Sift all of the powdered ingredients together in a very large bowl. I sift the powdered milk first because sometimes I sift it twice to get all the lumps out. After you have all the dry ingredients sifted stir with a large wooden spoon to evenly combine the dry ingredients together.
Take the peppermint sticks or candy canes and place them in a large ziplock bag. Use a rolling pin to crush the peppermint sticks into small pieces. Divide the cocoa mix into two gallon size ziplock bags if you would like to make two different flavors of hot cocoa mix. (One Peppermint and one plain with mini marshmallows)
To one bag add the crushed peppermint sticks. Shake the bag so the crushed peppermint candy is mixed in with the cocoa mix. With the second bag of cocoa mix you could leave it plain or add some mini marshmallows and shake up the bag so they are mixed in with the cocoa mix.
Make these cute homemade Christmas Peppermint Hot Cocoa Mix in a Mug gifts. It takes only about 15 minutes to mix it together. Then you can package it in pretty Christmas cellophane bags and tuck it into a pretty Christmas mug for an easy and inexpensive homemade Christmas gift.