Hot Chocolate Party

A hot chocolate party. Is this not the cutest idea ever or what? I mean, really. It's perfect for all ages. Who doesn't love enjoying a big, steaming mug of chocolaty goodness?

I came across this idea earlier this fall and stowed it away for the Christmas season. I'm a sucker for the holiday and love sharing it with others, so this was the perfect theme for a Christmas get together.


I debated whether or not to add anything to the gathering: cookie exchange, ugly sweater party, white elephant gift, etc. But I decided to keep it simple, and sent out a festive evite to some friends:

BYOM (bring your own mug) and get ready for a tasty evening. I will be providing all of the fixins for you to create the perfect hot chocolate concoction, so be prepared to get creative. If you would like to bring a treat to share, please call dibs in the comment section. *Embarrassing Christmas attire is optional, but you better believe I'll be decked out. 

I made two batches of Polar Express Hot Chocolate and one batch of Paula Deen's White Hot Chocolate for everyone to start with. The white hot chocolate was a lot more popular than I thought it would be. I probably could have made two batches of it as well.

The next station had a selection of wonderfully tasty liquor to add in--aka whatever I had in my cabinet to dig out (this was an adults only party, for those of you wondering).

For fun, I provided an array of fixins to toss in as well. For my adventurous friends, I even included a few spices to experiment with. The cayenne pepper really packeda punch. I'd recommend a milder one if you have it to avoid burning your face off.

I made the candy cane dust by throwing some crushed candy canes in my food processor.

Some of the add-ins weren't necessarily provided to alter the drink's flavor profile, but there's something very liberating about adding more chocolate to your chocolate drink :)

Probably the best part of the entire spread was the marshmallows. My good friend Cassie made two kinds of deliciously flavored homemade marshmallows for the evening.

Seriously. Those things were fantastic.

A close runner up to the marshmallow selection was the whipped cream options.

I made a traditional batch with just cream and powdered sugar, a peppermint flavored one that was a festive treat, and a Smirnoff Cinna-Sugar recipe that was fun for something different (although it definitely was boozy tasting).

Then I provided a few options to stir everything together.

To finish the assembly line off, I included some Christmas sprinkles. Gotta throw those in somewhere.

This was a very nice, laid back Christmas party. I really enjoyed getting to hang out and relax while everyone took care of making their own tasty drinks. Definitely a win win :)