Hot chocolate gift basket

[spottymoo]

I'm making dd a hot chocolate gift basket looking for ideas what to put in it.

So far we have a mug
Hot chocolate sachets
Mini marshmallows

Any other ideas greatly appreciated

[Ihatemytoes]

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[Ihatemytoes]

marking again!

[pigleychez]

planning on doing this for the Nursery staff. What do you think about adding homemade biscuits too?

Cookies, Biscotti, shortbread ?

[swooosh]

Jar of Marshmallow Fluff? You can get it in Asda they also sell MASSIVE American brand marshmallows (well mine does anyway)

[CuriosityCola]

Ah, I read that wrong. I thought it was a variation of chocolate on a stick . Sounds like a lovely idea.

[VoldemortsNipple]

I put my snowman soup in a cone bag. I layer the hot chocolate, marshmallows and then Hershey's kisses on top. I tie them up with a little jingle bell and some curling ribbon and a little poem stapled on top.

You have to put the hot chocolate in a seperate cone bag first, tie it and cut the excess. Otherwise the powder would go all over your marshmallows.

[VoldemortsNipple]

There are loads of hot chocolate bar ideas on Pintrest. I'm just doing a tray with hot chocolate, marshmallows, those biscuit straws and some other sprinkles to put on top. I'm thinking fudge crumbs, grated chocolate, cinnamon. And of course copious amounts of squirty cream :)

[CuriosityCola]

How do you make a hot chocolate bar?

[CuriosityCola]

christmas.organizedhome.com/crafts/christmas/snowman-soup

Just been googling. Very cute!

[solittletimeandsomuchtodo]

Snowman soup -curious? (actually just nosey)

[spottymoo]

Some great ideas here :)
I got a gift basket from home bargain think it was £3.99

So far I've got the hot chocolate
Mini marsh mellows
Some chocolate chip cookies
Hot chocolate scachets from asda on lots of different flavours
I got a silicone mould today with Christmas tree shapes that I'm going to make some chocolates in.
Going to get a bag of mini muffins
Also picked up some fluffy socks today and a DVD as well for her to go in the basket

[CuriosityCola]

Here to borrow ideas

[VoldemortsNipple]

Im planning on doing a hot chocolate bar which I'm setting up to coincide with the decorations going up. I got the idea from pintrest. Some lovely ideas here, I might just have to steal some :)

As for snowman soup, I'm up to my eyes in the bloody things. I make hundreds of them and sell them in work to get a few extra pennies for the festive season :o

[mignonette]

here are some Dutch Caramel Wafers/Waffles that are the perfect sized disc for balancing on top of a mug of hot chocolate. Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Tesc's stock them as do Amazon.

[mignonette]

I bought DS these chocolate stirrers here - balls or square pieces of chocolate on a stick that you stir and subsequently melt into a mug of hot milk/chocolate.

here are different flavoured stirrers from Whittards.

Or buy a mould to make your own and get creative with flavourings, types of chocolate-

www.amazon.co.uk/Chocolate-Biscuit-Dippers-Stirrers-Silicone/dp/B0092DILA2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1353091090&sr=8-6&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Browse here at Whittards and get different hot chocolate flavours although for a treat I'd suggest Charbonnel & Walker Chocolate Flakes which are so delicious. Yes, they cost £7-8 a tin but it lasts and it is real chocolate flakes.

This looks fun too.
www.whittard.co.uk/christmas_gift_shop/christmas_gift_sets/chocolate_biscuit_ball_sachet.htm

I would also look for a proper French 'Chocolat Chaud' bowl, the wide shallow design that people have their Breakfast coffee/chocolate out of. They just look so stylish and make the act of drinking it more pleasurable. Their wide shape allows you to wrap your hands around it which ius even more comforting.

These Dibor drinking mugs are a little pricey but I have posted the link to give you an idea of what I think looks really stylish- John Lewis, HoF, M&S etc all have them.

www.dibor.co.uk/Product.asp?ProductId=Q102

Finally, you can make shapes and designs on top of the hot chocolate using cocoa powder/grated chocolate in the same way Barista's do by buying the little discs with cut out patterns on them. Or make your own by tracing designs onto stiff acetate then cutting them out. Your son might enjoy designing his own too as Smiley faces, cartoon character heads, logo's, hearts, bug and other animal designs are not too difficult to do. I know that last Christmas, Boots were selling little packs of these in their Christmas gift range.

[Ihatemytoes]

I'm stealing this idea! Can anyone suggest where i can buy a basket/hamper to put it all in? Also, how are you wrapping these?

[drummerswife]

cazza2878 our local asda does packs of small marshmallows in the baking section
poundland have tins of the long wafer biscuits saw them today.they had 2 different sorts

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Can you not split a large bag into smaller packs?

[cazza2878]

Does anyone know where you can buy mini marshmallows in small bags (to fit in a mug) ? Can only seem to find large packs. Thanks.

[debdee]

How about a syrup? I'm making brother a hot choc gift, he loves the blackforest hot choc from Costa which they make with Monin blackberry syrup so I'm putting a bottle of that in, there are lots of different flavours though and I think they do a little selection pack of smaller bottles.

[BiddyPop]

G&B do a nice hot choc mix, not sure if it's GF though.

Some chocolate Nutcrackers or similar seasonal treats (some posh places get those ones on a cardboard bakground with foil covered bodies).

Perhaps make the hot choc mix up into "Snowman Soup" mixes (google snowman soup, for the top and even toppers you can print - it's basically hot choc, marshmallows, and using a candy cane as a swizzle stick).

[bruffin]

They are also called viennese or cigarette wafers.

Chokablok have also bought out something called a big dipper which is for stirring your hot chocolate with. Looks like a lump of chocolate on a spoon studded with marshmallow etc. there are 4 different flavours

[fuzzpig]

Oooh I love them voldy. I have a feeling they are called caprice or capriccio wafers? Or maybe that's what the company was called. I'm sure you can still get them in big supermarkets anyway.

I really would love to get new mugs for this but we are drowning in mugs already.

I also need to find some hot choc powder that is gluten free - DH is a coeliac and it would be a shame if we couldn't all have some. My usual Cadbury one has gluten in.

I think DH would like using Mint Matchmakers as stirrers.