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Today we’re showing you how to make a hot cocoa bar for any holiday occasion!
Whether you’re throwing a party during the holidays or for the New Year, making the most of the cold weather is something we’ve learned and loved to do the past several years. While it’s cold and frosty outside, transforming our home into a warm and inviting space for our friends to gather makes for the best memories during the holiday season.
One thing we know will warm everyone’s souls this time of year is a cup of steaming hot chocolate. Today, we’re going to show you exactly how to make a hot cocoa bar for any type of event you may be hosting. It’s super easy to create and your guests will absolutely love it!
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How to Make a Hot Cocoa Bar
Choose a Theme
First things first, is to choose a theme for your hot cocoa bar. Since this hot cocoa bar is meant for holiday parties, we decorated our bar with holiday decor, like a Santa cookie jar and holiday-print cups.
There are a variety of themes you could choose from for the holidays:
- Santa Theme
- Grinch Theme
- Snowflake/Winter Theme
- Neutral Holiday Theme
- Red and Green Theme
- Candy Cane Theme
Gather Hot Cocoa Essentials
Before assembling your hot cocoa bar, make sure you have everything ready to go. The most important item to have on hand is hot cocoa. Whether you choose to serve the hot cocoa powder self serve or make a batch of hot cocoa ahead of time is up to you.
Next, make sure you have mugs or to-go cups to serve the hot cocoa in. For parties, we recommend to-go cups with lids to prevent any drinks from spilling around the house. There are so many adorable holiday-printed cups you can buy this time of year too.
The last things you’ll need for the hot chocolate bar are some yummy toppings and treats to serve. We chose some of our favorites like candy canes, marshmallows, chocolate chips and caramel sauce.
If there are other hot cocoa flavors, topping or treats you’d like to serve you guests, go for it! There are so many ways you can go with it to make it perfect for your aesthetic, guests and personal taste.
Hot Cocoa Bar Essentials
How to Set Up Your Hot Cocoa Bar
Setting up your hot cocoa bar is super easy and fun to do.
To start, add the hot cocoa powder, candy canes and other toppings to their respective bowls or jars. There are so many different vessels you can use to serve the different items. Everything from mason jars, ceramic bowls, parfait glasses and glass cups. Have fun with variety and sizes of the container you choose — it adds character.
Next, we like to place items in tiers — meaning taller items (bowls and cups) are to be placed in the back, shallower bowls with toppings to be placed in the middle and cookies, marshmallows and treats to be placed at the very bottom. This will make the space work more efficiently and it also looks more aesthetic too.
Provide Toppings for Hot Cocoa
In our opinion, the toppings make the hot chocolate come to life. There are so many delicious choices you can choose from. We added chocolate chips, mini candy canes, salted caramel sauce and homemade marshmallows. However, there are many more options you can choose.
Some toppings you can serve:
- Marshmallows
- Mini marshmallows
- Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
- Salted caramel
- Candy Canes
- Chocolate Chips
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Whipped Cream
- Cinnamon
- Dark Chocolate Syrup
Serve Treats to Enjoy
You can’t drink hot cocoa without a yummy Christmas cookie or holiday candy. To make things easier, we chose store-bought cookies, however you can make homemade cookies and snacks for your guests if you’d like.
Hot Cocoa Bar Treats
