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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Host a Moscow Mule Bar

It's nearly Christmas!!! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and today our holiday festivities begin. We're hosting Christmas this year and I'm so excited about staying in my house all day! It hasn't ever happened for Christmas before so I am pumped. I have a few fun things up my sleeve, but one of them is having a Moscow Mule Bar set up for our guests.

I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like some variation of this popular drink. I thought it would be fun to let everyone make their own and try out new combinations or share favorite recipes with one another. 

Our love affair with the Moscow Mule began years ago, and we've shared a recipe or two ourselves. 

Original Moscow Mule Recipe

Cranberry Ginger Moscow Mule Recipe

Montana Mule Recipe

Apple Cider Moscow Mule Recipe

Pumpkin Spice Moscow Mule

The Moscow Mule Bar itself is super easy to create, and with the drink only consisting of a few ingredients it's a fairly easy entertaining station to coordinate and set up.  I am chatting about all the details and sharing a new recipe we haven't shared over on Savvy Sassy Moms. So hop over and see how you can set up a Moscow Mule Bar for your guests this holiday season! 

Happy drinking friends!

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Back to School with Spirit & Pop

School has been back in session for a few weeks now, and last week was the official start to all of our activities for the year. A few things might shift as the school year goes on, but pretty much it was a first run of our Monday through Friday from now until June. It was such a busy week that I wanted to do a little something fun to celebrate to kick off our weekend.

My kids love the show "Spirit Riding Free" on Netflix. The girls in particular are obsessed with it. If they get a free moment to watch TV, or be on their iPads, their go-to is a little time with Lucky and Spirit. And when they aren't watching they are singing the theme song. It's fun to see them so excited about it. Season 6 just came out on August 17th. We weren't able to watch it when it premiered due to our crazy back-to-school schedule, but I thought creating our own little premier would be fun on Friday evening. 

ABOUT THE SHOW

If you or your children haven't seen the show yet - and you have Netflix - I would put it on your radar. All of my children like it, but the girls slightly more. 

It's a show based on the movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. It's set during the 19th century in the small town of Miradero, Texas. A 12-year old girl named Lucky has relocated from the city to the small town, and encounters the wild mustang named Spirit. The horse has been caught by wranglers, and Lucky bonds with the stallion, and eventually frees him when the wranglers were trying to "break" him. Along the way she becomes friends with Pru and Abigail, who both own their own horses, Chica Linda and Boomerang. Each day they embark on new adventures. 

The messaging and theme of the show is so fun and positive. Not to mention, we never seem to get the theme song out of our head. 

(To see other fun clips from "Spirit Riding Free", visit here.)

TIME TO POP THE SECRET

I couldn't wait for the girls to get home from school so that I could surprise them! While they were gone during the day, I made my way to Walmart to grab all the necessities for our "Spirit Riding Free" viewing party.  There are a ton of great ideas online to host your own "Spirit Riding Free" party. After some brainstorming I decided to keep it easy, and came up with the idea to create a fun popcorn bar to do a little something special, and make it feel like we were at the movies for our girl's night in.

I grabbed a few boxes of our favorite Pop Secret popcorn. With its great butter taste and the new 12 pack family size box available in a variety of inventive flavors, I knew it would be the perfect popcorn to help create the popcorn bar. I had planned on using a variety of flavors, but at the last minute I changed my mind. I decided to stick with the Homestyle option, and then grabbed a few candies and snacks for them to mix in with their popcorn.

Who doesn't love a good salty sweet combo when they are binge watching their favorite show?

When the girls got home from school, and I told them we were having a little mommy and me time watching the latest season of their favorite show, they were beside themselves with excitement. Then they saw the popcorn bar I set up, and the squeals of delight emanating from those tiny little bodies were loud enough they were probably heard in 19th century Texas. 

It looks like I went way over the top on the popcorn bar, and maybe I did a little. But, it was so easy to set up! So easy that everything was ready to go in under five minutes!

I love ideas like this! They look pretty, but don't require a whole lot of effort. The hardest part was not eating all the yummy popcorn and treats before the show started. 

The girls each have unique tastes, so it was fun to see what mixture they each created to put in their popcorn snack bags. And give them a little taste test myself.

SETTING UP A POPCORN BAR

Setting up the popcorn bar was super easy! Now that I've put one together, I will definitely be doing it again for another movie night - or even for our next party.

Things You Need

• 1 12pack of Pop Secret Family Size popcorn (I chose Homestyle because we love its great butter taste, but you can do a variety of flavors or just one.)
• 5 snacks or candies (I used a variety of candies to make it a salty sweet combo, but the options are endless. You can use pretzels, cheese crackers, cereal, etc.)
• 1 large bowl
• 5 smaller bowls
• 1-2 small scoops or spoons
• Small bowls or baggies
• Napkins
• Optional: Decor (I found all "Spirit Riding Free" items and hay at Walmart when I purchased my popcorn and candies.)

What To Do

1. Lay out large bowl with small bowls around it.
2. Pop popcorn according to instructions. 
3. While popcorn is popping, place candies/snacks in smaller bowls. 
4. Let popcorn cool. 
5. Serve and enjoy the show! 

The girls loved watching the new season of "Spirit Riding Free" in such a special way. Normally I don't go so over the top, but it was fun giving them a little extra treat for something they were so excited about!

We made it through three of the new episodes on Friday, and it's already looking like this season is just as adorable as the previous seasons. I promised them after dance today they could watch another one - popcorn included of course!

Do your little ones have a show they love and get so excited about? Each one of mine has been into a different one at this age. It's fun to hear what excites other, and what might be a fun new one for us to add to the mix! 

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This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Snyder’s-Lance Inc, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #Pop4Spirit  http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

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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