DIY Party Mom: Baby It's Cold Outside so Have a Cup of Cheer

Keep warm this winter with a hot chocolate bar that will be as cute as it is helpful. With just a few items you may already have, you can make a super cute Snowman Hot Chocolate bar that will keep you warm when it's cold outside with a warm cup of cheer.

Whether you live in the arctic north or the southern states, winter can last a LONG time.

The skies get grey. The weather turns chilly. And everything kind of gets glum.

As much as it would be fun to have the Christmas lights on all winter to brighten the day, I have a feeling my neighbors might start to wonder. So there needs to be another way, easier, with less neighbor judgement to brighten and warm the winter days.

What better way to do that then with a chocolate bar?!?

Welcome to the third annual 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop!

Stop by every day from December first through the twelfth for new ideas you can use to make your season brighter!

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They have all been busy as Elves creating, decorating, cooking and crafting tons of new ideas for you to try this holiday season!

Shirley~Intelligent Domestications I Alli~An Alli Event
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Erlene~My Pinterventures I Beverly~Across The Blvd.
Debra~Shoppe No. 5 I Victoria~Dazzle While Frazzled

Megan~C'mon Get Crafty I Michelle~Michelle James Designs
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Jenny~Cookies Coffee & Crafts I Emily~Domestic Deadline
Bonbon~Farmhouse 40 I Susanne~Pearl Street Designs

Leanna~Of Faeries & Fauna I Pam Larmore~P.S. I Love You Crafts
Kelly~North Country Nest I Marie~The Inspiration Vault

Gail~Purple Hues and Me I Lynne~My Family Thyme
Karen~Dragonfly and Lily Pads I Trisha~Blowing Away Out West

Tomika~Life In Pumps I Rachee~Say it, "Rah-Shay"
Ra'Nesha~Queen Thrifty I Lorrin~Embrace The Perfect Mess

Jaime~Love Jaime I Serena~The Weekend Jaunts
Terri~Christmas Tree Lane I Jessica~A Southern Mother

Sam~Raggedy Bits I Rachel~Smart Mom Smart Ideas
Surya~The Busy Mom Club I Cyn~Creative Cynchronicity

Valeria~Val Event Gal I Yami~The Latino Next Door
Jeannee~Centsably Creative I Tania~Little Vintage Cottage

Lauren~Wonderfully Made I Vanessa~DIY 180
Kimberly~A Wonderful Thought I Kim~Everyday Parties I Erica~Erica Ever After

For years, I lived in Northern Maine, Indiana, and Colorado. We saw our fair share of Snow. I remember being able to jump out my 2nd story window, straight into a snow pile that swallowed me whole! As a kid, it was awesome!

As an adult, I HATE to be cold. With a passion.

So even though I now live in South Carolina, where it's 70 degrees yesterday, I still enjoy a good mug of hot chocolate...or two.. or three. Okay, I just love hot chocolate, and love to have it anytime. It's a great way to warm up, brighten the day, and make the winter seem bearable.

Before winter begins and you get snowed in, or just find the "blahs" of winter, set yourself up a quick and beautiful hot chocolate bar so you will have a cup of cheer anytime of day.

One of the cheeriest and most important parts of your hot chocolate bar are the mugs. Having a set of super cute, LARGE mugs is essential. You want to make sure your hot chocolate will be enjoyed and last, so make the mug as big as you can drink.

I found these S'mores Snowmen mugs at a thrift store this summer and knew they would be perfect for hot chocolate this winter. They are HUGE and super cute.

Once I had my mugs and hot chocolate bar theme set, I found a small table that would fit in the nook of my dining room so I could use the hot chocolate bar easily all winter long. On the table I used a blue tablecloth. (I like to have a variety of table cloths when I find cute material on sale. This table cloth was from our Relief Society birthday party and the design and color were perfect to set off the black and white of the snowmen.)

In the center of the table, I used my glass serving beverage containers. One was filled with milk, while the other was filled with the hot water. If you are having a party, I recommend adding the beverages last so the milk stays cold and the water hot.

I won't leave the beverages on the table all winter, but will fill them when we have company over or have been out in the cold for soccer.

Under the beverage containers, I placed a plastic serving dish I found at Dollar Tree. This will help catch any spills from the hot chocolate or leaks from the beverage containers as they get used.

In the center of the tray, I used a snowflake candle holder that I found at Bath and Body Works last year on clearance. If you will be hosting parties a lot, I recommend always keeping your eyes out for cute pieces that are cheap and will work in a variety of ways.

While this is a large candle holder, it works perfectly for holding my snowman kiss labels. I put the labels on blue kisses to match the color of the party and tablecloth. (I love that Hershey now has colored kisses that are perfect for decorating parties!)

Along both outer edges of the tray, I placed the snowman hot chocolate mugs, and then some cute jars with toppings for the hot chocolate. These are the same jars that I used in my Ice Cream party. So once again, use what you have so you can justify to your husband that those purchases are worth it!

My toppings included white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, mint chips, toffee chips, and Caramel chips. I also included two jars of small marshmallows (since my son LOVES marshmallows and will add a whole jar to his hot chocolate alone!)

Behind the toppings, I placed the hot chocolate flavors on a small box that I covered with coordinating fabric to the table cloth. This gave the hot chocolate bar a little height and allowed my flavors to be easily seen and used.

I was seriously tempted to try some of the hot chocolate recipes from my pinterest board. I've been collecting recipes for a while, but I knew I needed to make this super easy if I was going to be able to keep it up and use it all winter long.

So instead I bought some flavors from the store and just repackaged them into cute containers. I used the jars from the Ice Cream party and I made bigger ones with a snowman design (I showed you how to make them here) for the flavors I knew would get used the most.