Christmas came and went, and while I had great intentions to add some new holiday posts to my blog, I was too busy enjoying all of the fun activities to get to the blogging part. I guess these little Hot Cocoa Mug Marshmallow Pops can be tucked away on a Pinterest board for next Christmas 🙂
The past couple of years, our church has done a drive-thru Christmas Caroling event. My friend asked me to make cookies to pass out, but festive mallow pops are more fun than baking cookies for me, so I set out to make some really cute and Christmassy pops. These little guys were a bit trickier to make than I expected, but I think they turned out pretty cute.
Here’s what you will need to make your own Hot Cocoa Pops: peppermint candy canes (the ones I used were in between the typical big and small size), Jet Puffed Marshmallows, pretzels (broken up to create handles), candy melts in milk chocolate and bright white, Kraft Mallow Bits, various holiday sprinkles, parchment paper, and a Wilton’s squeeze bottle. #CommissionsEarned
STEP 1: LAY EVERYTHING OUT ON PARCHMENT PAPER SO YOU HAVE AN EASY WORKSPACE
STEP 2: MELT A SMALL AMOUNT OF THE CHOCOLATE CANDY MELTS. DIP A CANDY CANE IN THE CHOCOLATE AND PUSH INTO THE CENTER OF THE MARSHMALLOW. REPEAT
STEP 3: MELT A SMALL AMOUNT OF THE WHITE CANDY MELTS. DIP THE ENDS OF THE BROKEN PRETZEL IN THE WHITE MELTED CANDY AND SECURE TO THE SIDE OF THE MARSHMALLOW. REPEAT.
STEP 4: MELT THE REMAINDER OF THE WHITE CANDY MELTS. DIP EACH MARSHMALLOW, MAKING SURE TO COAT ALL THE WAY UP TO THE TOP OF THE MARSHMALLOW AND COVERING THE PRETZEL HANDLE. YOU MAY NEED TO WIPE OFF SOME OF THE DRIPS FROM THE BOTTOM BEFORE PLACING ON THE PARCHMENT PAPER TO DRY.
STEP 5: MELT THE REMAINDER OF THE MILK CHOCOLATE CANDY MELTS AND TRANSFER TO A SQUEEZE BOTTLE. WORKING QUICKLY, BEFORE THE CANDY MELTS SOLIDIFY, DRIZZLE MILK CHOCOLATE ALONG THE TOP OF EACH POP AND ADD A FEW FESTIVE SPRINKLES AND MALLOW BITS. THIS IS WHERE THE TRICKY PART COMES IN BECAUSE IT’S DIFFICULT TO ADD THE TOPPINGS AFTER THE CHOCOLATE HAS SET, SO YOU HAVE TO WORK FAST.
STEP 6: ENJOY!!!
These little Christmassy Pops are perfect for your holiday party or for adding to your plate of Christmas treats. I used a pretty cake platter in mint green next to my display of mini Christmas trees for some photos and then sent them off to be handed out at the Drive-Thru caroling event. #CommissionsEarned
For more fun Christmas Ideas check out the following blogposts:
My daughter has been obsessed with the Warrior Cats Saga for the last several years. She is making her way through all 80 books and even creates her own short stories and artwork based on the characters. So, naturally, for her 9th birthday, she chose “Warriors” as her theme and we had so much fun scrolling Pinterest for ideas and coming up with the food, games, activities, and decor for her party.
Warriors is a series about 4 clans of cats who live in a forest. The first arc is about a house cat named Rusty who goes into the woods and meets a clan cat. As the series progresses, Rusty becomes the Warrior known as Fireheart. He fights evil and protects his clan’s borders from rogues who stray into their territory and from other clans. Each arc features a different cat and sometimes a different clan.
Warriors eat their food from a “Fresh Kill Pile.” Our food table was inspired by things the Warrior cats would catch and devour. I included signs for the birds, bones, fish, rabbits, and mice. The birds were chocolate dipped pretzels with an M&M nose, mini chocolate chip ears, and Wilton’s candy eyeballs. Slide mini marshmallows on the end of stick pretzels and then dip in white candy melts to create “bones.” For the mice we used strawberries, twizzlers candy, mini chocolate chips, and small circles of chocolate candy melts (left over from the birds) for the ears. We used blue jello and Swedish fish candies, as well as Goldfish crackers because we all know how much cats love fish, and our rabbits were Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies crackers. Since the party was at dinnertime I made some PB&J sandwiches cut in the shape of cats. in the Warriors books, there is a sacred place on the hills called the “Moonpool,” so we replaced water labels with ones reading “Moonpool Water” and surrounded them with rocks to resemble a pond. #CommissionsEarned
The games and activities kept these Warriors Fans entertained for the majority of the party. We started out with a silly game of “Scoop the Poop.” Fill a tub with Rice Crispy cereal and add some mini Tootsie Rolls to the tub. You will be surprised at how difficult it is to feel those tiny Tootsie Rolls with a blind fold on. The kids took turns “scooping the poop” from our Rice Crispy litter box and of course giggled their way through the game at the same time. We gave them 30 seconds to find as many “nuggets” as they could and they got to keep what they found. I added more tootsie rolls as the game went on.
Cats like to hunt for prey, so our second game was an animal scavenger hunt in the front yard. I created signs with the names of the 4 Warriors Clans and the kids got to choose their clan. I picked up some tiny forest animals at the dollar store and had my older son hide them before the party started. The Clans took off to hunt for rabbits, birds, and little hedgehogs that they would later trade in for candy. We used the mini animals in the next activity as well.
My favorite part of this party was “create your own Warriors scene.” Karis and I spent some time making multiple batches of green and brown play dough in the days prior to her party. We picked up some aluminum tins from the Dollar Tree and a bunch of nature materials. At the Dollar Tree we found blue glass beads to use as water, mossy rocks, leaves, fake flowers and plants, and a variety of rocks. I grabbed some wood rounds and plastic cats from Michael’s and collected twigs from the yard and let the kids use their imaginations to create their very own Warriors scene. They used the brown play dough as dirt and the green as a base for grass and built from there. Each one was unique and they all turned out amazing. I even picked up some little plastic garden signs so that they could name their creations. #CommissionsEarned
My daughter isn’t a huge fan of cake, so we always make marshmallow pops for her birthday treat. This year, I bought thebig square mallows that you can use for s’mores and covered them in green Wilton’s candy melts. I used orange candy melts to create little cat silhouettes and put them on the front for the tastiest birthday treats. And in case you are wondering where we got Karis’s ThunderClan T-shirt, I made it using a photocopied image as a template that I printed off from the computer and a small piece of black material. I then used Seam-A-Seam 2 light to iron it onto a white cotton tee after cutting it out of the black fabric. She has worn it many times since her party and it has held up really well.
We always like to send our party guest off with a little thank you and my girl loves Hershey’s chocolate bars. I created Warriors themed wrappers to replace the Hershey ones with a little thank you note on the back for Karis to hand to each of her friends at the end of the party. #CommissionsEarned
Maybe you have a little Warriors fan of your own who would enjoy a Warriors Themed Birthday Party. I hope that this blogpost has made your planning a bit easier and inspired some fun ways for you to celebrate. As the Warriors like to say, “may StarClan light your path!”
These Thanksgiving silhouettes made out of Wilton’s candy melts are the perfect edible toppers for your Thanksgiving cake and cupcakes. Simply print out silhouettes of pilgrims, indians, turkeys, and the Mayflower. Lay wax paper over your silhouettes. Melt your chocolates, place the melted candy in a Wilton’s squeeze bottle, and you are ready to create these delicious toppers. Watch my tutorial to learn how to create these festive toppers for your Thanksgiving feast and find more creative Thanksgiving ideas on my blogposts Thanksgiving (Turkey Handprint) Kids Table and Thanksgiving Turkey Place Cards . #CommissionsEarned