Order A Desserted Gift Box For Valentine’s Day To Help Local Kids

Let’s be real: When it comes to gift giving, it’s more than just the thought that counts. You want the present to be nice, unique—maybe even delicious. Former semi-pro gift-giver Jimmy LaPrelle—he used to send thank yous to clients on behalf of a big corporation—wanted to give more than just good intentions, but he was frustrated with lackluster fruit baskets and bouquets.

“It was all boring stuff,” LaPrelle says. “I had trouble finding the client gifts I wanted, so I decided to create them myself.”

LaPrelle is the mastermind behind Desserted, a new local company that delivers gift boxes packed with the best, most original desserts LaPrelle can find. With the tagline of “Gifts that don’t suck” (unless the box has a Chupa Chups lollipop in it, that is), LaPrelle’s dessert boxes are singular and scrumptious.

Each box is loaded with goodies like Dollop’s eat-it-out-of-the-jar gourmet frostings; fluffy cotton candy; cookie shot glasses (chocolate-lined shot glasses made of cookies that practically beg to be filled with milk or coffee, or frosting); ultra-squishy marshmallows; and Denver’s own Share Good Foods monster cookies and treats. “I wanted really great desserts—delicious and cool and different—but also from small companies that you’ll never be able to find in the grocery store,” LaPrelle says.

Desserted boxes, which start at $35 and range in occasion from “Sorry you got ghosted” to “Happy birthday,” all come with cute cards filled with hand-doodled messages. (LaPrelle and his wife, Amber, are the ones getting writer’s cramp doing the doodling.) Of course, there’s also a box for that biggest of gift-giving February holidays: The Eat Your Heart Out Valentine’s Day box is filled with festive pink strawberry shortcake cotton candy, baked goods, and lots and lots of chocolate.

The best part? (OK, maybe the second-best part—cookie shot glasses are brilliant.) For every box sold, Desserted provides a weekend of food for a hungry child in the Mile High City via Food for Thought Denver, a nonprofit that drops off sacks of food to 41 area schools where many of the students qualify for free or reduced breakfast and lunch. The PowerSacks, packed with enough food to feed a family of four, are distributed on Friday afternoons, to ensure no kid goes hungry over the weekend.

“It’s a really awesome partnership for us. Every single dessert box we ship and sell has a direct impact on a kid in Denver,” LaPrelle says.

Which means that while your Desserted beneficiary binges on ready-to-eat cookie dough, area kids are getting something good to eat, too. Win-win.