Gingerbread House Party or Cookie Decorating?

[Wife_and_mommy]

If you've had one, attended one, or read about one(:ROTFLMAO:) please share!

I'd like to do something like this this year. I'm not a big entertainer but know that the kids will *love* it. I'm thinking I'd do an afternoon, 3-5 or 2-4, have some protein rich snacks(cheese, crackers, hb eggs?) to counterbalance the sugar. Or I could ask everyone to bring something and provide the drinks(again probably h2o due to all the sugar).

I was thinking of having one house per family or one cookie(maybe 2?) per kid to decorate.

If you have any input, please share. I'm lost!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have done cookie decorating parties and they have been a lot of fun. :) I think your menu sounds good (cheese, crackers, hb eggs, water).

I happen to own a ton of food colorings and sprinkles/ decorations s I was able to provide them for the group. But, if you don't have those things then you might want to request people bring some to share. Mini m&ms and other small candies make nice decorations too.

I make the cookies ahead of time so there is no waiting on the decorating front.

I make a simple frosting from powdered sugar, water and a bit of almond extract. I have a recipe somewhere but usually I just pour a bunch of powdered sugar in a bowl then add water till I get to the right consistency. :) My frosting is spreadable with a knife/ spoon or pipeable with a bag (I don't tend to bother with that step). Those mini Gladware containers make good holders for the frostings. Have extra frosting ingredients on and so you can whip up more if they use them up.

2 cookies/ kid sounds good and maybe have 1-2/ grown up too. Be prepared for sprinkle messes. The kids can be very enthusiastic decorators.

Beth

[alexsmommy]

I do two each year. I find that too many kids at once is chaos for this type of thing, so we do DS's friends via MY friends, and a separate party for 4-5 of DS's school friends. I've usually done it near lunch time.
I keep it very low key. I have all the sprinkles etc on plates, 4-6 cookies already on each child's plate and 2-4 pretzel rods. They ice the cookies and put sprinkles/decorations on, dip pretzels in melted white or milk chocolate and also add sprinkles/decorations. While the icing sets, I serve pizza and fruit. Then they play until it's time to go home. It's worked well each time. I make it clear that they can eat one cookie after lunch, but will take the rest home and let the parents determine how to dole them out later.
Oh, I have boys, so I have found that some non-traditional cut outs are more popular - ie, I am looking for a superman/superhero one for this year. Of course I have snowmen, stars etc, but usually the boys are trying to trade the girls for angels etc so I've learned to limit how many I cut out of certain ones.
Prep - I buy several big tubs of wipes, cover my table with two large plastic table cloths (just picked these up this week on sale), put towels on all the dining chairs. It's been fun.

[o_mom]

Sounds great! Might add milk to the drink list, but that would be my only suggestion.

[kedss]

cookies are much easier! :) depends on the age, though, older kids like to do gingerbread houses, but you need a few adults to help the walls stand up :)

[Wife_and_mommy]

Thanks, ladies. The kiddos are mostly under age 5 so I'm thinking the cookies would be easier to manage. I could probably bake them in Nov. and freeze until party day.

Off top of my head, there'd be 11 kids with another 5 neighbors as possibilities. Hmmm. I'm thinking I should make it an outdoor party to keep the traffic indoors to a minimum. I'll have to think on that a bit. There are probably another 6 kids I could add.

Milk is easy enough to add to the menu. Thanks for the suggestion, omom. :)

Thanks for the ideas! I'd love to hear any other suggestions as well.:)

[Wife_and_mommy]

I don't think many people are ready to talk Christmas yet. I understand but I have to plan things *way* in advance for them to happen.:wink2:

Thanks again for the suggestions!

[CAM7]

Sounds like a fun idea!

I'd like to find a good website for a recipe/instructions for a gingerbread house if anyone has one!

[kijip]

We did the houses last year and will do it again this year. About 15 kids and parents. It's a PITA but they have SO MUCH fun. And my husband loves it. It's worth it for us.

That said, cookies are fun too and a lot less to fuss over!