Making Fake Hot Chocolate As a Prop

For our upcoming Christmas show, I needed to create some hot chocolate props for the dancers to dance with around the stage, so it needed to look like hot chocolate, but not spill. It also needed to be light and easy to use. So I set out and bought $1 plastic pitchers at walmart and cut off the pour spout with a rotary tool. Then I cut PVC pipe into 4 sections long enough to stick out the top of the pitcher as a candy cane stick/stirrer. The PVC I taped with masking tape in a spiral format so i could paint the lines straight with the red spray paint. Make sure to paint the base of it all white first in case there is print on the pipe when you buy it. Take the tape off and you have yourself a candy cane. I then copied the circle shape of the pitcher onto a styrofoam plate so i could cut out a mid level out of the center of the plate. Then i painted the bottom portion of the pitcher brown to look  like the liquid.  I then glued the candy cane into place and added some light brown material in the bottom to help the light not be able to shine through the paint when held up.  I then cut out a notch in the styrofoam fit the candy cane portion of the cup and taped the plate center into the middle of the pitcher. This way, I don't have to fill the whole pitcher with "hot chocolate" and make it heavier than need be.Once the gaps were all taped off, I mixed a portion of elmers glue and brown paint as well as some actual hershey's cocoa to make it smell real (just in case anyone cared  to smell it)..and then poured the mixture onto the plate level. You'll have to swish it around and then let it dry..this will be a day or so...unless you leave it in the sun or have hair dryer/fans helping the process. I liked the look and almost left it just at this stage, but then thought I'd take it one more step and went and bought some spray foam that you spray in your home to expand into the cracks in the wall and such and sprayed it into the top of the pitcher in a swirl form. I also cut up some of those craft foam sheets that you can buy at Walmart or JoAnn's for 40 cents each and just randomly cut little "chocolate" bits to sprinkle on top before the foam cured and dried. Just for fun, I added some real cocoa sprinkled on top as well for coloring. The expanding foam REALLY expands so make sure you end the spray earlier than you think, because it will keep expanding long after you're done. I stopped mine just above the top of the pitcher and you can see in the pic how much it grew afterwards.....mine, even after it was done drying on top found a little spout near the handle that kept shooting little bits more out the side. I'd trim it off and more would be there 10 minutes later......this went on and on for almost an hour. haha.  It did finally stop though and didn't mess up the top which I was thankful for.

Over all, for never having done this before, i thought it turned out pretty cool...if I do say so myself! haha. It's extremely light weight so I'm hoping it lasts with the dancing in the show. :) It made me thirsty for hot chocolate...or at least a milk shake. :D  If you try it, I hope it turns out great for you and please share a pic so I can see as well! :)