This Reader Created an Extravagant Hot Cocoa Bar w/ Halloween & Valentine’s Day Clearance
Need a warm, cozy drink to celebrate the holidays?
We all love hot chocolate during the winter months; the more toppings you jazz it up with, the better it tastes! This week’s Happy Friday reader Kay created an impressive Christmas-themed hot cocoa bar for the holidays at the best price!
Dear H2S, here’s my hip and frugal project to share with you from last year (that I’m doing again this year!). I love drinking special non-alcoholic beverages, which leaves me with a lot of punches, hot cocoa recipes, and projects to try. Last year, I set up my first hot cocoa bar. I’m usually the (non-alcoholic) bartender at family parties since I love drinking.
At my family’s request, I set up a hot cocoa bar for the New Year’s party. I stuck with a Christmas theme since we missed celebrating Christmas together. Plus, this way I was able to get Christmas supplies on clearance!
This is most of what I used:
- Matching serving-ware I already had, including a 2-tier stand and utensil caddy from Walmart clearance
- Glassware I already had
- Christmas decor I already had, including the Santa gnome I made at church
- 10 bags of chocolate balls at Dollar Tree 50% off
- Peppermint marshmallows, Hershey baking pieces, sprinkles, and chocolate cocktails, all on clearance for 75% off
- Chocolates that were gifted to us
- Miniature candy bars left over from Halloween
- Cupcake risers that I spray painted white, purchased at a past Target Valentine’s clearance 90% off
My family really enjoyed the hot cocoa bar and asked me to leave it up for 3 days (of course, with whipped cream and chocolate syrup refrigerated).
Hope these tips help someone with their Christmas/New Year hot cocoa bar this year. In the interim, I’m gonna see if I can find hot cocoa decor on Christmas clearance at the stores soon.
Kay, this is a hot chocolate bar anyone would fall in love with us! Using the Christmas clearance during your family New Year’s celebration was super clever, and it looks like it paid off!
HAPPY FRIDAY! 
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