Perfect Hot Chocolate

What You Do:

1. To prepare for the friends & family hot chocolate competition, have your child create a tournament-style chart to organize the contest. For example, on the first night of the contest, try having two competitors create their own hot chocolate recipes, and then the rest of the competitors will vote on their favorite. The winner competes against someone new the following week.
2. After the chart has been created, allow the first competitors to begin the contest. They should make up their own recipe based on the given ingredients, but to make things interesting, allow each competitor to use a “secret” ingredient. The basic ingredients in hot chocolate are: sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, milk, salt, vanilla extract, and of course, hot water. Contestants can add in, for example, a bit of peppermint, marshmallows, whipped cream, shaved chocolate, or any other readily available ingredient that strikes their fancy.
3. Let your hot chocolate contest run as long as you would like; it can be a week or even a month long. Simply space out the competitions as you see fit.
4. Keep eliminating competitors until just one hot chocolate stands above all the rest. The winner gets bragging rights and the pleasure of seeing his winning recipe hung on the refrigerator for all to admire!