How To Throw A Hot Cocoa Party

Tis the season to be merry!

So you want to throw a hot cocoa party? Yay! This is a super fun party theme - who doesn’t love hot cocoa? If you’re planning to throw a party around the holidays, try to pick a date and check your friends’ availabilities asap, many people tend to go out of town or have prior obligations! Even if you have 2 or 3 friends over, this is a great way to celebrate your love for chocolate and bond while sipping hot cocoa and watching your favorite Christmas movie.

DECOR

Decor really makes it a party! Your must-haves include all things related to your hot cocoa bar - AKA the center of your party. Put toppings in small dishes or mason jars, tie ribbon around the jars, and add a small sign that says what each topping is. Get a chalkboard or letter board and write ‘Hot Cocoa Bar’ or ‘Hot Cocoa Served Here!’ Pinterest is a great source of inspiration. Get cute mugs or holiday themed disposable cups for guests to use.

A few decor themes include snowflakes, candy canes, snowmen, gingerbread, or Christmas trees. Try to pick one or two of these. Plaids, red, green, white, silver and gold are great colors to use for decor. Consider hanging decor, doorway decor, table centerpieces, balloons, tinsel garlands, a photo wall with props. Decorations from popular holiday movies like The Grinch or ELF is always a great idea.

DRINKS / HOT COCOA

Buy your favorite hot cocoa mix, buy flavored hot cocoa mixes, or use a great crockpot hot cocoa recipe.

Flavor: Torani syrups are great for adding flavor to hot cocoa. Vanilla, salted caramel, peppermint, raspberry are all great!

Booze! Make it a boozy hot cocoa party with specialty alcohol like Godiva white chocolate liquor, peppermint schnapps, Kahlua, or Bailey’s Irish Creme. You can’t go wrong here.

Toppings: Mini marshmallows, toffee bits, mini chocolate chips or chocolate shavings, whipped cream, crushed candy cane, caramel syrup, chocolate syrup!

Extra fun goodies: Pretzel stir sticks dipper in chocolate, marshmallow stir sticks, large marshmallows shaped like snowflakes, candy canes!

Crockpot Hot Cocoa Recipe:

Makes 20 servings

Put ingredients in Crockpot 2 hours before your party on low or warm heat, stir with whisk occasionally

Ingredients:

1.5 cups heavy whipping cream'

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

4 cups 1% or 2% milk

2 cups water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups of milk chocolate chips (can also use semi-sweet)

ACTIVITIES

While hot cocoa is amazing by itself, if you have guests over, you’ll probably want to have a few activities planned!

Pick a movie to watch or play in the background. Some excellent choices are ELF, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Nightmare Before Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Have a gingerbread house building competition. I would highly recommend building the gingerbread houses before the party - the icing will need 1-2 hours to set! Have individuals decorate their own gingerbread houses or split guests into teams of 2 or 3 and come up with team names. Give everyone an allotted time to finish decorating their houses. 10 minutes is the perfect amount of time for decorating mini gingerbread houses and hilarious to watch everyone furiously rush to finish. Have each team fill out ballots with categories like “Best Gingerbread House” and “Most Creative Gingerbread House” - tell them they cannot vote for themselves. Give the winners hot cocoa mugs or a small gift card to a local coffee shop as prizes.
Pin the ___ on the ___! This game is entertaining and you can find an array of different posters at the party store like pin the nose of the reindeer or pin the hat on Santa etc. This game is best played after a cup of boozy hot cocoa.

FOOD

Appetizers: Crackers and cheese never disappoint! Make a charcuterie board. Set out pretzels, carrots and hummus, and some type of trail mix.

Ask your guests to each bring cookies or baked goods! Everyone gets to take a little bit of what’s left over home.

MUSIC

Find a holiday playlist and play some festive music! The ‘Holiday Hits’ playlist on Apple Music is a winner.