This salty, sweet Christmas snack mix is a breeze to make. Vanilla almond bark, crunchy cereal, crispy pretzels, and salty peanuts and cashews are the perfect combination to share with guests at your next holiday party.

Christmas is just shy of one week away, and I’m still not 100% into the spirit. It’s probably this darn cold that I’ve been nursing since Friday. I’m praying I get over it really soon (hopefully that awful shot I got in my bum will help!), but in the meantime, I wanted to talk about Christmas traditions.

Ever since Bazooka was born, I’ve done a lot of thinking about what our Christmas traditions will look like.

When I was growing up, my parents and I had our small, quiet Christmas morning by the tree before we would head over to my grandparents’ house for dinner and opening their presents.

Additionally, for many years my mother held an annual Christmas Eve party (that later moved to the weekend before Christmas) for her extended family—our house was full of aunts, uncles, cousins, and a lot of ruckus!

I have fond memories of it all.

I absolutely want Bazooka to have similar memories of Christmas, but I’m struggling to figure out how to do gifts.

Giving gifts, especially to excited children, is one of the best parts of the holiday. But I don’t want the holiday to be only about gifts.

I’ve thought about doing 3 fun gifts “from Santa,” sort of symbolizing the 3 magi, and leaving not-so-fun gifts (clothes and things he actually needs vs wants) from Mark and me.

What I want to avoid is giving too many gifts. I want Bazooka to understand the importance of giving to others, and frankly, we already have so much stuff that it’s overwhelming!

I think when he’s old enough to understand more about the real holiday meaning, we will start giving to a charity or sending a couple of those shoebox gifts to children in need.

And I love the idea of having Bazooka go through his own toys and selecting 5 (or however many) that he no longer wants (but are in good shape) to donate to a daycare or children’s home.

The good thing is, there are limitless ways to give. And I have plenty of time to figure it out and tweak it each year.

One thing I am sure of, though, is this holiday snack mix!

A coworker made something similar for another colleague’s going away party, and I knew I needed to recreate it.

Also, this doesn’t have to be just for Christmas. Use blue and silver sprinkles for Hanukkah. Use purple, green, and yellow for Mardi Gras. Just have fun with it.

The best thing about this mix—besides the ease of making it—is the salty + sweet combo.

Salty, Sweet Christmas Snack Mix

Ingredients

• 1 large box Chex cereal (I used half a box of corn, half a box of rice)
• ½ bag pretzel sticks or mini pretzels
• 1 container salted, roasted peanuts
• 1 container salted, roasted cashews
• 1 to 1½ package vanilla almond bark
• holiday-colored sprinkles

Directions

• In a large bowl (you may actually need 2 large bowls), combine your cereal, nuts, and pretzels.
• In a smaller bowl, melt your almond bark in the microwave. Be sure to melt in increments to avoid burning! You may also use a double boiler on the stovetop.
• Pour the melted almond bark over the mixture, gently stirring to coat.
• Once evenly coated, pour the mixture onto wax paper-lined baking sheets into an even, thin layer. While the almond bark is still sticky, add some sprinkles.
• Once cooled, break into small chunks and store in a large plastic zipper bag, holiday tin, or other sealable container.

Feel free to adjust this recipe to your own needs. I had no clue how far the stuff would stretch, so I had lots of cereal/pretzel/nuts leftover and ended up using some chocolate almond bark for that batch. It wasn’t quite as pretty, but it was delicious nonetheless!

Feel free to toss some holiday-colored M&Ms into the mix, too! That’s what I did (after photographing, oops).

This salty + sweet #christmas snack mix is perfect for #holiday parties! Share on X

So tell me…

• What does your family do for Christmas day?
• Do you have any special gift-giving traditions?
• Salty or sweet (or both)?