The Children’s Museum of the Upstate sweetly invites you to…

The Chocolate Soiree - Est. 2000

2013 Thursday March 14th, 6:30PM, The Poinsett Club

Black Tie Optional, Purple Preferred

The Chocolate Soiree - Est. 2000

Event Details

You are invited to the 2013 social event of the year, the completely reimagined and delightfully decadent, Chocolate Soiree. It's a purple-dipped evening of sweet sights, sounds and tastes. So grab a group, and get your eye-popping purple to the Poinsett Club. In your wildest dreams you could not imagine the marvelous chocolate surprises that await you at The Chocolate Soiree!

Tickets

Do You Have a Golden Purple Ticket?

Do you have a Golden Purple ticket? 500 Chocolate Soiree chocolate bars will be sold at participating businesses throughout Greenville. Purchase your $5 chocolate bar for a chance to be the lucky finder of The Chocolate Soiree purple ticket. If you find the purple ticket, you will win 2 free tickets to The Chocolate Soiree on March 14, 2013 as well as a one year family membership to The Children’s Museum of the Upstate. There are only 4 purple tickets available so start buying those candy bars now!

Chocolate bars can be found at the following participating Greenville businesses:

  • Children’s Museum of the Upstate
  • Coplon’s
  • Elephants Trunk
  • Gages
  • Gretchen’s ABS Cakes
  • Grey Goose
  • HandPicked
  • Kudzu
  • Mast General Store
  • Moppets
  • Monkee’s
  • Pickwick Pharmacy
  • Pink Bee
  • Saffron’s Café
  • Sassy
  • Soby’s on the Side
  • Studio 7
  • Swoozie's
The Chocolate Soiree - Est. 2000

Participating Chefs

We are very excited to have some of the top local chefs participating in this year’s dessert competition. Each chef will showcase their talent in creating delicious desserts featuring chocolate as an ingredient. There will be two awards given out at the end of the evening; Best Overall Dessert and The People’s Choice Award. The Best Overall Dessert award will be chosen by our three guest judges after a blind tasting. The People’s Choice Award will be given to the chef with the most number of votes given by the guests. Each guest will receive 10 Hersey kisses as they check in at the door. Each kiss counts as one vote and can be given out to the Chef or Chefs of your choice.

  • Peter Collins

    Chef 360 Catering and Boulevard Blues and Jazz

    The Chef in Chef360 is Chef Peter Collins of Greenville, South Carolina. Anyone who has met Chef Peter is not soon to forget him… Read More

  • Stacie Amesbury

    Soby's'

    Stacie’s passionate for baking began with her grandmother’s sugar cookie recipes and led her to an Associates Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts at Johnson   Wales University, in Rhode Island… Read More

  • Glenn Sawicki

    Saffron’s Café

    Glenn Sawicki is no stranger to the restaurant business. He has been in the restaurant field for over 24 years, participating in all aspects of the industry. … Read More

  • Heidi Trull

    Grits and Groceries

    Heidi has developed her eclectic southern cuisine through years of training and experimentation. Heidi grew up on a large farm near Sumter, South Carolina, loving the fresh, delicious food of the countryside… Read More

  • Curtis Wolf

    Westin Poinsett Hotel

    In 2004, Chef Curtis found his way back to the ever loving Carolinas at the Westin Poinsett Hotel where he continues to broaden his career taking southern cuisine to a higher level… Read More

  • Gretchen Grounsell

    ABS Cakes

    Having begun developing her baking skills in her mother's Louisiana kitchen and then perfecting them here in Greenville, Gretchen Grounsell knows desserts - and it shows… Read More

The Chocolate Soiree - Est. 2000

Auction

There is more than just chocolate at this year’s Soiree. Guests will have the opportunity to win amazing prizes, including travel packages, culinary experiences, exquisite fine art, and more. An exciting new concept for this year means there will be no silent auction. We wanted to give guests more time to mingle with their friends and to support the museum in other creative, fun and competitive ways throughout the evening.

  • Live auction

    The evening program will include a live auction, with nationally renowned auctioneer, Darron Meares. The auction will include travel and sporting packages, experiences with our competing chefs, and much more. In addition, guests can purchase a little piece of immortality by naming one of 12 NEW benches for the museum, all customized by local artists.

  • Tombola Wall

    The Tombola Wall will also add a fun twist to the evening. Purchase a ticket for $100 and have the opportunity to pick a prize from the Wall – you may win incredible items such as Museum memberships, restaurant packages and even roundtrip tickets on Southwest Airlines!

The Chocolate Soiree - Est. 2000

Purchase Tickets

Soiree tickets can no longer be purchased through the website. Please contact The Children's Museum if you have not yet purchased your tickets.

Your Soiree Patron Package provides much needed financial support to The Children’s Museum of the Upstate. This year, all Soiree proceeds support the School Visits program, which serves 36,000 students each year! Classes visit the Museum for free exploration time and a guided lesson led by a Museum educator. All lessons connect to SC curriculum standards, and teachers can use pre-and post-visit packets to enhance the learning in their classroom.

Soiree funds will also support the purchase of a new exhibit, the Imagination Playground! The Imagination Playground will be used in the museum as an exhibit, and can be taken out “on the road” to use at schools, community centers, and for other outreach events. Your support of The Chocolate Soiree will take the Museum out to serve more families in our community than ever before!

Soiree Patron Packages:

(Deadline for Inclusion in Soiree Invitation is Feburary 6th!)

  • $2,500

    Contributing Patron

    Includes 6 Soiree Tickets, Listing in Official Soiree Invitation, Listing during The Chocolate Soiree, Listing in Soiree Thank You Ad, and Listing on www.thechocolatesoiree.com. Also includes 4 tickets to Grown Ups Only Night, Listing in TCMU Annual Report, and Listing in Museum Donor Signage.

  • $1,500

    Truffle Patron

    Includes 4 Soiree Tickets, Listing in Official Soiree Invitation, Listing in Soiree Thank You Ad, and Listing during The Chocolate Soiree. Also includes 2 tickets to Grown Ups Only Night, and Listing in TCMU Annual Report.

  • $500

    Kiss Patron

    Includes 2 Soiree Tickets, Listing in Official Soiree Invitation, and Listing during The Chocolate Soiree. Also includes Listing in TCMU Annual Report.

  • $300

    Morsel Patron

    Includes 2 Soiree Tickets, Listing in Official Soiree Invitation, and Listing during The Chocolate Soiree.

  • $125

    Individual Soiree Ticket

The Chocolate Soiree - Est. 2000

Sponsors

The 13th Annual Chocolate Soiree is the signature community and fundraising event supporting the Children’s Museum of the Upstate. Historically, 500 patrons attend the Soiree, and dozens of local businesses lend their support to this evening of cocktails and dancing, with an exciting live auction and performance. Soiree sponsors receive prominent recognition from more than 2,000 invited guests as well as 6,500 members and friends of the Museum and the thousands of readers and listeners of our media partners.

Lead Scholarship Sponsors

Thank you to our lead scholarship sponsors:

Contributing Patrons

Thank you to our contributing patrons:

Media Sponsorships

Thank you to our following media partners:

In Kind Partners

The Chocolate Soiree - Est. 2000

About Us

A spectacular event can’t happen without the support of great volunteers. We want to give a big thank-you to the 2013 Chocolate Soiree Committee for donating their time and talents.

2013 Chocolate Soiree Committee:

  • Addy Matney – Co-Chairman
  • Tammy Phillips – Co-Chairman
  • Jessica Allender
  • Elizabeth Chambers
  • Amie Owens
  • Elizabeth Cotner
  • Rebecca Feldman
  • Elizabeth Gaines
  • Leigh Heidtman
  • Katie Howell
  • Amy Hunter
  • Nela Laughridge
  • Alison Lee

Contact & Social Information

For information regarding The Chocolate Soiree Sponsorships and Event Details please contact:

Diana Maley,
Director of Development
dmaley@tcmupstate.org
864-553-7920

If you would like more information on our museum, please visit www.tcmupstate.org

The Chocolate Soiree
The Children's Museum