I know Christmas is coming, but Easter hasn’t quite disappeared yet.

Last Easter saw the launch of the Real Easter Egg – the UK’s first ever Easter egg to mention Jesus and tell the Easter story on the box. Produced by Manchester-based Meaningful Chocolate Company, the aim was to make real the Easter themes of hope and new life by donating profits from the egg to charitable causes. How about this?

Over £25,000 has been given to charity from profits made by sales of The Real Easter Egg. David Marshall, from the Meaningful Chocolate Company, said:

I am thrilled to be able to donate over £21,000 to Traidcraft Exchange and over £4,000 to Baby Lifeline. In addition to this, we paid a fee to The Fairtrade
Foundation to support their work, including its education programme. Our farmers received a guaranteed price for their cocoa and sugar as well as a
Fairtrade Premium of $60 a tonne to invest in their community’s wellbeing. With over 80 million eggs sold in the UK every year, we have a long way
to go in our campaign to make The Real Easter Egg the gift of choice by the faith and wider community. Next Easter we hope everyone will look out for The
Real Easter Egg. Buying this egg is a way of reclaiming the festival and a way of communicating key aspects of the Christian faith in an attractive yummy
gift.

In fact, more than 72,000 eggs were sold and it was bought by thousands of people attending churches and a significant number of schools. Bulk orders ranged from 48 to 600 eggs at a time. Supermarkets Morrison’s, Waitrose, Co-op, and Booths stocked the egg across hundreds of stores as well as hundreds of independent retailers and community/church/Cathedral shops supplied by Traidcraft. According to the company, the egg sold out quickly with many supermarket customers walking past two-for-one offers to buy The Real Easter Egg. There were calls from retailers, schools and churches requesting eggs a month before Easter but the eggs had sold out. In 2011 The Real Easter Egg was endorsed by leading figures including The Archbishop of York and Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ben Kingsley and cast members of Coronation Street. It also won backing for a national competition sponsored by a Ecclesiastical Insurance.

The number of eggs has been dramatically increased for 2012 but churches, schools and Cathedral shops are being asked to make bulk orders by mid February 2012 to avoid disappointment.

Now, we don’t have to wait for Easter 2012. Last month The Meaningful Chocolate Company revealed its Meaningful Tree Decorations, an interactive chocolate gift and a new way to tell the Christmas story!