Do you enjoy decorating cookies with your kids during the holiday season?
Last year my good friend and I, who each have two kids the same age, decided to forgo buying Christmas gifts for each others kids and to have a cookie decorating party for them instead!
I was a bit hesitant at first, I mean decorating cookies with my own two children has been challenging enough for me, so with four…? How would this go?
I’d happily like to say that the whole thing was a success! Having two sets of hands was a definite help! Also, a little prep ahead of time helped everyone have fun, including my friend and I who were on clean up duty.
Here are a few tips for you to have a successful cookie decoration adventure too!
- Make the cookies ahead of time. I find sugar cookies to be a bit involved, so my go-to these days is the pre-made dough. I make them the day before. If I feel like I can handle two messy days in a row, I’ll have the kids help roll and cut them out!
- Find small containers to put the sprinkles and other decorations in. I found using a kids plate with dividers worked well. Each child had their own plate with frosting and a few different decorations to use. This prevented any large containers of sprinkles from spilling all over the floor, not that this has every happened to me! (#YesItHas)
- Give each child their own rimmed baking sheet with a few cookies on it. To make even less mess, line the baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- This probably goes without saying, but if you have a nice table you’re going to use for this adventure, cover it with a table cloth.
- Have the kids wear aprons or oversized shirts over their clothes. This makes clean up a breeze once they’re finished decorating.
- Keep wipes nearby for those sticky hands, because when you give little ones frosting, you know exactly what’s going to happen!
- Have plates or containers for your friends to take their creations home. I always see a lot of options for this at craft stores, like Hobby Lobby or JoAnn Fabrics, around this time of year.
- I always like to have snacks available when we have friends over. Since we’re already making and eating cookies, I go for healthy snacks – think red/green pepper strips, red/green apple slices, red/green (sliced) grapes and other snacks of the red and green variety to keep with the holiday theme.
- Most importantly, try to have fun. Activities like this often cause me a lot of anxiety. Planning ahead and following these tips was a definite help and made the experience fun for everyone!
