Remember "getting Iced"? The trend is by no means new at this point, but it's an unexpectedly good physically distanced prank, and one gift company is using that to their advantage this Valentine's Day.
Present Day Gifts makes curated gift boxes, and their Valentine's Day offering is unlike any other this year: a box containing a single Smirnoff Ice, your choice of rose petals or confetti, and a note telling you who sent it and that a charitable contribution has been made.
If you're not familiar, "Icing" is a prank where you hide a Smirnoff Ice where someone will inevitably find it, and when they do the victim has to get down on one knee and chug the (notoriously not very tasty) alcoholic beverage.
"We actually got the idea when a customer recently made a special request to send one of our boxes containing just one Smirnoff Ice to a friend, to 'Ice' him. Normally, as a luxury gift basket company, this is not something we do. We don't usually have Smirnoff Ice as an offering," Sophia Pierro, owner of Present Day, told blogTO.
"If we do include alcohol in our gift baskets, it's usually of the local, high-end variety. However, our small team thought the idea was hilarious and was the perfect thing to cut through the tension of this pandemic. We discovered we all had funny, shared stories of being personally 'iced' or 'icing' someone."
While other businesses are pushing chocolate covered strawberries, wine and fancy meals, this company is encouraging a light hearted prank in hopes of raising money for Sistering, a multi-service agency for at-risk, socially isolated women in Toronto, who are homeless or precariously housed.
"We decided to contribute proceeds to Sistering because it's an amazing organization that we, as individuals, all support. Sistering does a lot for women and queer/trans individuals, but one of the things they also do is provide shelter for precariously housed individuals in our community," says Pierro.
"We just launched this initiative and think it's a nice idea for Valentines/Galentines/Palentines Day, but we hope to keep it around for the entire month of February. We've been pleasantly surprised at how well this idea has been received, lots of orders."
A post about the Nice Ice package has racked up over a hundred likes, with people making comments like "This is amazing," "Fantastic," and "I'm in." The Nice "Ice" package can be purchased online for $25 — not a bad price for being transported back to 2010, before we ever heard of distancing, and drinking with friends and pranking them was the norm.
"We've noticed how important gifting has become to staying connected when we physically can't during this pandemic year. We loved that the 'Nice Ice' was a way to stay connected to friends you might have gotten a drink with, or seen at a party, but who you might not necessarily send a big sentimental gift to," says Pierro.
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