Honestly, I would just heat milk, add Ovaltine and then plop in some marshmallows or fluff. You can top it off with canned whipped cream. My 7 year old son would (could?) live on this. It has been my experience that this particular age group under appreciates special culinary efforts.
Jo

Hot milk and Hershey syrup to taste. Add a peppermint stick and or marshmallows. I love Ovaltine, too. Make in small cups to minimize waste and spills!

2-1/2 tablespoons cocoa

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup warm water

3 cups milk

Mix together the cocoa, sugar, and water in a medium-size saucepan over a low flame. Stir it until it boils, and slowly add the milk. Continue stirring until the cocoa mixture is warm enough to serve.

I

We have a local dairy here that has the best chocolate milk. My favorite is just chocolate milk heated and foamed in my Back-to-Basic Hot Cocoa Maker and served with a candy cane. I love my Cocoa Maker!

With this age group I would be very careful with the temp of the Hot Chocolate. And kids love any kind of sprinkles on the top, whipped cream with crushed candy cane is darn good!

Michelle

When my son was young (and even now at 17) he always liked his "hot" chocolate lukewarm. And Ovaltine has always been the favorite. All the kids agree that Ovaltine in hot milk tastes better than any mix, even the pricey ones. You could just warm a pot of milk and mix in the ovaltine, then just ladle into mugs like punch. You might have some different topping available; mini marshmallows, regular marshmallows, whipped cream, marshmallow fluff, and mini candy canes.

My kids are using the Hot Cocoa maker with milk and Nesquick.
Then a generous squirt of Land O Lakes Canned Whipped Cream..

My kids are partial to Redi Whip and cocktail straws no matter how I make it! Oh and I always serve it in footed cups they love that for some reason.

Or make a batch of that powdered mix....

Here is a link that might be useful: hot chocolate

Hot! Hot!
Oh, we got it!
Hot! Hot!
So, we got it!
Hot! Hot!
Yo, we got it!
Hot chocolate!

Here, we've only got one rule:
Never ever let it cool!
Keep it cookin in the pot,
You've got-
Hot choc-o-lat!

Great idea for a party! My son loves that movie. I got him the DVD last year at BJ's and it came with the train - still his favorite train he takes everywhere. Saving Linda's recipe - good to have for bulk. I, however, find the dead soulless eyes of the characters in that movie creepy - LOL!

What else are you doing?

One thing you might want to do...roll the marshmallows flat & cut them into train shapes with a small cookie cutter.

Mind you, I said "might". I did this for a halloween party once (ghosts, cats, bats) and it was a hit.

Don't forget the mini candy canes.

Actually, depending on how involved you want to get, there are a ton of train related websites that sell things like chugga chews (train shaped cookies in a train shaped box) to train shaped lollipops to train shaped train whistes. Both my son & husband are train mad so I know too, too much about this.

There's also nordicware's Train cake pan...

BTW- the cocoa latte machine souds like a great way to go for lots of hot chocolate.

Great idea for a party!

Nina

Thank you all so much for the ideas! I got the party idea from another teacher at my school. My six year old has been asking for months if he could have a Christmas party and I loved this idea. I've printed up invitations with a scene from the book asking them to come for games, crafts, a reading of the book and finishing up with the movie. We are all going to wear pajamas and have a gift exchange of a favorite book. I think I'm more excited about this than B is!

Here's a link where I got most of the ideas for the party in case anyone is interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: Polar Express party