Create a SIMPLE hot chocolate station in minutes!!
Christmas is coming in hot this year!!! I am still sneaking Halloween candy out of the pantry after the kids go to sleep and I am WAY behind on putting up the Christmas tree and buying Christmas presents. But whether I am ready or not…HERE IT COMES!! As my kids get older and the Christmas magic is tougher to create, I have tried to add in little bits of joy each day…ANYTHING to add a bit of Christmas cheer and extra goodness to each day leading up to Christmas. This year, I decided to create a simple little hot chocolate station for the kids to enjoy.
These days it can be hard to just be NORMAL around the holidays. It is expected that everything be BIG and PINTEREST worthy and over the top. Well, I didn’t have tons of extra time and zero extra money to throw towards making a hot chocolate station, but instead of putting it off until I could DO IT ALL UP or just ignore it until next year, I decided that DONE is better than PERFECT and just jumped right in. Here is what I came up with…along with my open shelves full of Christmas cheer:)
First off, I put Emersyn’s Keurig front and center. She received this last year for Christmas JUST FOR creating hot chocolate and SHE LOVED IT!! If you are not a coffee drinking family, do not underestimate the convenience of making cocoa using the Keurig. You can go the basic hot chocolate route and grab THESE pods…they end up being pretty inexpensive per cup. Or you can put your fancy pants on and grab THIS variety pack full of yummy candy bar flavors!!! Because HONESTLY, who DOESN’T want Jr. Mint hot cocoa for breakfast?!?!
Emmy and Ethan used the KEURIG daily last year, but they had to haul it out of the pantry and then of course I had to haul it back INTO the pantry when they didn’t clean up after themselves. This way it is always out and ready and nothing has to be pulled out and then put back. BUT the Keurig is NOT a must. You can FOR SURE make a simple cocoa station without a machine!! I also included traditional cocoa mix inside the cookie jar. I just put the entire tin inside instead of being all Pinteresty and putting it into a pretty clear jar or into some wonderfully Christmas-ey creation. instead, I just tossed the tin into the pretty cookie jar with a spoon inside and it works perfectly!! In years past I have added lots of cute extras, but since I am keeping it simple this year, I just threw some cute mini candy canes to use as stir sticks, enough mugs to keep them stocked for a couple of days, and some extra K-cups. If you want to create your own Hot Chocolate stations, HERE is an Amazon list FULL of COCOA BAR IDEAS. It really doesn’t take much, but cocoa is like MAGIC…it just makes the day a bit more Christmas-ey!!
If you want to add some extras to your hot chocolate station, you could add in some…
- crushed candy canes
- marshmallows
- chocolate chips/M&Ms
- toffee pieces
- chocolate stir spoons
- mug toppers
- flavored syrups
- Or you can grab some extra cute mugs like these…
The biggest thing to remember is…IT DOESN’T have to be perfect!! Kids won’t remember if you had everything looking like a magazine spread. BUT they will remember that you made an effort and created a memory by getting out of the norm for the month of December. They will remember the magic of Christmas even if you just have a tin of cocoa and a few chipped mugs on the counter each afternoon!!
If you need MORE fun ideas on how to add some Christmas magic to the next couple of weeks, you can find Elf on the Shelf ideas HERE and HERE and WAY more ideas over on my Instagram (check my story highlights).
AND you can find fun Christmas snack ideas HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE…and even more over on Instagram too. And these gingerbread houses made from Pop Tarts…they are a new family favorite!! I hope you can find some new ways to add a little fun with NO stress to your Christmas Season. Happy December!! Let’s chat again soon. JESSICA
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