Name: Peppermint Syrup
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar; 1 cup water; 2 tsp peppermint extract

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Don't miss these coffee station ideas for your next holiday party. Set up a Christmas coffee bar for your guests to mix and match their own flavored coffee drinks.

Handyman Tim is the big coffee drinker around here. I'm more of a whipped cream and caramel syrup with a splash of coffee kind of girl. I usually only indulge with the popular holiday drinks from Starbucks when I'm out running errands.

Since I drink it rarely myself, coffee is not usually the first thing I think of when it comes to entertaining. Every time we have friends over for a party, I get caught unprepared and a little surprised when our house guests are begging for an after-dinner coffee.

But not this year!

This year, I'm heading into the entertaining season PREPARED. I took just a few minutes to pull together a handful of items to make a sweet and simple holiday coffee bar for our guests. Everything can be made far in advance (like right now!) and stored in your fridge for weeks so you can pull it out in a pinch.

Imagine how delighted they'll be whipping up a homemade peppermint mocha or my very favorite Caramel Brulee latte!

Festive and fun holiday coffee station ideas for your next party:

Step 1: Assemble the coffee bar ingredients:

I definitely wanted to lay out everything guests needed to be able to assemble my two favorite treats: a homemade Peppermint Mocha and my knockoff of a Caramel Brulee' latte.

I loved being able to serve guests their own private coffees using our Keurig machine but you could easily just brew three carafes of coffee to add to the coffee bar instead.

How to stock a coffee station:

1 package of French Roast K-cups or 1 carafe of regular black coffee
1 package of Decaf K-cups or 1 carafe of decaf coffee
1 package of French Vanilla K-cups or 1 carafe of French vanilla coffee
1 jar of homemade peppermint syrup (don't miss the easy recipe at bottom of the post!)
1 container of chocolate syrup: your favorite store brand or homemade
1 jar of homemade sea salt and vanilla bean caramel sauce
2 canisters of whipped cream
scalded milk in a carafe to keep warm
miniature candy canes or a bowl of crushed candy cane bits
crushed Andes Candies
festive cups & napkins

While I was at the store picking up the supplies, I grabbed 3 cheap plain-glass drizzle bottles. It took only a few minutes for me to decant the store-bought container of chocolate syrup into one for presentation. Then I filled the other two jars with my own homemade versions of the peppermint syrup and caramel syrup.

I did a quick little design in PicMonkey and printed out the labels on sticker paper. If you like mine, you can print them right here.

The gear you need for your coffee station:

Clear glass syrup drizzle pourers like these
Coffee carafe for coffee or scalded milk
Red to-go coffee cups if you're sending guests on their way

Step 2: How to mix and match your holiday coffee flavors

You may want to leave little recipe suggestion signs at your coffee station, but otherwise, just leave it up to your guests to mix up their own preferred combinations.

If they need a little help, this is how I mixed my two favorite knock-off Starbucks holiday drinks:

Homemade Peppermint Mocha:

Your guests can mix together these ingredients for a knock-off peppermint mocha:

coffee flavor of their choice
a splash of the scalded milk
a drizzle of the chocolate syrup
a drizzle of the peppermint syrup
top with whipped cream, Andes candies or peppermint candies

Homemade Caramel Brulee Latte:

To make their own knockoff caramel brulee latte, your guests can mix the following ingredients:

coffee flavor of their choice (Vanilla is recommended)
a splash of the scalded milk
a generous drizzle of the salted caramel syrup
top with whipped cream and another drizzle of caramel syrup

Peppermint Syrup

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

This peppermint syrup recipe is perfect for making a homemade Starbucks peppermint mocha for a lot less money!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tsp peppermint extract

Instructions

In a small sauce pan, stir together the sugar and water and heat over medium. Continue to stir until sugar has dissolved into the water. Remove from heat and cool. Add the peppermint extract, stir to combine. Store in a jar in the fridge for several weeks.

Looking for more Christmas recipes for your party?

Need even more easy holiday party recipes this season? Don't miss some of our family favorites: