Valentine’s Cocoa Bar
Who doesn’t love hot cocoa on a cold winter’s day? What makes it even more fun is to have a Valentine’s themed cocoa bar. I love Valentine’s Day and thought this would be a great way to celebrate. So I had my girls over last week and thought this would be the perfect time to try out the cocoa bar. This is a great excuse to gather family and friends.
I was poking around on Pinterest and found some great inspiration on cocoa bars, so I thought I would attempt my own.
I had fun with this little project! And I wish I would have thought of this when my kids were younger, but we still had fun with it as adults.
To make it more adult-friendly you can add a little spirit to your hot cocoa. I had some Brown-Sugar Bourbon on hand, so we added a splash of that. Bailey’s or Irish Cream would be really good as well. You don’t have to limit this to just hot cocoa, you can add coffee, tea or even cider to your cocoa bar.
I love coming up with different ways to decorate and celebrate Valentine’s Day. I found some fun items at Hobby Lobby and HomeGoods. I found some red heart doily’s to put on the backsplash but if you have some scrapbooking paper you could always make your own in different sizes and shapes. I also found this cute heart garland at Hobby Lobby.
Hot Cocoa Recipe
You can make up your own hot cocoa recipe or they have tons on Pinterest or just buy the pre-made packets. For my cocoa bar I used the pre-made packet but next time I am going to for sure try making my own. The pre-made packets are ok but I think I could do better! I was just short on time. There are so many yummy recipes to choose from and I believe people enjoy things that are homemade over store-bought.
HOT COCOA BAR TOPPINGS
For the toppings, I used different size dishes that I had around my house. I thought this would add a little more dimension to the table. I listed some topping ideas below but obviously didn’t use all of them. I’m sure there’s still a ton I’m missing so just use your imagination!
- Marshmallows
- Heart-Shaped Marshmallows
- Chocolate Chips
- Toffee Bits
- Caramel Sauce
- Candy Canes
- Cinnamon
- Whipping Cream
- Sprinkles
- Peppermint Sticks
- Chocolate Syrup
- Bailey’s or Irish Cream
HOW TO SERVE YOUR HOT COCOA
There are so many fun paper coffee cups out there that you can buy or use your own coffee mugs. Here are a few that I found on Amazon. I decided to use my own mugs this time. It would also be fun to customize them if you were having a birthday party or a bridal shower or even for valentine’s gifts.
I used this little white teapot to hold the hot water. Milk is always an option as well but I went with hot water.
To stir the hot chocolate I found these cute little stir sticks, or you can use the fun straws. I also put the stir stick into some pink and white marshmallows. I wanted to dip them into some white chocolate and add sprinkles but was short on time. 🙁 Next time I will be more prepared.
This is such a fun and inexpensive idea for a party. It’s fairly easy and can be put together quickly! My favorite part was topping my hot cocoa with whipping cream and heart-shaped marshmallows along with a few pink white chocolate chips. Yummm
The hot cocoa bar would not be complete without a festive sign. I found this cute sign at Hobby Lobby and wrote on it with a chalk pen. You can also get some great ideas on Pinterest (can you tell I love Pinterest?)
I have to say this cocoa bar was a great hit! I will definitely be doing this again. My girls and I absolutely loved it! I can’t wait to do this when I have grand-kids. What a fun grandma thing to do!
Don’t Forget!!
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Cheers, Stephanie XOXO