How To: Hot Chocolate Bar

Cooler temperatures and winter days go hand-in-hand with hot chocolate, and there is no better way to enjoy this frigid time of year with your little ones than with a fun hot chocolate bar that is just for them! 

All kids love being in charge, so allowing them to select their own mix-ins or toppings for their hot chocolate is a real treat. A hot chocolate bar can be set up as a one-time event for a party, or left up all season long as a regular afternoon treat. Who wouldn’t love coming home from school to a yummy hot chocolate?

Setting the scene for a hot chocolate bar

Setting up a hot chocolate bar is super simple. Start with some festive decor — you can probably find things around your house or in your holiday decorations that you can use — it’s a great spot to include those decorations from holidays of the past that don’t make it onto your A-list of decorations anymore! 

Think out of the box and get creative for ways to display your hot chocolate bar. For example, we used a plaid scarf and craft paper as our tablecloth, Mason jar mugs left over from another party and a random assortment of crystal dishes to hold our hot chocolate toppings.

Grab your favorite mug

The great thing about hot chocolate is that you have so many options when making it! Depending on how much time you have to prep, you can make your own mix from scratch, use ready-to-mix packets, or even go the K-cup route. All that really matters is that you have the hot chocolate pre-mixed and ready to go, or that you have hot water or milk on-hand ready to mix up a batch. Cute mugs also help and anything from ceramic mugs to Mason jars to or paper cups will do!

It’s all about the toppings

After your cup is filled with hot chocolate, the fun part begins! Having an assortment of toppings makes it fun for kids (and adults!) to personalize their hot chocolate to their tastes by mixing and matching different toppings.

For this hot chocolate bar we used mini marshmallows, candy canes, mini chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers, chocolate sprinkles and rolled wafer cookies. Other fun toppings we love are canned whipped cream, cinnamon sticks, caramel candies, chocolate syrup, crushed cookies and chopped nuts.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TOPPING FOR HOT CHOCOLATE?

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A Grand Slam 1st Birthday Party

 A few weeks ago, my little nephew turned one. My sister went above and beyond for his first birthday (she comes by it honestly), and I couldn't resist sharing some of the adorable details with you! 

Every single detail was so stinking cute. I'll try to link up what I can because I can see some of these details being fun for team parties and other aged birthday parties as well. 

| Baseball pinata |

I was also super excited I could pull out my astro turf runner I had made. See Mr. Magnolia, it's already been put to lots of use! ;) 

| baseball ribbon |

| major league helmets | 

My brother-in-law's mother is an excellent baker and made several of the treats and the smash cake. I thought these baseball themed cupcakes were so cute. She accented them with USA themed Oreos, baseball cupcake liners and MLB cupcake toppers. 

My mom had these party favor cookies made by a local baker friend. They were out of the park yummy too! 

| 1st birthday ribbon banner | little slugger custom bib | 

| Baseball serving plate | vintage baseball cards |

I loved the little details my sister snuck in too! I'm not sure the other party guests noticed these vintage baseball cards with everything else going on, but I did. She ordered them in the years that she and her husband were born. Such a fun, small detail. 

| bubble gum machine |

| baseball themed photo props |

She had a ton of fun stations set up for guests too! There was a posing station, a signing station, a concession snack stand, and a popcorn stand station. 

| instant camera + printer | baseball playbook | home plate |

| popcorn machine | popcorn bags |

| mini cotton candy bags |

| baseball bat candle |

While baby L wasn't a huge fan of getting dirty or his cake, he was a huge fan of his party. As were we all.

There were a lot of adorable details I didn't get to capture. I wish I had taken more photos, but it was a pool party and mom duties were required (i.e. the kids needed an adult to splash, throw, and catch them). 

Have you thrown a baseball themed party? What were some of your favorite details, or items that were a huge hit? Share with us to give other readers some inspiration! 

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Tie-Dye Birthday Party

A few weeks ago my oldest turned 11 and we celebrated last week with a tie-dye birthday party! We had done tie-dying kit I picked up a few weeks ago and the kids had so much fun that I suggested doing it as a party theme.  She loved the idea and so did all the other kids who attended the party.  

I bought this tie-dye kit for the party and it was perfect because it comes with everything needed…the dye, rubber bands and plastic gloves. 

I did end up buying extra rubber bands and rubber gloves to just be sure we would have enough and I’m glad I did.  

I bought packs of white t-shirts (they shrink, so size up!) and also white pillowcases so that each girl could dye two items. The kit came with instructions on how to do different designs and after doing a test run previously I could help the girls with a few different methods.  

I set up a table outside with a plastic table cloth to try to protect the best I could and had all of the colors of dye available for the girls to use. 

We used clear plastic bins to do the dying in so that it wouldn’t go everywhere and every time I went to grab my phone and take a picture, I had to rush and avoid a tie-dye emergency.  I told Jen that next time I want to tie-dye with 12 girls she needs to remind me to think again. In all seriousness though, the kids had a blast and it was such a fun party. 

Because the tie-dye needs to set for 6-8 hour we weren’t able to actually finish them off before the party was over so I had the kids put each of their projects into a gallon zip-top bag and then I sent them home with an extra set of rubber gloves and this free printable directions of how to wash out and finish the tie-dye at home.  

The party was in the afternoon so I just did a nugget tray, fruit and a few other snacks for the girls along with some pink lemonade and waters.  I found these tie-dye bandanas at my local craft store that we cut to use for a garland. 

The birthday girl wanted cookies instead of cakes so I had a local mom that I knew make these decorated sugar cookies.  

We had so much fun untying the shirts my kids did and seeing how they turned out!  Everyone was pretty impressed and have been wearing their shirts a bunch.  

Whether you are looking for a birthday party idea or just want a fun activity to do with your kids this summer, tie-dying was a hit and I am sure we'll be doing it again soon!

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A DC Super Hero Girls Party

Super heroes are a great source of excitement for little ones. L.C. is no exception! She is obsessed with super heroes, particularly the DC Super Hero Girls. She can't get enough of them! She wears her Super Girl tee on repeat. She plays with the action figures daily. And any chance she can don one of her many super hero costumes, she does!

I shared in October how she planned for she and B.C. to be Super Hero Girls characters for Halloween. Well her birthday falls just before Halloween, and her party theme reflected her favorite crime fighting ladies. This is one of those posts that I kept meaning to share, but kept getting pushed back. But the super details are too cute not so share - especially if you have a DC Super Hero loving little girl too!

Oriental Trading has tons of fun Super Hero Girls items in their catalog. It made it so easy, and I had a hard time limiting myself on what to order. I had planned on doing a party in her classroom as well as a small one at home for her on the day of her birthday. We took her and her best friend to the aquarium as her celebration, but still wanted to have our home decorated to make her feel special on her actual birthday.

There were tons of paper good options available, but I went with the napkins, plates, and cups that featured her favorite characters. Super Girl for life, but Batgirl and Wonder Woman are a close second. 

Once paper goods were taken care of, I moved on to the fun stuff. The goodie bags! At first I wanted to do some cute candy favor for her classmates in these cute little Super Hero Girl themed pails. Then I spotted these backpacks, and thought that would be a little more fun for her friends (and something a little more useful).

Then I ordered a bunch of fun super hero themed goodies to put inside. L.C.'s school is peanut free and several of her classmates have allergies. There were some super cute Pez dispensers and other fun food treats, but I decided to steer clear of those so that everyone would have the same thing. 

I purchased some fun super hero themed bandanas, sunglasses, bracelets, and other goodies to put inside.

Looking back on it, among the boys and the girl, aside from the backpacks, the Super Hero Girl bracelets were the biggest hit. Everyone kept pretending it gave them super hero powers and were running around "shooting" from them.

The day of the classroom party, L.C. was so excited. She woke right up and got dressed. We have a ton of Super Hero Girl themed tees, but she skipped right over those for a head to toe Super Hero Girl outfit. My youngest sister made this and had given to her the day before when we celebrated at my parents house. She was so excited to wear it!

We had a super hero themed luncheon, snack, and dessert planned. Then we let the kids run off their super hero sized sugar high on the playground.

Each child loved their backpack filled with super hero stuff and most wore them the rest of the school day. On their tiny little bodies they almost looked like capes, which was all sorts of perfect. 

The next day was L.C.'s actual birthday. I had ordered a birthday banner and some fun Super Hero Girl streamers to decorate the house with for when she woke up.

L.C. loved waking up to see the whole house decorated. Anywhere I could hang a streamer, I did. I love when a decoration is so easy!

Before we had cake with her friend I set out my favorite toddler friendly white table cloth, and sprinkled it with this fun Super Hero Girl confetti and some fun little themed goodies for she and her siblings and her friend. 

Each and every little detail made L.C. so happy. I was thrilled to see that we were easily able to feed into her Super Hero Girl obsession. Even more so that really the only effort it took was by making a few clicks of a button and grabbing the box off my doorstep.

This age is so much fun, and I learned long ago soak in every moment of these cute little obsessions and things they love because before you know it, it's gone. Here's hoping she always stays my little super girl.

  

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**Product from this post was provided by the Oriental Trading Ambassador program. All thoughts and super opinions are my own. **