We hosted the Girl Scouts at our house last weekend for our annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox assembly party.
This is always so fun and I like to do a special treat for the little ladies after they finish decorating all the boxes and stuffing them. Last year we did a Crock Pot Caramel Apple bar which was so much fun. This year I really wanted to do a Hot Chocolate bar.
This is actually really easy, a very affordable way to entertain and so much fun!
I will definitely do this again- I already promised my girls we could have a hot chocolate bar for Family Movie Night in a few weeks when we plan to watch the Polar Express.
Essentially for the hot chocolate bar, you can get your hot chocolate ready (I used this Crock Pot Hot Chocolate recipe) if your Crock Pot is unattractive or too big for your table, you can also use a fondue pot to keep it warm. My hot chocolate cooked for 2 hours on high and it was steaming hot so I actually unplugged it to let it cool off a bit for the children. Then we just used a ladle to ladle it right out!
You can make any variety of toppings that you like- the sky is the limit. I actually just used stuff we had on hand.
Here is what I used as the toppings:
- Fresh Whipped Cream (recipe here)
- Candy Canes- I gently processed them in the food processor to get thick chunks. Candy canes whole as stirrers are great too!
- Marshmallows
- Mini Chocolate Chips (or chocolate shavings)
- White Chocolate Chips (or shavings)
- Cinnamon Red Hots
- Cinnamon to sprinkle on top (cheap shakers can be found at the Dollar Store)
And then I also had chocolate chip cookies or you might serve sugar cookies (this Chai Sugar Cookie recipe I love!) or for something to snack on- popcorn in a large bowl with little bags would be fantastic. Easy and cheap!
I nearly did popcorn and I think some of the shakers with different seasoning options would be really fun.
Other ideas for toppings:
- Ground Oreos
- Ground Graham Crackers
- Colorful or seasonal sprinkles
- Caramel sauce
- Torani Syrups (hazelnut etc..)
- Chopped Andes Mints
- Chopped Heath bars
- Mini M&Ms
- Flavored whipped cream or flavored marshmallows
I used this awesome black chalkboard paper that I found at Target and used chalk to just decorate a little and identify things that might not be completely clear to people.
I used my Silhouette machine to cut circles from one sheet of glitter gold and green scrapbook paper. (A circle punch will do the same thing.) You can do this with any color paper and in any shape… now I wish I had done little stars for the gold paper.
I tied a little twine and some jingle bells around the bottles and included a few straws since these are children. We used paper cups in festive colors and the adults got assorted mugs. If you cut a small piece of cling wrap or saran wrap you can create a “lid” for the cups for children and just poke the straws through the lid.
Oh and one other thing- I dug out some mini Christmas lights to add a little twinkle and also the pretty Jingle Bells garland that I made last year and grabbed some flowers off the dining room table.
And that was it!
Really not hard at all to do and the only thing I bought was the chalkboard wrapping paper for $5, the Jingle bells (about $2 at Michael’s) and Twine (Dollar Spot at Target) plus fresh whipping cream and marshmallows.
If you decide to give this a shot please come back and let me know how it went for you! I will say that if you decide to host 13 little 7 year olds, you might consider placing a bouncer at the table to limit overexcited eyes. I discovered my little girl decided to get creative and made a cookie to match her hot chocolate…. A little treat is the idea here not a sugar coma 😀
And if you like this post, you might also check out:
Melting Snowman Cookies– these are so adorable in person. Guaranteed hit!
DIY Tissue Poms– you can do these in any color and they are a great way to cheaply dress up a party table
Rachel says
Charlene, I think you are the perfect person. Everything you make on your blog is absolutely darling and/or yummy! I’m ready to hear about your shortcomings because you’re making me look bad! 🙂
Dara says
This is adorable – what a fun idea!
I love Operation Christmas Child, and am going to a packing
party this weekend.
dodi says
Omg! So stinkin cute and (my favorite part) so easy! I’m going to do this on Christmas eve! I love all your ideas! Thank you!
Charlene says
Hi Dara- awesome! I thought this week was the last week for drop off of the boxes? I might be wrong but you might want to double check that. Have fun!
Tonya says
So cute.. I think I will try this for our gingerbread house decorating party.
Charlene says
Oh gosh well I know that isn’t true but thanks so much Rachel! Very sweet of you and I appreciate the encouragement! I thought it was fun too but one of the moms made a snarky comment about me always giving the kids “junk” and she was taking her daughter to Subway after for “real food”. 😛
Dara says
Charlene, I’m in Southern California, and the last day of drop-off
for the Operation Christmas Child boxes is Monday, 11/24. So
still a few days for people to get some packed.
Sorry to read that a mom hurt your feelings — gosh, a treat once in
a while isn’t going to kill anyone. Maybe she was jealous of your
mad skillz at making fun parties?!
Charlene says
Ha ha! After blogging this long you’d think my skin would be thicker 😀 I kept my opinion about the healthiness of Subway to myself 😉