An Autumn Hot Chocolate Bar With DIY Drink Stirrers

This fall hot chocolate bar is perfect for cold rainy days, after-school play dates, and weekends in front of the fire watching movies.

I was selected for this paid opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

My kids absolutely love to have after-school and weekend playdates. Now that they are getting older being around their friends is becoming more and more important to them and I am thankful that my kids’ friends have amazing parents who I’ve quickly become friends with too, so it’s become quite common for us to text each other from the carpool line to say hey I’ve got your kid in my car, or don’t bother coming up today because I’ll grab everyone and take them home.

Yesterday was no different. A quick text to a couple of friends during the day and my daughter’s friends were hanging out after school. While they did homework, I set up a hot chocolate bar for them. They had fun playing with toppings, squirting whipped cream straight into their mouths, and eating snacks before heading into the backyard to play for a little while.

Fall hot chocolate bar

A hot chocolate bar doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to have a few choices, because everyone likes to experiment with flavor combinations, and everyone has different tastes. I wanted this one to be fall-inspired, with fresh fall scents, but still keep what I know kids normally love in their hot chocolate.

First, let me share my hot chocolate recipe, it’s really simple.

Hot Chocolate Recipe

In a large pot on the stove combine (per person):

• 1 cup of half & half
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 pouch of hot chocolate powder
• 1 tsp sugar

Hot Chocolate Bar Toppings

• caramel and chocolate syrup
• vanilla and plain whipped cream
• pumpkin pie spice and vanilla powder
• marshmallows
• white chocolate
• butterscotch morsels
• rumbled s’mores cereal

I also made these fall-themed stirring sticks. I just attached small felt cut-outs that I picked up on clearance at the craft store to wooden stirrers with hot glue.

And of course, you cannot have hot chocolate without snacks, so there were fun fall cookies, donuts (of course), and chocolate wafer cookie sticks perfect for putting into the hot chocolate.

And the kids had fun creating their hot chocolates, and eating the afternoon tea treats.

These Dixie® To Go cups are perfect for hot chocolate bars for kids. The kids can add their toppings, but when it’s time to leave they can pop a lid on their drink and take it with them, no more having to leave yummy drinks or snacks behind after play dates or parties. They have a leak-resistant lid and insulated layer so not hot hands or worry about hot drinks leaking when you are on the move. And let’s not forget about the stress-free, mess-free cleanup. No extra dishes to be done.

My oldest son absolutely loves these cups for days he’s racing off to early college classes and work shifts because he often doesn’t have time for breakfast or coffee before he leaves. I have a pile of them sitting next to the Keurig so he can just fill and go in the morning before running out the door.

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