Hot Cocoa Stand – Share the Joy

Hot Cocoa stands make me feel all warm and fuzzy, I mean hello besides a lemonade stand what is cuter?  But this hot cocoa stand is extra special because we are using it to Share the Joy with a little help from World Market.  A little over three years ago I had the idea to do a hot cocoa stand and my photographer and friend, Elayne Dunn Photography, helped me bring it to life.  We created a super cute hot cocoa stand for mini photo sessions and those pictures are still some of my absolute favorites.

When I found out about the Cost Plus World Market Share the Joy Sweepstakes I had the brilliant idea to create this “Cocoa for Charity” hot cocoa stand.  This is definitely a win-win, my kids get to use their lemonade stand and sell hot cocoa (they are quite the little entrepreneurs and ask all the time to sell stuff from their stand), I get to put together a super cute hot cocoa display and we get to give back to our community with the money we raise.  My kids and I decided to give the donations to a local shelter we sometimes volunteer at with our friends from The Birthday Party Project.

Here are some of the details for our “Cocoa for Charity” hot cocoa stand, which area also great for your holiday entertaining too! I went to World Market and spotted some holiday plaid napkins and fell in love with them.  I decided to use them to make our cocoa banner.  I took one napkin and cut 1 1/2 inch sections at the top.  Then I tore the fabric so it had more of a rustic feel.  I tied them in between each letter on the banner along with some burlap.

I love the wood serving trays at World Market right now and knew they would be perfect for our rustic hot cocoa stand, plus they are so versatile and can be used throughout the year.  I also picked up a red cake platter because I just couldn’t resist the scalloped edges.

You can’t have a cocoa stand with out LOTS and LOTS of hot cocoa so I grabbed a variety of flavors including the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate, Chocolate Mocha and Caramel mix.  My kids and I agree that the toppings are the best part!  Plus, people think it’s lots of fun to be able to make their cocoa just like they like it and we noticed that they were extra generous with their donations too and I think it’s because the extra little details like the White Chocolate Peppermint Hot Cocoa stir sticks and peppermint dipped chocolate spoons.

Because our hot cocoa stand is for charity I thought it would be fun to give people an additional way to help support our cause.  So, I made a Hot Cocoa gift basket full of goodies that our customers could purchase a raffle ticket to win.  The basket included the 3 different flavors of Ghirardelli cocoa mixes, white chocolate peppermint hot cocoa stir sticks, white chocolate peppermint hot cocoa stir sticks, chocolate dipped marshmallow spoons, peppermint meringue cookies, and 2 white mugs (I used my Cricut Explore and added a vinyl deer silhouette.)

We had lots of fun with our “Cocoa for Charity” hot cocoa stand and I think this will definitely become a holiday tradition for our family!  I can’t wait to take our donation to our friends at our local shelter and serve hot cocoa to them from our super cute hot cocoa stand!

You too can Share the Joy this holiday season!  Now through November 21 you can enter daily for a chance to win a $500 World Market gift card for you + a $500 donation to a charity of your choice (19 winners, one winner selected each day.)   Participants will also receive bonus entries for following World Market on their favorite social channels – Twitter and Instagram.  Share a picture on Instagram using the hastag #ShareTheJoy_WM and #WorldMarketSweepsEntry and tell us how you are Sharing the Joy this holiday season!  World Market will be sharing the joy with their Instagram follwers by giving away a $50 World Market gift card per day 11/3-11/24/14.

And because I’m always looking for ideas for service and giving this time of year I’d love for you to leave a comment telling me your families favorite traditions or ideas!

Vendors:

World Market – hot cocoa, basket, wood slice cake plate, red cake plate, white coffee mugs

Pen N’ Paper – Baby It’s Cold Outside Chalkboard Sign

Dimpleprints –  Hot Cocoa Tags & Party Printables