Hot Chocolate Bar Ideas – A Beautiful Mess

With two young children, I make a lot of hot chocolate. This season, I decided to create an epic hot cocoa bar for my kids to enjoy.

It’s a bit messy and sticky, but the memories are absolutely priceless. In this post, I will share all the items I included in my hot chocolate bar and where you can find them!

There’s nothing more nostalgic than memories of my mom peeling off our layers of coats and boots and making us mugs of hot chocolate.

Now I am creating these same memories with my daughters, with some extra flourishes because A Beautiful Mess is all about going the extra mile—especially when it comes to holiday treats.

Related links: Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread Hot Chocolate, Nutella Hot Chocolate, Non-Dairy Spiked Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate Station Items:

• It’s important to start with a big wooden tray. By grouping my hot chocolate accessories on a tray, I am able to move it from my counter to table as needed. It’s great to keep everything organized and together for impromptu hot chocolate making.

• Whipped cream. The only items I keep in my fridge are whipped cream and milk. The rest of the items can stay on the tray through the whole season.

• Candy cane spoons. These are the perfect hot chocolate spoons. I also love to use regular candy canes as a garnish.

• Sprinkles. I always have a big stash of seasonal sprinkles, and this is great way to get more use out of them. My children love to add a few sprinkles to their whipped cream.

• Hot cocoa bombs. These are so much fun to do with kids. I use the mix more often, but these are a special treat and cute to include on your bar.

• Hot chocolate mix. I keep mine in a small cookie jar with a wood scoop inside.

• Wood scoops. These are great for dispensing sprinkles, hot chocolate mix and marshmallows.

• Crushed candy canes. The perfect garnish.

To-Go Cups:

I found these to-go cups on Amazon. I have found that one pack will last us years, as we don’t use them very often and they are mainly for guests to take a hot beverage with them.

If you are using your hot chocolate bar at a party, be sure to grab some of these. If you are serving a group, be sure to include a marker for writing names on cups.

Warm Hot Chocolate Sign:

We found this little chalkboard and my 7-year-old immediately made it her job to create the signage. I love it so much!

It’s also a great idea to add small labels to all your fixings, but for our bar, I didn’t feel the extra labels were necessary.

Hot Cocoa Party Tips:

• Keep a kettle nearby for adding warm water to hot chocolate mix.
• For a party, consider making a larger batch of hot chocolate in a crockpot to keep it warm.

Ideas for Dippers and Stirrers:

• Candy canes (also candy cane spoons, candy cane sticks)
• Cookie sticks
• Sprinkles
• Toffee bits
• Ice cream
• Gingerbread cookies
• Chocolate chips