Responding to Feedback

Thank you all so much for the great responses!

For those who submitted anonymous feedback, we wanted to answer a few questions:

• More nonalcoholic options: Yes! We’re always hunting for new NA beers, wines, and spirits. Keep the suggestions coming. Your evening beverage deserves a more exciting backstory than “water, but in the good glass.”
• An olive bar: We’d love one too. We'll keep it on the list for potential expansions. Meanwhile, we stock an absolutely ridiculous number of jarred olives. Some would say way too many, but those people don't actually like olives so… grain of salt with that one.
• Hide unwanted items on the rewards screen: Excellent idea. We’ll pass it along to our vendor. You should be able to tell a reward “it’s not you, it’s me” and have it respect your boundaries.
• The giraffe: We weren’t sure whose it was either, or how it made its way into the store. We hope it found its owner eventually.

You're always free to contact us: newsletter@avasmkt.com or anonymously at https://wanta.io/avas.

We Get Halloween Presents Now?

We do. Please remain calm.

A Halloween gift basket, often called a boo basket, is a little October care package: treats and cozy things chosen for someone you like. One close relative is the neighborhood tradition of “booing,” where people leave surprise treats on doorsteps and encourage the recipients to pass the surprise along. Ding-dong-ditch, with better intentions and actual snacks.

Our theory: adults still want Halloween treats. We just want to choose them, sit down while eating them, and avoid a plastic mask that collects our own breath.

Start at Ava's with something sweet, something savory, and something for settling in. Those pumpkin-decorated baskets make a very convincing case, but a little box works, too. Pick a friend's favorites and you've given them an evening they don't have to organize. Add a note suggesting a scary movie. Or a delightfully unscary bath.

Buying it for yourself? Put your name on the gift tag. Use your best handwriting. For once, the person buying your present knows exactly which chocolate you want.

Full-Size Chocolate. Adult Privileges.

Buying your own full-size chocolate bar remains one of adulthood's more convincing selling points. We checked the rest. Mostly passwords.

Alter Eco Raspberry Blackout earns its Halloween spot before you even open it. BLACKOUT. Lovely. Inside, 85% dark chocolate brings a deep cocoa bitterness, with tart little flashes of raspberry cutting through the richness. Let a piece soften on your tongue; that fruit-and-dark-chocolate combination deserves longer than the time it takes to inhale a miniature candy bar beside the front door.

For a softer, sweeter landing, tuck in Tony's Chocolonely Milk Chocolate. Its chunky, irregular pieces are deliberate: Tony's uses unequal portions to draw attention to unequal profits in the cocoa industry.

Both are at Ava's, ready for the friend who always buys the good Halloween candy and ends up eating the leftovers nobody wanted. Give them proper chocolate this time.

For your own basket, hide a bar behind the bran cereal. Nobody in a vampire cape is investigating fiber.

Gummy Bears Don't Check Your Age

You can remember dial-up internet and still want gummy bears. At Ava's, “because I want gummy bears” is a complete shopping list.

HARIBO Goldbären bring fruity chew to the basket, with a surprisingly long family history. Hans Riegel created their predecessor, the “Dancing Bear,” in 1922. More than a century of people biting the heads off cute little bears. Pretty solid Halloween credentials.

Add Goldfish Cheddar for a salty, cheesy crunch between sweets. Orange fish beside jewel-colored bears look right at home in a pumpkin basket, and alternating chewy candy with crisp crackers makes excellent horror-movie grazing. Use two little bowls so you can find what you want without switching on the lights during the creepy part.

The Spider-Man-topped good2grow Fruit Fusion adds a tiny costumed guest. Fun for a family basket, or for an adult who still appreciates a superhero entrance.

Fangs Out, Pinkies Up

At some point in adult Halloween, you stop wanting fake blood near your mouth and start wanting cheese there. Sensible. Much better on a biscuit.

Build the savory corner of your Ava's basket around Effie's Gruyère Biscuits and Colameco's Uncured Chorizo. A thin slice of the firm, paprika-seasoned chorizo against that buttery biscuit gives you rich pork, nutty cheese, and a little pepper at the end. Tiny bites. Large incentive to stay near the plate.

Effie's began with a family oatcake recipe that Effie MacLellan brought from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts in the 1950s. The Gruyère biscuits take that biscuit tradition in a savory direction. Excellent news for anyone whose idea of trick-or-treating involves asking whether there's cheese.

For a wine-loving friend, add Martin Ray Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Slice the chorizo and set out the biscuits before the movie starts; no elaborate board required.

Remove your plastic fangs before eating. Explaining a vampire dental emergency with a mouthful of Gruyère would take the rest of the evening.

Soak Those Aching Bones

After a night of doorbells, costume Velcro, and being addressed as “Hey, witch!” by someone you gave birth to, a closed bathroom door looks pretty luxurious.

The Aroma Naturals candles set up the cozy part. Clarity's orange and cedar suggest a citrusy walk through the woods. Peace Pearl's orange, clove, and cinnamon lean toward a warm kitchen on a chilly evening. Halloween atmosphere needn't smell like a fog machine working overtime in a garage.

Add Aura Cacia Lavender Mineral Bath for a floral-scented soak. It also works as a foot soak, useful after escorting a small superhero around Downtown Mountain View while carrying their abandoned shield.

Basket tip: keep the candle closed and bag the bath packet separately from the food. Lavender belongs in the bath; nobody requested soap-flavored Gruyère.

Stop by Ava's, tuck in your favorites, and give somebody a good excuse to put their feet up. Yourself included.

Tonight's costume: a human being nobody needs anything from. Terrifyingly ambitious.