Hot Cocoa Gift Bags

I absolutely love the holidays and sharing the holiday spirit with others. While I believe we should be kind and loving every day, it seems extra easy during the holidays because it's everywhere. 
Last year, our first Christmas season together as a married couple, I wanted to show my appreciation to some people who may not hear it a lot, or should hear it more. I wanted to give to people in the apartment office and maintenance, mailman, work managers and our neighbor.

Last year's gift bags before I added ribbon and a tag

I also love hot chocolate during the winter. I have tried many different flavors such as white hot chocolate, peppermint, dark chocolate, marshmallows and no marshmallows. I had run across a Cinnamon Hot Chocolate Mix on the Taste of Home website and had the idea to create little bags to hand out. I had so much fun with this and loved blessing others with the bags. Plus I made some extra for myself and thought it was just as good, if not better than the store bought packets, but way cheaper per serving!

This was such a simple and quick gift to put together. You can get as creative as your heart desires, and make it your own.

It's as simple as mixing the ingredients together. I mixed the marshmallows right in the cocoa mixture, but if you wanted to present it differently, you could leave them out and place them on top of the mixture in the bag as in the picture on the Taste of Home page linked above.

I bought adorable bags and used some ribbon to tie it together. This year I decided to include a candy cane as well.  I also wanted to put a little tag on it to let them know it's a thank you/appreciation for all they do. Last year I made a tag, but lost it when my computer crashed. So this year I had to recreate it. I looked online for ideas of what to write, as I couldn't remember in the least what I wrote last year. I could not find any Christmas/thank you sayings or tags that were appropriate, so I want to give you a FREE downloadable tag in case you are in the same boat.

This year's finished gift bags

I hope you have fun blessing others with this fun and easy gift!
I'd love to hear if you come up with variations of this gift.





Cinnamon Hot Chocolate Mix 
1 3/4 cups nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Additional Ingredients: 3/4 cup hot milk

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 3 months. 

To prepare 1 serving: Dissolve 3 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix in hot milk. 

Yield: about 3 1/2 cups mix (18 servings)