Get into the holiday season with a festive Hot Cocoa Bar at your next family gathering or girls night. “Cozy up” in matching pajamas, turn the Christmas tree lights on and sit by the fire while you sip on warm hot cocoa.
When I started to map out how I wanted my Hot Cocoa Bar to look, I focused on setting up three styled sections. If you are a frequent guest on my website you know that I always suggest working in groups of three or five when you are decorating, styling food displays, selecting wrapping paper, etc… it really applies to almost anything.
Working from left to right, I started with my signage and traditional holiday décor. This helps to visually explain to my guests what the purpose of the display is and what to do next. The second section (middle section) was dedicated to all of the fun toppings, a display of sweet treats, along with my collector Santa Claus mugs. And finally the elevate space to the far right was dedicated to the Hot Cocoa mixes and marshmallows in canisters.
If you want to recreate my Hot Cocoa Bar, here are a few of the things you’ll need to jump start your new family holiday tradition.
The Sweet Stuff
- Hot Cocoa Mix
- Whipped Cream
- Peppermint sticks
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- White Chocolate Chips
- Carmel Bites
- Chocolate Syrup
- Carmel Syrup
- Festive sprinkles
- Miscellaneous Chocolates for snacking or dipping into your hot chocolate like peppermint chocolate squares or chocolate truffles.
- Marshmallows: bonus points if you can find them in holiday shapes, like snowflakes. Marshmallows also come stuffed now with chocolate and other flavors that might be a fun addition to your Hot Cocoa Bar.
Serving Dishes and Décor Items
When you start to style your Hot Cocoa Bar you will need a few holiday props and décor items and serving dishes.
- Festive Holiday Mugs Psst…your every day coffee mugs work just fine too.
- Extra coffee mugs to hold peppermint sticks or candy canes.
- Assorted serving trays to help define the space.
- Cake stands for creating height for signage or elevating key ingredients like the hot cocoa mix or marshmallows.
- Clear canisters for displaying marshmallows or larger items.
- Small serving bowls for the chocolate chips and sprinkles.
- Small serving spoons for the chocolate chips and sprinkles.
- Signage like a chalk board or message board.
- Miniature poinsettias. I used white coffee mugs as pots to hold the poinsettias.
- Small Christmas trees. The pipe cleaner trees are a great way to add a splash of color, like blue or pink into the mix of traditional holiday colors such as green, white, and red.
- Small baskets to hold wrapped candies, accessories or décor items. Baskets can also really help to define spaces.
- Coffee mug rack. This is completely optional, but I loved how I could display my Santa Claus mugs front and center.
- Holiday hand towels or cloth napkins make great accessories, such as a traditional holiday plaid or holly pattern.
- Pinecones make great filler around displays and help create a winter feel.
- Flameless tea light candles in candle votive.
