It's Decemberrr! That means hot chocolate every night...at least, that's what it means for me! I LOVE enjoying a cup of Christmas Cheer in front of my Christmas tree; hot chocolate is one of those special drinks that has a lot of memories associated with it! Whenever I go home for Christmas, my mom and I drink hot chocolate each night together! We love adding a dollop of cool whip, a candy cane stir stick, and of course, eating a Christmas cookie with your hot chocolate is a bonus.
This year, I wanted to have a hot chocolate party as a casual get together with a small group of friends, so that's exactly what I did! Sometimes my "small group" means 40+ friends at my house, BUT this one was small for real! We all wore our Christmas pajamas and I made a very special batch of hot chocolate for everyone to customize with their own toppings! I originally only planned to show you a "hot chocolate charcuterie board" with toppings but then I lost my mind at the grocery store and spent $88 on cookies and candy, so that resulted in a separate cookie charcuterie board. I know, I know, I'm not proud...but dang. It sure is cute!
No, none of these are homemade. Are you insane?! But I did sample everything, so I feel like that counts for something. ;) Those fudge covered Oreos with crushed peppermint are money. Actually, gonna go grab one of those to munch on...writing makes me hungry, what can I say?! Real talk: bags of Jet-puffed marshmallows just aren't cute, so I added a little mallow/cool whip display to complete the display table.
These little white powdered donuts were definitely a childhood favorite, so when I saw a donut display on Pinterest, I knew that I had to recreate, BUT I didn't want to take the time to cut out cutesy letters. SO I had this "ho ho ho" ribbon that I cut apart and taped to toothpicks! I actually love this photo because you can see the tape- that's how you know I only had like 7 people over because these little details didn't bother me at all! Those pieces of tape signify like an hour of saved time, so I like them a lot! ;)
I have to tell you two secrets. Like, really. They're big. First, we used WHOLE MILK. I know...shameful. Ha! It was delicious. We had one vegan friend joining us, so she used water, and I hope she enjoyed her hot chocolate as much as I enjoyed mine, but I just can't say for sure.
THE OTHER SECRET is a game changer. Peppermint Whipped Cream. The vegan friend brought this to the party, so it made up for the water situation (haha!) and I had never experienced so much goodness in my hot chocolate! Peppermint Whipped Cream, from Whole Foods. You're welcome.
AND how cute are these baby gingerbread houses?! I bought a "mini village" set from Target, and was so pleased with it! We worked as a group to each assemble and decorate a "house" and they turned out so nice! I didn't know I had such talented friends! After we built our village and enjoyed some hot chocolate, we turned on Home Alone 1 (a classic!), and it was the perfect night.
If you want to host some kind of Christmas or holiday party, a hot chocolate night is a great option and doesn't require a lot of prep! Spending $88 on cookies and assembling a cookie charcuterie board is totally *optional* but I sure did enjoy it! Merry Christmas, friends!