10 Tips For Decorating With The Kids

At Christmas, candy canes and gingerbread men are traditional. But there is a wide world of cookie cutters out there for a person to choose from. Hit up a supply store, such as Sur La Table, where there is an overabundance of cookie cutters to choose from. Get creative and consider a Christmas dragon, if you so desire.

You'll save yourself a ton of hassle if you have cookies baked ahead of time. Pick out your recipe in advance and bake off a few dozen the night before. If you're adventurous, bake a few different kinds of cookies. Sugar work best but gingerbread are always fun, too.

Marathon baking and cookie decorating can really take its toll, especially on the youngsters. So keep the energy up with milk. It's a classic pairing with cookies and can be made really fun with strawberry or chocolate flavorings and a nice little paper straw. 

Cooking decorating is messy business. Even so, it doesn't hurt to prepare a little. Set your table with a large sheet of butcher paper or vinyl tablecloth. It will make cleanup a piece of cake. 

Sprinkles are the most fun part of cookie decorating. You can be meticulous about it and use tweezers to expertly apply them in just the right spots. But really, the joy is in watching a child grab a handful of sprinkles and toss them haphazardly onto a cookie. Be sure to get a few fun varieties of sprinkles to make it extra fun. 

Icing is somewhat like glue in the sense that it will hold your sprinkles on tightly. Wilton makes some great premade cookie icings that will make your life easier. However, you can also make royal icing from scratch with 4 cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of meringue powder, and a bit of water. 

You'll need icing tips to outline your cookies.  They allow for small piping to outline the cookies. You can also make a variety of fun designs including snowflakes, vines, and stems. 

While cookie decorating typically requires a bit of a precise hand, the rules all change when you make it a kid-friendly event. Large-tipped squeeze bottles make it easy to ice your cookies and are easy for tiny hands to use.

If gingerbread men are on your list, consider grabbing food coloring markers. They're like traditional markers except they are completely food-safe. The kids will have a great time using markers to draw smiley faces on their cookies.

Once your cookies are decorated, they'll need time to set. And that requires an extreme amount of patience. So be sure to set up some fun activities for the youngsters while you wait for the cookies to dry. The combination of hot cocoa and a Christmas movie is always a big winner.