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Are you planning a holiday get-together with family or friends this Christmas season? Maybe a December play date with kids? This Cookie Decorating party was pretty much the best thing my kids have had the chance to do recently. They are still talking about recreating this party. Start planning a cookie decorating party to spend time with loved ones while creating a cardboard gingerbread village craft.
Cookie Decorating Christmas Party
When we started planning for our cookie decorating party, we knew we had to create a gingerbread cookie village tablescape.
Every year, our family visits a huge gingerbread village in the downtown city buildings of our city. It is so much fun to inspect all the details of hundreds of gingerbread homes while we create memories as a family. It’s a family event that we look forward to every year. So, when we created our very own cardboard box gingerbread village, we had to add little details of our own.
With our gingerbread village theme in mind, we set out to grab everything we would need for our party. I took my 18 month old to Walmart and grabbed snack size boxes of Chips Ahoy!, Nutter Butter, OREO Cookies, and RITZ Crackers. The small size of these boxes would be perfect for our mini gingerbread homes. I even grabbed a few extras to stuff into my kids’ stockings. (I don’t think the 18 month old will tell her big sisters and brother, but I did the old hide them under the other things in the cart trick that Moms do when they are out shopping with the kids this time of year.) The snack size boxes are priced so affordably that you can buy a bunch for last minute gift ideas for everyone from teachers to the school bus driver. I found the snack boxes in a big bin right in the middle of the store aisle.
Cookie Box Gingerbread Village
We used the cookie boxes to make our gingerbread village. My daughter helped me paint the boxes with brown paint. Once they dried, I cut windows and doors with a sharp knife. This is a job for an adult, and when you create this table at home, you’ll want to have the gingerbread homes painted and windows cut out ahead of time.
We decorated the gingerbread homes with pipe cleaners, ribbon, beads, and paint. Kids can decorate the gingerbread houses at the party for a craft activity. TIP: Use a hot glue gun to allow some craft items to stick more easily during crafting. Be sure to keep the hot glue gun away from kids.
Set the gingerbread village crafts out on the table before cookie decorating. LED tea lights fit right inside the gingerbread homes and gave them a nice glow on our cookie decorating party table.
Cookie Decorating Party decor
For our party, I put out a silver table cloth, cotton batting, glittery green Christmas trees, and silvery snowflakes. The table had all of our cookie decorating supplies like cookies, sprinkles, icing, and lollipop sticks.
Cookie Decorating Fun
Now for the fun part! There is just something about adding icing and sprinkles to cookies that make a child’s eyes shine. I think it might be the sugar 😉
I separated cake icing into small bowls to give each child their own bowl. They used a plastic butter knife to spread the icing on the Chips Ahoy!, Nutter Butter cookies, and OREO Cookies. They then added Christmas sprinkles. Some cookies were a little more decorated than others. There was a lot of sneaking of sprinkles, but it was a good, sweet time.
We made a few OREO pops. Twist the cookie apart, dip a lollipop stick into the icing and then gently press the top back on the cookie. The kids then decorated the OREO cookie pops with icing and sprinkles. These would be a fun addition to Christmas cookie trays. I totally am wrapping a few of these pops in plastic wrap and gifting them to neighbors, too!
Cookie Decorating Party Food
I used some of our Nutter Butter cookies to make this cookie dip. This is a dip you HAVE to make and share with all of your family and friends. Take it to holiday parties or anywhere you need to bring a dish. It will be a hit and you will love creating a dish that is not only easy, it is SO good.
Nutter Butter Cookie Dip Recipe
1 cup confectioners sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon milk
1 cup chopped Nutter Butter cookies
Combine the cream cheese and peanut butter in a mixer until smooth. Add in the confectioners sugar and milk. Mix until fluffy. Stir in the chopped Nutter Butter cookies.
Chill until ready to serve. Serve with graham crackers or pretzels.
Another snack we had out to fill hungry cookie decorating tummies was a tray of Ritz crackers and sliced cheese. We used the cheese to make a snowflake shape for added winter fun.
We might have to do an impromptu after school cookie decorating session. This set-up was so easy and brought so many smiles! Let us know if you throw a cookie decorating party! I would love to see your party set-up.
You can find more stocking stuffer ideas here.
