Compassionate Christmas Coffee Shop Finds | Blogmass 2016

Hello, Lovely People ! 

Today's post is the first in a series that will be popping up a few times over the Blogmass called 'Compassionate Christmas' in this series I will be writing about Christmassy things like coffee shop drinks, buffet food and pamper nights but veganized so they're completely cruelty-free. Therefore giving you a compassionate Christmas !

Now, I don't know about you but for me, one of the best things about Christmas is the Christmas themed drinks that come out in the coffee shops . We're talking marshmallow, peppermint and spiced orange flavored hot chocolate ! The best bit is that is you order these drinks with Soy milk then they're vegan in the UK! ( However, there is a cross contamination risk so these may not be safe for milk allergy sufferers ). So here we go :



In Costa coffee they're selling a gorgeous marshmallow hot chocolate ( All the syrups in their Christmas drinks have no animal products, however, make sure you ask them not to put the marshmallows up top and of course no cream ) the great thing about making the hot chocolates with soy milk is that it froths up really well so it tastes like it has cream on top ! They also have a super yummy Christmas cake that's marked as suitable for vegans.

Meanwhile, Cafe Nero has an equally exciting option ! Spiced orange hot chocolate with a mince pie . It's absolutely delicious and there is always such lovely staff in Cafe Nero which makes the Christmas coffee shop experience that much better .

What's your favorite Christmas drink in coffee shops? Would you consider switching to soy milk for a more compassionate Christmas ? I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments !

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :) 

Lots of love, Marianne xxx

advent 

Hot Chocolate Gift Sets - Three Ways ( DIY )

I am feeling VERY Christmassy ! OH MY GOSH I'M SO SO SOOOOOO EXCITED !!! :D

* Annnndd Breathe *  

As you can tell I'm feeling the festive spirit and am ready to sing carols from the rooftops hehe . I always say that I'm going to make lots of my Christmas presents myself and then I never get around to it. But this year me and my best friend have been really into making things so every Saturday we've been scrolling through Pinterest and flicking through endless magazines for inspiration and then coming up with ideas for quick and easy Christmas DIY pressies that you can give to anyone . Yes, even the person who you didn't realise you were friends with until they presented you with a gift making you feel awful upon the realisation that you have nothing to give them in return !

Everybody loves hot chocolate and earlier in the year I posted my recipe for an extremely yummy hot chocolate which you can find here ( You'll need it if you're going to try and make any of these ) . These gifts are all based around the mixture people need to make this recipe, so marshmallows and chocolate chips and I came up with three fun and easy ways to present them .

 

Gift #1 Packets Of Love 

 

Take a cellophane bag ( I found these in poundland ) and fill it with with two bags of chocolate chips and then a handful of marshmallows. Fold the top of the bag down and then cut some Christmas themed wrapping paper so that it folds neatly over the top on the bag and staple it to the cellophane bag. I then stuck a few snowflakes in the corner ( I bought them at The Works for £1 ) and wrote the recipe on the back of the wrapping paper and Voila :) 

Gift #2 Marshmallow Goodness 

 

Fill a mason jar halfway up with chocolate chips and then on top, layer up some normal sized marshmallows. When I've made these before I've used edible ink pens to draw little faces on the marshmallows and that had a really nice affect ( If you want to do this you can buy eidible ink pens in lots of different colours from hobbycraft at £3 each ). Then all you have to do is tie on a tag with instruction on how to make up the hot chocolate on ! 

Gift #3 Give It A ( Chocolate ) Shot ! 

 

For this one a bought these cute little test tubes ( From The Works for only £1 ) and filled them with the hot chocolate mixture so they would be little shots of hot chocolate that you just tip into the cup and then make according to instructions I wrote on the tag. Then I stuck one of the snowflake decorations on the lid before screwing it back on and popping it in a cute Christmas themed mug ( From asda for £1.50 ) and surrounding it with folded tissue paper. You can then tie it in a cellophane bag and that saves a lot of time wrapping ( especially if you're anything like me and can't wrap anything square aha ) . 

These are all really easy to make and everybody appreciates something cute and home-made. I'd love to hear how they go if you try them out or which idea is your favourite ! What are your favourite things to make at Christmas ? Let me know in the comments :) 

If you want to make any of these, you can find the recipe to pop on the label and how to make the mixture here : 

http://myhappybubblexx.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/recipe-hot-chocolate.html

I can't wait to make more Christmas DIY's to share with you ! 

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :) 

Lots of love, Marianne xxx

Recipe : Hot Chocolate !

Yesterday ( The 23rd September ) It officially became Autumn in England and I'm very VERY excited ! I love Autumn because I love all the colours and the clothing and the cuddling and most importantly, I can start preparing Christmas DIYs for my blog which I'm so eager to start doing ! So to celebrate the official start of the half of the year where you can snuggle up in bed with Sherlock on and drinking endless hot chocolates. I wanted to share with you my own recipe for the best hot chocolate ever ! But as we're nearing the end of the week and getting tired I thought we might need something stronger ... so I'm adding edible glitter !!!

Step One : Pop about four teaspoons of chocolate chips into a mug and add an extra one because... chocolate tastes nice ;) Then add about 5/6 mini marshmallows in and mix it all together !

Step Two : Refrain from eating the marshmallows and chocolate chips mixture you've just made .

Step Three : Repeat Step One because I know you ignored Step Two ;)

Step Four : fill your mug about a quarter of the way up with milk

Step Five : Microwave in for thirty seconds and then stir until the chocolate in melted into the milk. Then fill the rest of the mug up with milk .

Step Six : Microwave again for two minutes. To stop the milk from boiling over your mug and ruining your mothers microwave ( sorry mum ) I found that it's best to microwave it for thirty seconds, stir, another thirty seconds, stir and then one minute and stir again !

Step Seven : You don't really need to add edible glitter at this point but I got over excited about the sparkles and did but you can see how pretty it looks :)

Step Eight : Okay, this is the cool bit, you might be confused, think I'm going mad or both but honestly just try it ! Add some chocolate ice cream on top of your hot chocolate and then sprinkle some edible gold glitter on for extra magic . As you drink it the ice cream cools down the hot chocolate on the way into your mouth just enough to make it the perfect temperature and oh my gosh it tastes so SO good !!!

Let me know if you give this a try ! I promise you'll love it and it's great for treating yourself after a rough day or when you just have a craving for chocolate :) I hope you like it !

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :)

lots of love, Marianne xxx

DIY : Self Care Box !

Hello !

It's the last day of Self-Love Week ! I really hope you've enjoyed this past weeks posts and that they helped you in some way ! Today I thought we'd do a DIY because why not ? We're going to make a self care to help you pick yourself up when you're feeling a bit crap and need some TLC . Also this will prove to yourself that the only one you need to help you become happy again is you !



1.  The first things I put in my self care box were a couple of sweets because when you're feeling rubbishy .. you need chocolate ! ( If you're lactose intolerant please don't put chocolate in because I really don't want you to die ... that's not what I was going for with this post ) I also put I  what I like to call my hopeful note book. In this notebook I keep all my favourite positive quotes to write on hopeful notes ! I like to write hopeful notes when I'm feeling down because It's kind of therapeutic to write what I need to hear at that moment in time because no matter how rubbish you feel, you're not the only one and you can give someone the comfort that you need :) If you're not a hopeful then still keep a notebook in your box but adapt it to you ! You could use it to write down how you feel, if that's your thing. Or you could plan the future and places you'd like to go to get you feeling a lil bit more optimistic again ! Or you could even switch it for a sketch book if you like drawing :) The final thing I added to this layer was the lush massage bar - Soft Coeur. This massage bar smells so strongly of chocolate that I wanted to eat it ! It's brilliant for your skin and oh my gosh you have to try it. If you'd rather have something that would relax you then I recommended the Lush dreamtime bath melt . To be honest, you need something from lush in there... if for nothing else then because no everything in my box smells gorgeous !

2. Then I thought I needed some things to make me feel better. So I popped in some tissues to dry up any tears and then a face mask and some nail varnish to make yourself feel pampered and special .. because you are special :) I'm loving the Barry M Speedy Quick Dry nail varnish in the shades " Kiss Me Quick" and "Road Rage". They dry ridiculously quick , seriously if you're anywhere near as impatient as me then you need this in your life :) Then to get you laughing again , you need a comedy ! There's nothing like a good giggle to get you back on your feet and for me , Russell Howards Live DingleDodies never fails to make me laugh. No matter how many times I watch it!

3. Finally I added a few bits and bobs to put the smile back in your face. Like Louise Pentland's  ( Sprinkle of Glitter) new book , "Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter " which my sister bought me for my birthday last Sunday and I've read to whole book. It's amazing and full of feel good talk and motivation ! If you haven't read it, you definitely should ! Of course, you could put any book you like in the box, even a colouring book if you don't feel like reading ! I also added some hot chocolate sachets .. hot chocolate will make it all okay , trust me :) Then, just to tip me over the edge, back into complete happiness .. BUBBLES ! I LOVE BUBBLES !!!! They're so much un and so beautiful and I'm going to shut up about bubbles now .. ;)

As well as all this I mixed in lots of quotes and nice messages to myself on scraps of paper :) My favourite quote that I put in my box is :

" Even the darkest hour has only 60 minutes "
- Morris Mandel

But you can put whatever you like in your box ! I'll list a few ideas to get you started and is you have some more then I'd love to hear them in the comments !

• Comedies
• Books
• Sweets
• Hot Chocolate
• Candles
• Bubbles
• Favourite recipe card
• Tissues 
• Facemask
• Nail Polish
• Quotes/Poems/Lyrics
• Bath Products
• Notebook
• Jar of favourite memories
• Photos of loved ones
• Something that makes you feel good ( E.g. Favourite jewellery or accessory )

Let me know what you'd put in your Self-Care Box and I'd also love to hear what you've thought of this week and if it's helped you at all and if there's any other similar things you'd like to see on this blog in the future :)

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :)

lots of love, Marianne xxx

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