Cookie-decorating party - 1st grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Great suggestion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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!

Ordering plain sugar cookies from hint is brilliant. I’m going to look into that! Any tips on good icing? I feel like the ones from a bag are gross. I was thinking of making my own but would love something foolproof

[Anonymous]

Oh dear, good luck, OP, I hope you have a lot of help! I hosted cookie decorating for four 6 & 7 year old girls recently. I baked the cookies before they arrived (to let them cool) and gave them full piping bags and lots of different sprinkles in bowls. I had one other adult to help and the girls made a HUGE mess. They had a blast, but it sure was messy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!

Ordering plain sugar cookies from hint is brilliant. I’m going to look into that! Any tips on good icing? I feel like the ones from a bag are gross. I was thinking of making my own but would love something foolproof

PP here - you can buy royal icing mix online, that's pretty foolproof.

[Anonymous]

Whatever you do, make sure each kid has their own supplies (or each family of kids). Like give them a plate that looks like a palette with a squeeze bag of white icing and a bunch of decorations.

If they are sharing icing and decorations, tons of people WILL get sick. And guests will be mad at you.

Ask me how I know?

[Anonymous]

I recommend doing stations, so all the kids are t decorating cookies at the same time…maybe have some beads out at another table, or a game, etc. I can also say that some kids that age will decorate their (however many cookies) in like 5 seconds, while the next child over will labor over their cookies until you tear them away from them. You’ll need someplace to let all the decorated cookies set until departure time—we always just wrote names in sharpie on paper plates and sent the cookies home on the same plate. I also think back fondly on the time that one child consumed an entire container of cinnamon redhots while decorating!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever you do, make sure each kid has their own supplies (or each family of kids). Like give them a plate that looks like a palette with a squeeze bag of white icing and a bunch of decorations.

If they are sharing icing and decorations, tons of people WILL get sick. And guests will be mad at you.

Ask me how I know?

Good tip!

[Anonymous]

Order the plain sugar cookies, make or buy some standard white frosting and tint fun colors with food coloring. Each girl gets her own station of plastic bowls filled with sprinkles, etc. I would buy the inexpensive Glad storage containers or cookie tins from dollar store- they will be too messy for a bag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Order the plain sugar cookies, make or buy some standard white frosting and tint fun colors with food coloring. Each girl gets her own station of plastic bowls filled with sprinkles, etc. I would buy the inexpensive Glad storage containers or cookie tins from dollar store- they will be too messy for a bag.

This. They love using the food coloring to mix their own frosting. I would put a small amount of white frosting in three small Dixie cups per kid,so they can mix 3 different colors. If you have enough adults to help, they can go around with the colors and help control the drops of food coloring. And then lots of candy and sprinkles bowls. Kids have always loved this when I’ve done it.

[Anonymous]

I’m doing this party this year with older kids but did it once when my daughter turned 3. I made the cookies the day before and made a huge batch of royal icing which I colored and put into squeeze bottles. Very time consuming to make lots of colors and fill the bottles, but the party was lots of fun. Messy, yes, but fun. Each child had a super large paper plate to contain the cookies and the mess. As the frosting dried, I went around and put them on a fresh paper plate to get rid of all the excess frosting and sprinkles that were on the original plate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m doing this party this year with older kids but did it once when my daughter turned 3. I made the cookies the day before and made a huge batch of royal icing which I colored and put into squeeze bottles. Very time consuming to make lots of colors and fill the bottles, but the party was lots of fun. Messy, yes, but fun. Each child had a super large paper plate to contain the cookies and the mess. As the frosting dried, I went around and put them on a fresh paper plate to get rid of all the excess frosting and sprinkles that were on the original plate.

Oh and I use this royal icing recipe (her cookies are amazing too):
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/royal-icing/