Christmas Hot Chocolate Ornaments Dangling in a Bag - Easy Craft

I saw these really cute Christmas Tree ornaments filled with hot chocolate or cocoa in a magazine recently and thought how much fun they would be to make. I thought I had a bunch of clear Christmas ornaments from a craft I did for our church party a few years back. 
 
As it turned out, after searching for an hour, I remembered I donated them to a second hand store a few years back thinking I didn't want to store stuff I didn't have plans for so I found two boxes I had purchased since then at a second hand store. Funny that I donated about ten boxes and bought two smaller boxes.  


First off, wash the ornaments. I washed them and dried the outside and then hung them on the upper rack pegs of the dishwasher to dry. Be careful when doing this as I actually poked a hole in the bottom by dropping it onto the rack. Set it down gently to dry. 


Once dry, I sat them inside a cup top to fill. I found a funnel that was small enough to fit into the top of the ornament. I put a scoop of hot chocolate into the glob using the funnel. 

Be careful not to shake the cocoa in the globe or it will make a cloud and coat the inside of the ornament so you can't see the lines of definition but it just makes the globe look dirty. 


Once the cocoa is inside, tap the outside gently to level out the chocolate and to compress it down to get it ready for the peppermint or sprinkles. 
 
You can use whatever you want in the globe. Chocolate chips, sprinkles etc. We chose to use crushed candy canes. I liked the blue and white but Princess Five liked the red and white. 

I did try some white candy canes but there was no contrast in color with the marshmallows so that didn't look the best. 

In crushing the candy cane, you can make the cane chunky by putting it in plastic bags and hitting it with the back of a butter knife if you like that crushed look. 
 
If you like the more powdered look, you can use a blender that will do dry items or a coffee grinder. I had some crushed from a project before so I just used the more powdered ones from my coffee grinder.
 
Once you have the chocolate layer and then the peppermint / sprinkle or whatever contrast layer you want, you can put in the marshmallows. However, my globes had small necks and if I shoved full mini-marshmallows in, they weren't coming out. 
 
We wanted the chocolate to be used so forcing in the marshmallows didn't allow them to be used. I washed my kitchen sheers and then powdered them in powdered sugar and then cut the marshmallows into quarters. 
 
I am sure there is a place to buy the mini-mini-marshmallows they use in hot cocoa but I didn't want to take the time or spend any more money on them and I have LOTS of bags of mini-marshmallows for my Christmas neighbor gift. Click here for a recipe and post about my popcorn, chocolate, nut treat.  
 
Princess Five picked out some curling ribbon to use to "hang" the ornament. I had purchased some "clear" blue tint bags at $3 for about ten bags. I was happy with them and figured they would be a great way to display the ornaments as they are see through. 

We weren't sure how to keep them from tipping or mixing up or breaking to deliver them. We came up with a great way between the two of us. At first, we used tissue but neither of us was thrilled with the way it looked and tried different ways of putting it all in the bottom or having some sticking out the top etc. 

Finally, I thought of using tulle and that was that. It looked SO much better. I think you could also use the mylar confetti strands like ester egg grass in the bottoms and that would look good but I really like the airy feeling of the tulle. 

In the end, we got all of them to hang by first tying the string into a knot about an inch and a half above the ornament. Then, we tied the curling ribbon through both handles of the gift bags. 
 
Before tying a knot there, we used a candy cane to anchor the ribbon on so the candy cane would hold up the swinging ornament. I tied a secure knot around the candy cane and then made sure it was across the top of the bag securely so the ornament won't fall and crack in the bottom of the bag. 

I did cut up strips of blue tissue and tried that in the bottom of the bags and it looked "OK" in my opinion but not as elegant as the tulle.

I showed pictures of our first attempts using the tissue just so you could see what it looked like but how much better does the tulle look!

These were really fun to make and if you have boxes, coffee mugs, larger gift bags, you can still hang the ornaments using the candy cane inside those containers. It would work with just about any container. I have a few left that I am going to stick in mugs as I think giving them the chocolate and the mug to drink it in is kind of fun. 

Also, if you used a bigger bag, you could hang several ornaments at different heights inside the bag using a dowel through the top or different candy canes for each ornament. Either way it would be very fun and creative. 

These are a craft / project little ones can help with as they can scoop the chocolate into the funnel or crush the candy canes etc. It is a fun family project that is a little different! I think these are great for neighbor, friends, coworkers, family, teacher, or a white elephant gift. It works for just about anyone!           

I just wanted to also include that I think these would be the cutest wedding "thank you" gifts. If you could "make" the bags or buy them bulk, I think if you are having a December wedding, these would be a fun handout at your wedding! Putting your names stenciled on the front of the glass globe or something with the date would be really cute. Even just hanging them on a few lit trees near the doors that people can take as they leave would be pretty and functional and then you wouldn't need boxes.

The possibilities are endless with this fun craft!