone’s hard work in loot bags.


Knowing my thrifty nature, my daughter thoughtfully suggested she could keep her guest list to three or four friends. Thoughtful, but unhelpful: Chocolate Tales charges a flat rate for parties of eight kids or less. Instead, I decided to have my daughter do the math and give her a lesson on value.


Crunching the numbers


At nine, my daughter is pretty good at division, so she easily figured out the cost per friend. And, with chocolate at stake, teaching her the value of our dollars was a snap. Even my younger son could grasp the idea that eight kids could eat more chocolate than four kids.


So, with the dog banished upstairs for the afternoon and a drop-cloth protecting my floor, our chocolatier kept my daughter and seven friends hands-deep in chocolate for a full 75 minutes before sending them on their sugary way with handmade truffles and chocolate lollipops. It was a huge success with the kids, fun and interesting (and easy) for my husband and I.


Yes, I spent more than I’d originally intended, but with 364 birthday-free days ahead of me and an afternoon of eight kids on chocolate behind me, I’m thinking I got my money’s worth.