Published on December 19, 2016 | Last Updated on December 19, 2016

A cold front blew through this weekend and it finally feels like winter in Houston! Or at least our version of winter – the temps dropped below 50 degrees so we’re busting out the scarves, ear muffs and Ugg boots (#guilty). In all seriousness, this weather does help get me in the holiday spirit and further justifies my Christmas movie binge watching. Plus it’s the perfect excuse to mix up a big cup of hot cocoa with all the fixin’s!

If you’re hosting friends and family over the next week, swap out your traditional bar cart setup for a hot chocolate cart! I’ll walk you through the different items I used to style the cart so you can recreate your own. I snagged this bar cart during Sugar & Cloth‘s studio sale and have been obsessed with it ever since. I knew it would be perfect for a color setup like this!

You guys probably know by now that I love dressing up store bought desserts. I dipped Le Mere Poulard shortbreads in melted white chocolate and covered in pink sprinkles and crushed candy canes. You can dip the cookies in the hot cocoa so the white chocolate melts or just eat as is. They are so simple but a delicious addition to the cart!

I used mini cinnamon rolls from the grocer’s bakery – I bought them without icing so I could add fresh icing before serving. I made a simple glaze with powdered sugar, milk and a splash of vanilla and drizzled it over the rolls. I filled mini pipettes with the leftover glaze because who doesn’t love extra icing on the cinnamon rolls?! Now I want to inject all sorts of things into baked goods, haha!

I know I went a little crazy with the glaze and sprinkles for this one but cinnamon rolls are meant to be messy!

Sequins & Lipstick Paper Company made these custom cups for me and I love them! I was able to choose my phrase, font and color and Tammy the owner was amazing to work with. She has a huge assortment of paper goods that you can customize, I also ordered plastic champagne cups that I’ll show very soon! I thought ‘warm & toasty’ was perfectly fitting for hot chocolate and I’m repurposing the extras for coffee.

I posted these adorable marshmallows on Instagram yesterday that I picked up from Williams Sonoma but you could easily recreate your own with a piping bag and various colors of royal icing.

To go along with the warm & toasty theme, I used a small creme brûlée torch to toast the top of the marshmallows! It only takes a couple seconds for them to become golden and it add so my flavor to the marshmallows themselves. When you pop them into hot chocolate it tastes like s’mores in a cup – SO good.

I poured the hot chocolate in a powder blue thermos to keep in warn and put cinnamon sticks and sprinkles in little dishes so guests could make it their own. You can add crushed candy candy to the sprinkles to give it a more festive touch!

Sugarfina holiday boxes make great ideas and double as decor until your guests break them open. The mini gingerbread men gummies are the cutest and you won’t be able to stop eating them!

When you’re adding items on the cart, don’t be afraid to crowd it a bit! I like to layer items of different heights and textures to create more dimension. The pom pom throw I added to the bottom shelf adds a cozy touch and creates movement since a lot of the other items have clean lines. You can also prop items up or place on a cake pedestal to give them more height. I draped a felt ball garland from Target around the cart to tie in all the various colors I used.

I dressed up store bought vanilla cupcakes by rolling the icing in sprinkles and adding a sugar snowflakes as a garnish that I picked up at our local bakery supply shop.

Photos by Layla of LeZu Photography, she’s a lifestyle and editorial photographer here in Houston. Follow her on Instagram here!