Chocolate Valentine's Day Decadent Gifts

Need a last minute present for Valentine's Day? Lots of ideas.

Starting off: Why not a gift certificate for a decadent chocolate spa treatment?

It's "Chocolate-Covered February" in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hershey knows how to celebrate Valentine's Day, with specials on couples' massages and pedicures being offered at the The Spa at the Hotel Hershey. There are chocolate-spa treatments such as a whipped cocoa bath in foaming chocolate milk, a cocoa bean scrub, a chocolate-fondue wrap and many others.

Check out your local spa for chocolate treatments. You can probably order a gift certificate online and no one will know you waited until today! Be sure and add some chocolate to the card and gift certificate.

Barb Conley, BellaOnline's West Coast Travel Editor, has several suggestions for Valentine's Day Travel for Chocolate in the Western States. I've added a few of my own in the list below.

Visit a winery.
Several wineries are holding special Valentines Day events that pair chocolate and other foods with their wines. These can vary from casual day events to evening galas.

Take a Chocolate Factory Tour.
Get up close and personal with tons of chocolate decadence by taking a chocolate factory tour. Sadly Hershey's has closed Scharffen Berger in Berkeley. This was one of my favorite tours. Simple but informative. And after the tour, I would order a chocolate sandwich in the cafe. Three of my favorite food groups: chocolate, butter, and bread--and it was fried!

Go on a Chocolate Picnic.
Regardless of where you live, you can do this inside or out. Barb suggests packing a picnic lunch and including a chocolate treat or stopping for chocolate sundaes on the way home. My suggestion is to have everything in the picnic basket be chocolate based. It's cold outside, so you could even include a hot spicy African stew made with dark chocolate or a hot chicken mole. Take a thermos of cocoa, some chocolate cake, chocolate covered strawberries (you'll need some fruit for balance?) and chocolate truffles. So many choices.

Eat dessert first.
This is something my sister-in-law would enjoy. She always looks at the dessert menu before ordering dinner. Most restaurants on Valentine's Day will include a special chocolate dessert.

Enjoy the day, sip hot chocolate. Stay home, take a walk in the neighborhood or attend an art exhibit, visit a zoo, museum or science exhibition with a thermos of your best very own hot chocolate!

Other gift ideas?

Create a chocolate spa gift basket. Think chocolate scented candles, chocolate candy, chocolate lotion, chocolate perfume oil.

Take a chocolate class together or give a gift certificate.

Create a decadent chocolate dessert at home.

Give a cocoa massage or a classic Swedish massage with chocolate-scented massage oil.

So many ways for the chocoholic to indulge.