Holiday Entertaining

‘Tis the Season to make a Nostalgic Hot Cocoa Bar!

Cocoa, Cookies and Candy Canes

Almost positive those are the main food groups of an elf! Which I may add is also the perfect ingredients to build a hot cocoa bar.

This week, I partnered with my dear friend Anna, from the Sky Lark House to create hot cocoa posts together! We had so much fun creating our posts. Kinda makes you feel like a kid again, when working with cocoa and candy. I hope you all enjoy the inspiration and creativity we applied to our hot cocoa posts. You can follow along to Anna’s, towards the end of this post.

If you have just come from Anna’s hot cocoa gift idea to mine, welcome! I appreciate you taking the time to visit me too. I just love how she so effortlessly adds a beautiful vintage look to her hot cocoa gift. Stunning!

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‘Tis the Season

I always manage to get a few cups of hot cocoa in during the holiday season, but I have never actually set up a help yourself hot cocoa bar before. But with my kids at the perfect age to start enjoying cocoa and family coming to stay with us this Christmas, it felt right. So I turned my beloved coffee bar into a nostalgic cocoa bar instead.

What makes my cocoa bar so nostalgic for me, is the beautiful childhood memories that comes with all the red Christmas tree mugs and bowls. This year, my grandmother’s Christmas dishes were passed down to me. You can take a great look at the entire set in a Christmas tablescape post that I just recently released called Embracing the Magic of the Holiday Season on your Table.

Let’s Talk Cocoa

Before setting up your cocoa bar, you need to establish which method of hot cocoa you will want to be serving. There is a couple different ways you can enjoy your hot cocoa.

You can buy hot cocoa K-cups, and make it on your keurig machine. You can buy the already sweetened cocoa packets and add either hot water or hot milk to them. Or you can heat up milk, unsweetened cocoa and sugar on the stove top and make an old fashion cup of cocoa.

I went with the already sweetened cocoa powder. But instead of the packets, I bought a large container of cocoa and filled up one of my Christmas bowls for people to help themselves too. The K-cup route would have really taken away from the look and feel of my nostalgic cocoa bar. I love making it on the stove top, but my daughter can not have dairy and my son still wants it made with milk, so that option would not be good for us.

So I boiled a hot pot of water in a carafe and then had hot milk in a creamer available too. That way everyone in my house or visiting would be satisfied.

Decorative tiered serving trays are great for displaying cookies and small pastries to go along with a warm hot cup of cocoa. If you are ever interested in making one of your own tiered trays, I have a great DIY tiered tray made from vintage dishes.

I always buy a box of the hot cocoa bombs. If you love hot cocoa, then you will enjoy the extra chocolate taste and marshmallows that they bring to your cup.

Creating Decor Harmony

To balance out the red Christmas dishes on my cocoa bar, I added in some cute little pine trees, a white platter in the center, a white Christmas cup filled with candy canes and some white rustic candle holders. As much as I love these dishes and want to use every piece, it can be a bit much all together. So I selected a handful and then added in with pops of white to create a perfect harmony.

On the Shelves Above

I wanted the shelves above my hot cocoa bar to be just as fun and eye catching. Since I was using my grandmother’s Christmas dishes and she always took me to see the nutcracker as a child, it made sense to add any of the nutcrackers I owned to my shelves. The two smaller ones, she actually gave to me.

The large nutcracker was given to me by a friend. His peppermint hat and boots, inspired me to add the candy cane sign and small wooden peppermint clips I had. And of course real candy canes! Which by the way are so wonderful in a cup of cocoa. Just place one in your mug, pour in your hot cocoa and let the candy cane hang onto the side of the mug. Adds just enough flavor, and then can be eaten afterwards. Elves would agree!

This mug on the top shelf is actually a child’s size. My grandmother bought it for me when I was little because the other mugs were to big. How cute is that?

This vintage ceramic Christmas candle was also handed down to me from my grandmother, when I bought my first house. It was important to include the vintage candle into my nostalgic cocoa bar for obvious reasons. Plus it is safe way up on the shelf away from little elf hands!

I absolutely love this little winter creamer. I came across it years ago thrift shopping. It was perfect to use for a handful of candy canes.

This was so much fun to put together. The elves love it, my kids love it and I am confident that my family and friends will too. There are so many creative ways you can go about setting a hot cocoa bar up. Not to mention all the fun cookies and candies you can add.

Let Me Keep On Inspiring You

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today. It means the world to me. I hope you enjoyed my Nostalgic hot cocoa bar and are super excited to make one of your own for the holiday season. I would love the chance to inspire you weekly with DIY decor, decorating ideas, vintage finds, furniture painting and so much more. It’s easy! Just sign up for my weekly email list and I will be sure to take care of the rest.

Create a Special Hot Cocoa Bar Today!

I can help you get started. Be Prepared to Have Tons of Fun.

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More Hot Cocoa Inspiration

Now it is time to head on over to Anna’s hot cocoa gift idea! You are going to love what she has put together. We are both so excited to leave you with so many inspiring ideas for your own cocoa bar or hot cocoa gifts. Without further ado, enjoy Anna’s post, Hot Cocoa Gift Idea.

Love The Space That Surrounds You Everyday!

-Meagan-

10 Comments

  • Anna

    Hi Meagan! I love everything you shared in this post. Having a cocoa bar is perfect for children and I love all the variations you offer. (especially since your daughter can’t have milk). The nutcracker with the apron and ginger bread house is ADORABLE. Great ideas! MERRY CHRISTMAS my friend.

    • mtrento

      Thanks Anna! I had so much fun collaborating with you on a hot cocoa theme. So happy you like my hot cocoa bar. Have a wonderful Christmas my friend and a Happy New Year.

  • Donna

    Your cocoa bar looks amazing! I love your red dishes! The fact that they belonged to your Grandma and were handed down to you is so special! Sounds like your cocoa bar will get a lot of use during the holiday season! Merry Christmas!

    • mtrento

      Hey Donna, Thanks so much! I think creating a hot cocoa bar every year will be a new tradition in our house. Plus I have so many special pieces from my grandma that makes it so special. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too.

  • Rachel

    I LOVE This!! It turned out BEAUTIFULLY!!! I just adore how you used those mugs…my husband’s favorite mugs are those Christmas tree ones…he uses them ALL season. I love how you added so many different sweet elements as well as decor pieces to tie it all together. SO cute!!!!

    • mtrento

      Thank you so much Rachel. Those mugs are the best. we are using ours all season long too. Glad you enjoyed the hot cocoa post. Thanks for stopping in. Have a Merry Christmas.

  • Marsha Banks

    Meagan, I don’t know how anyone could not feel welcomed in your home! This cocoa bar is amazing! I love all of the homey and personal touches! I think the Nutcrackers are my favorite (aside from the chocolate bombs)! My mom gave me (or I permanently borrowed) a vintage Santa cup years ago. A couple of years ago, I was tryinng to figure out what to do with my tiered tray. I found the same cups at Michaels in different sizes so now my tiered tray is Santa themed! The bad thing is I can’t tell which one is the vintage one!!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    • mtrento

      You are so sweet Marsha, thank you so much. When I decorate for Christmas, I like to make it personal and special. I am so happy you enjoyed my hot cocoa bar. My kids have been loving it! Oh those vintage santa cups are so adorable. Try looking on the bottom of the cup to see which one is vintage. Enjoy the holiday week.

  • CoCo

    Give me all the Christmas cookies and cocoa! I love the way you put this together from the peppermint accents to the nutcrackers it’s perfection and so sweet that you incoporated some pieces from your grandma too. It definitely makes it extra special! Great job sweet friend, CoCo

    • mtrento

      I feel the same way! So yummy! I had so much fun putting this post together. So happy you liked it. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Christmas.

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