Cookie-decorating party - 1st grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg you guys are amazing!! I’m feeling more confident already - I can make these cookies myself right? Right.

Definitely. If you just want to do premade dough rolls, you can still do them way ahead and freeze them as described above. Measure them when they’re done and make sure you have a circle cutter the right size for the fondant. Or just a lid you can cut around, whatever. But a circle cutter would be easiest. You can use it as a burger mold later or to plate rice in a disc for fancy restaurant night. They often come in a set.

[Anonymous]

Skip the whole fondant thing, that's a lot of extra work for you when it's supposed to be kids decorating cookies. just get the tubs of frosting, put a few on the table, and let the girls frost their cookies, put all decorations on them, that's it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Skip the whole fondant thing, that's a lot of extra work for you when it's supposed to be kids decorating cookies. just get the tubs of frosting, put a few on the table, and let the girls frost their cookies, put all decorations on them, that's it.

I agree with this. Little girls won't like the taste of fondant anyway. Also, the poster who posted about the disposable table cloth is absolutely right. You want the girls to be able to spill without worrying so lay down disposable tablecloths (I've even laid down garbage bags I've cut open) and let them have at it. The point is that the girls have fun, not that everything be pristine! So set yourself up for success!

- disposable tablecloths down first (you may even want to put down painters plastic on the floor so you don't worry about that, too!)
- plates of baked cookies (5-10 cookies per girl)
- bowls of icing
- tubes of icing
- lots of spoons or knives for spreading icing
- bowls of sprinkles with spoons
- baking sheets or big plates lined with parchment paper (write each girl's name on the paper) for them to put their finished products
- aprons for each girl (these could be the "goody bag" gift)
- happy music playing out of your phone
- take lots of pictures

Have fun!

[Anonymous]

We did this party too - so fun!
Make or buy cookies in advance. A local bakery (or maybe even the supermarket will do this for you) I have bought unfrosted cupcakes at Giant for this exact purpose! our kids loved the little candy eyeballs they sell in the supermarket.

Enjoy & relax. Its a part, mom.

[Anonymous]

I ordered plain sugar cookies from Giant (they said cookies could be nut free). I just used store bought frosting and sprinkles.

As the adult chaperone, I always wear gloves to these things. I don’t like “sticky” so the gloves are my lifesaver!

Have fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a baker and here’s what I would do:

Way ahead: Make cookies. Cool them. Freeze them flat in one layer on a baking sheet. Once they’re frozen, layer them in a plastic container with parchment paper between each layer. Wrap the box in plastic wrap, and put it back in the freezer.

On Amazon, order white satin ice fondant, a bunch of food coloring pens, and as many cute little sprinkles, candy things, eyeballs or whatever as you like. I think they have sprinkle mixes which could be good. If your kids are super bougie you could add some edible gold leaf. A lot of this stuff has slower than normal shipping so keep that in mind.

Day before: take the box out of the freezer and leave it on the counter, wrapped.

Morning of: roll out the fondant and cut it out with the same cutters you used for the cookies. Even if your cookies spread a bit you’ll have a nice crisp shape. Either make some royal icing or honestly just mix some of the fondant with water to use as glue for the add ons. For sticking the fondant to the cookies just a little water will work too.

Extras:
If you want to get into piping bags with icing or buttercream that’s great. I probably wouldn’t. The next level for me maybe would be getting some gel colors (americolor, from Amazon) and some water color palettes and brushes. Mixing the gels with Vodka would work better than with water but idk if that’s appropriate? Water will work. They can watercolor right onto the fondant. You could also get some “luster dust.”

I love to bake and decorate and am keeping this for future reference. But this is way over the top for a bunch of kids who may or may not be artistic.

[Anonymous]

I’ve done this before - yes, prebake from a mix or slice and bake. I had a gluten free option as well. Lots of tubes of icing, edible eyes and various sprinkles.

Disposable tablecloths.

If at all possible do it outside. DD has a winter bday and we had unseasonably warm weather so I set up folding tables on the patio and I was very happy to have done it that way.

After the activity, I rolled up all the mess into the tablecloths and trashed and put down a new tablecloth for pizza and cake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't you just buy a variety of sprinkle, m&Ms, skittles, edible figurines, or whatever and set them out in multiple small bowls throughout the table (so everyone can reach/each end of the table)?

Keep your expectations low. It'll be messy. They might not be very coordinated to scoop icing, hold cookie, smear icing, etc so be ready to jump in and help or have a few cookies iced ahead of time as standby.

Plastic disposable table cloth, plastic knife for smearing icing, wet wipes on hand. At the end just fold up table cloth with all the plastic knives, used wet wipes, and spilled sprinkles, and toss. Done.

We got these really cute cookie boxes from Oriental Trading that were designed for cookie decorating parties. I labeled them with the kids' names prior to the party. Just one less thing to deal with when things get chaotic.

Make sure the cookie is large enough. The bigger the surface area of the cookie the more room to decorate it or otherwise using a smallish cookie will take the kids only like 30 sec to decorate (out of a very long 2 hr party!) . We did 3 fairly biggish cookies (see above tip about surface area) for each kid - 1 of 3 of said cookies typically is eaten on the spot.

We set it up the table outside. Then had a smallish craft table (black scratch art) adjacent for the kids who were finished/not really into decorating to work on while waiting for everyone else.

Kits are a scam and the cookies taste gross and the toppings are barely edible. And it gets expensive.. Ymmv.

Plus 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a baker and here’s what I would do:

Way ahead: Make cookies. Cool them. Freeze them flat in one layer on a baking sheet. Once they’re frozen, layer them in a plastic container with parchment paper between each layer. Wrap the box in plastic wrap, and put it back in the freezer.

On Amazon, order white satin ice fondant, a bunch of food coloring pens, and as many cute little sprinkles, candy things, eyeballs or whatever as you like. I think they have sprinkle mixes which could be good. If your kids are super bougie you could add some edible gold leaf. A lot of this stuff has slower than normal shipping so keep that in mind.

Day before: take the box out of the freezer and leave it on the counter, wrapped.

Morning of: roll out the fondant and cut it out with the same cutters you used for the cookies. Even if your cookies spread a bit you’ll have a nice crisp shape. Either make some royal icing or honestly just mix some of the fondant with water to use as glue for the add ons. For sticking the fondant to the cookies just a little water will work too.

Extras:
If you want to get into piping bags with icing or buttercream that’s great. I probably wouldn’t. The next level for me maybe would be getting some gel colors (americolor, from Amazon) and some water color palettes and brushes. Mixing the gels with Vodka would work better than with water but idk if that’s appropriate? Water will work. They can watercolor right onto the fondant. You could also get some “luster dust.”

I love to bake and decorate and am keeping this for future reference. But this is way over the top for a bunch of kids who may or may not be artistic.

?

Not age=appropriate but sounds great for a professional

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP who suggested fondant. The reason is you can draw on it with the edible pens, and then “glue” on sprinkles and such. Also easy to “paint” on it with gel colors mixed with Vodka or water. It eliminates smearing frosting of any kind, piping bags and tips, and waiting for things to dry. Satin Ice vanilla tastes pretty good. They’ll eat it.

Anything involving piping bags or wet icing I wouldn’t want to do with 20 1st graders. But obviously that will work too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a baker and here’s what I would do:

Way ahead: Make cookies. Cool them. Freeze them flat in one layer on a baking sheet. Once they’re frozen, layer them in a plastic container with parchment paper between each layer. Wrap the box in plastic wrap, and put it back in the freezer.

On Amazon, order white satin ice fondant, a bunch of food coloring pens, and as many cute little sprinkles, candy things, eyeballs or whatever as you like. I think they have sprinkle mixes which could be good. If your kids are super bougie you could add some edible gold leaf. A lot of this stuff has slower than normal shipping so keep that in mind.

Day before: take the box out of the freezer and leave it on the counter, wrapped.

Morning of: roll out the fondant and cut it out with the same cutters you used for the cookies. Even if your cookies spread a bit you’ll have a nice crisp shape. Either make some royal icing or honestly just mix some of the fondant with water to use as glue for the add ons. For sticking the fondant to the cookies just a little water will work too.

Extras:
If you want to get into piping bags with icing or buttercream that’s great. I probably wouldn’t. The next level for me maybe would be getting some gel colors (americolor, from Amazon) and some water color palettes and brushes. Mixing the gels with Vodka would work better than with water but idk if that’s appropriate? Water will work. They can watercolor right onto the fondant. You could also get some “luster dust.”

I love to bake and decorate and am keeping this for future reference. But this is way over the top for a bunch of kids who may or may not be artistic.

?

Not age=appropriate but sounds great for a professional

I was a professional, and I’ve done this exactly with kids about that age and it went great. I think it would work for non pros really well. We made cookie place cards for Thanksgiving. The food coloring pens on the fondant were awesome. Easy to write names, draw hearts, etc. I actually think it’s less involved than anything with a piping bag or spreading buttercream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who suggested fondant. The reason is you can draw on it with the edible pens, and then “glue” on sprinkles and such. Also easy to “paint” on it with gel colors mixed with Vodka or water. It eliminates smearing frosting of any kind, piping bags and tips, and waiting for things to dry. Satin Ice vanilla tastes pretty good. They’ll eat it.

Anything involving piping bags or wet icing I wouldn’t want to do with 20 1st graders. But obviously that will work too.

Kids don't really care about what it looks like in the end. 6 year olds are going to make a giant mess of it anyway. So do it the easiest way possible. They are going to make a messy cookie and eat most of it right away. And vodka? Come on. Do you have kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skip the whole fondant thing, that's a lot of extra work for you when it's supposed to be kids decorating cookies. just get the tubs of frosting, put a few on the table, and let the girls frost their cookies, put all decorations on them, that's it.

I agree with this. Little girls won't like the taste of fondant anyway. Also, the poster who posted about the disposable table cloth is absolutely right. You want the girls to be able to spill without worrying so lay down disposable tablecloths (I've even laid down garbage bags I've cut open) and let them have at it. The point is that the girls have fun, not that everything be pristine! So set yourself up for success!

- disposable tablecloths down first (you may even want to put down painters plastic on the floor so you don't worry about that, too!)
- plates of baked cookies (5-10 cookies per girl)
- bowls of icing
- tubes of icing
- lots of spoons or knives for spreading icing
- bowls of sprinkles with spoons
- baking sheets or big plates lined with parchment paper (write each girl's name on the paper) for them to put their finished products
- aprons for each girl (these could be the "goody bag" gift)
- happy music playing out of your phone
- take lots of pictures

Have fun!

Agree with this. Also please tell me you will have a couple adults besides you helping. If not, perhaps ask a couple of the moms you are friends with to stick around or hire some neighborhood middle/high school girls to come assist.

[Anonymous]

We've done this for years at our holiday party. Agree, no fondant, paper or plastic table cloth that you can roll up and toss and have some fun toppings (googlie eyes, fun shaped/colored sprinkles, red hots, etc.).

Many kids will pile high the frosting and toppings (think pyramid atop a cookie), because they don't care about looks, they just want all the sugar/candy/toppings. And, it is fun/sweet!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've done this for years at our holiday party. Agree, no fondant, paper or plastic table cloth that you can roll up and toss and have some fun toppings (googlie eyes, fun shaped/colored sprinkles, red hots, etc.).

Many kids will pile high the frosting and toppings (think pyramid atop a cookie), because they don't care about looks, they just want all the sugar/candy/toppings. And, it is fun/sweet!

This. There's always one kid who will dump an entire container of sprinkles on top of their cookie too "Uh oh!" Every single time. Do this outside if possible or you will be finding sprinkles for months.