Personalized Easter treats keep generations returning to this KC-area candy shop
For more than five decades, Laura Little’s Candies has been a cherished part of family traditions, renowned for its personalized chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs.
This week, the Prairie Village shop with the red awnings, is bustling with customers ordering and picking up these special treats personalized with names of children, grandchildren and family members.
Founded in 1970 by Erwin Little and his wife, Diane, the family-run business has delighted generations with its handcrafted, high-quality chocolates. Laura Little and her brother, Jeff Little, are partners and owners of the family business, located at 2100 W. 75th Street.
That personal touch is evident in the store’s signature offering at Easter time. Laura Little, the founders’ daughter and the store’s namesake, started working in the shop when she was 12-years-old. She says that they’ve been writing names in white chocolate on the bunnies and the eggs since 1970.
“It is generational,” Little says of the personalization, “I get so many phone calls with people calling me and wanting to talk on the phone and saying, “I ordered these for my kids, and now I have great grand kids and we’re still ordering them.”” This tradition creates an enduring connection across generations, Little explains, with many families, even those who have moved away, continue to order the personalized Easter chocolates and have them shipped.
Judy Moore of South Kansas City shopped for her children, grandchildren, sister and brother-in-law on Tuesday. “The chocolate is the best in town and the personalization of the rabbits and the eggs is great,” said Moore, who has been a loyal customer for over 40 years.
A cornerstone of Laura Little’s appeal is its commitment to quality and their dedication to using superior ingredients. The shop is known for their old-fashioned way of making fudge and chocolate using copper kettles and traditional paddles, and of course hand-dipping the chocolates.
Little said they make excellent almond toffee and peanut brittle and also bake all of our own cookies. “It’s all family recipes,” she said. “We use, the finest ingredients. We use the best vanilla you can buy. Butter whipping cream, but just the best of everything,” Little added. “And that’s why everybody keeps coming back.”
Customer Nancy Todd of Lenexa, stopped by for some sweet treats. Todd said her family have been customers at Laura Little’s for “more than 40 years, more like forever,” she said.
The lead up to Easter brings a significant surge in activity to the candy shop, so Little, who lives in Encinitas, California, a town of about 60,000 people in Northern San Diego County, comes back to Kansas for a week to help handle the Easter rush.
Before Easter Sunday, the store experiences a surge in orders. “It’s so crazy,” said Little. “The phones are ringing off the hook, and of course, we get online orders and, you know, customers coming in,” she added. “It’s great though, it’s really fun, it’s fun business.”
Amid a steady stream of customers, manager Christine Capra, a 40-year employee, boxed up chocolate bunnies for shipping while assisting customers as they filled out order forms specifying the types of chocolates they want (truffle eggs, fudge, dark chocolate bunnies, white chocolate bunnies, chocolate Easter baskets, and more) and the names they want written on them.
“It’s a family tradition and people get really excited when they get the box. It says Laura Little’s Candies and they open it and there’s bunnies with their name on it or a fudge egg,” Little said.
The volume of Easter treats produced at Laura Little’s is substantial. “We sell like probably thousands of bunnies and eggs,” she said. “Probably 5,000 or more bunnies, something like that, with the eggs, fudge eggs, truffle eggs, all the different flavors of fudge eggs that we make.”
The shop also sells custom Easter baskets, which Little was making in a secluded area of the store. Other traditional Easter items, including panorama eggs, also known as diorama eggs, are decorated with scenes or characters inside the shell, are available and made locally. The store is also known for its 26 flavors of Laura’s fudge, assorted chocolates, and flavored popcorn.
The orders for these Easter specialties typically begin in late March, as people place orders to ship items all over the country. Stacks of white Priority Mail boxes – far more than the Easter Bunny’s basket could ever hold – were sealed, labeled, and readied for shipping from the shop.
This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
