Please help me plan a cookie / gingerbread decorating get together

[jgenie]

I have friends coming to our house to decorate cookies / gingerbread houses. I need help planning out the details. I was hoping to avoid serving a meal and just having light appetizers and desserts. Please share your ideas!! What time? I was thinking 2:00. WHat to serve? Do I need other activities? Thanks!!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Is it just adults or kids too? Adults- you don't need anything extra. Kids- put a movie on and have some games.

Get some pictures for inspiration.

You can never have too much frosting (pre-filled piping bags are wonderful). Have lots of fun decorations.

You really don't need to do anything else! These events are really fun!

[jgenie]

Is it just adults or kids too? Adults- you don't need anything extra. Kids- put a movie on and have some games.

Get some pictures for inspiration.

You can never have too much frosting (pre-filled piping bags are wonderful). Have lots of fun decorations.

You really don't need to do anything else! These events are really fun!

I’ve invited families so it will be both.

Cheapest option for piping bags and tips? I was planning on sticking with white frosting for simplicity and just using candy to add color.

[SnuggleBuggles]

White frosting is perfect and all I ever offer too. :) Ziptop bags with a small snip in the corner is perfectly fine for a piping bag!

[candaceb]

I have done cookie decorating parties many times.
Tell everyone to bring a rimmed cookie sheet to carry their cookies home.
Know how many cookies you have for each person and tell them to pick at the beginning.
I use corn syrup and sprinkles instead of frosting. I set out bowls of corn syrup warmed and thinned down with a bit of water, and pastry brushes.
I never have much food because it's hard (and gross...) to eat and decorate at the same time. Usually some snacky stuff in a different area. Plus wine for the adults and juice boxes for the kids.

[jgenie]

I have done cookie decorating parties many times.
Tell everyone to bring a rimmed cookie sheet to carry their cookies home.
Know how many cookies you have for each person and tell them to pick at the beginning.
I use corn syrup and sprinkles instead of frosting. I set out bowls of corn syrup warmed and thinned down with a bit of water, and pastry brushes.
I never have much food because it's hard (and gross...) to eat and decorate at the same time. Usually some snacky stuff in a different area. Plus wine for the adults and juice boxes for the kids.

How long do you generally plan for? I’m thinking 2:00 - 4:00 with light nibbles. Or should I do 2:00 - 5:00 with dinner at the end? Trying to figure out the sweet spot before kids get squirrelly since the weather may be too bad to play outside.

[candaceb]

How long do you generally plan for? I’m thinking 2:00 - 4:00 with light nibbles. Or should I do 2:00 - 5:00 with dinner at the end? Trying to figure out the sweet spot before kids get squirrelly since the weather may be too bad to play outside.

yes, 2 hours sounds about right. Might want to have a movie ready to go for when the kids are done.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I missed that this wasn’t gingerbread house making. Duh. We’ve hosted cookie decorating parties too and the kids always bailed after decorating like 2 cookies. It was a challenge! I had to do way more kid entertaining than I’d planned.
But, that’s why I suggested the piping bags. For just cookies, not needed. Nice but not needed.
You might consider doing “gingerbread” houses for the kids if you want them to participate longer. Graham crackers, boxes to glue (with royal icing) the crackers to for support and candies to decorate. It’ll give them a longer project.


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[jgenie]

Duplicate

[jgenie]

I missed that this wasn’t gingerbread house making. Duh. We’ve hosted cookie decorating parties too and the kids always bailed after decorating like 2 cookies. It was a challenge! I had to do way more kid entertaining than I’d planned.
But, that’s why I suggested the piping bags. For just cookies, not needed. Nice but not needed.
You might consider doing “gingerbread” houses for the kids if you want them to participate longer. Graham crackers, boxes to glue (with royal icing) the crackers to for support and candies to decorate. It’ll give them a longer project.


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I have the premade Costco houses. I bought one per family and am also having cookies ready to decorate in case siblings want to work separately.

https://www.foodlovergirl.com/gingerbread-house-kit-costco/

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have the premade Costco houses. I bought one per family and am also having cookies ready to decorate in case siblings want to work separately.

https://www.foodlovergirl.com/gingerbread-house-kit-costco/

[emoji106]excellent!!!


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[KrisM]

For younger kids, I use the hinge-style chip clips to hold the piping bag closed. It keeps the frosting from squirting out the top of the bag.

[umsh]

I have the premade Costco houses. I bought one per family and am also having cookies ready to decorate in case siblings want to work separately.

https://www.foodlovergirl.com/gingerbread-house-kit-costco/

We used these last year and loved it!! Sounds like a great party! I do recall the icing bags were pretty tough to squeeze but maybe we just got a bad batch. No other major issues. Someone upthread mentioned having a cookie sheet to carry them home, that’s a great idea and also provides a dedicated work space.

These kits are awesome to have at home for a snow day too (yep our schools close at the first sign of snow lol).


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[KpbS]

I like these too https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-704-472-4-Pack-Icing-Writer/dp/B001JSSXTM/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1542171456&sr=1-6&keywords=wilton+icing+tubes

[Percycat]

I have the premade Costco houses. I bought one per family and am also having cookies ready to decorate in case siblings want to work separately.

https://www.foodlovergirl.com/gingerbread-house-kit-costco/

This was going to be my suggestion! We have hosted a few gingerbread decorating parties and they have been a lot more fun when we have used the houses already built. The kits come with a lot of icing...I have every guest bring a few items for decorating and offer suggestions to get a wide variety of building materials. Have every family bring a sturdy box or tray to take home the work. I buy the disposable icing bags and we usually put the icing that comes with the kit in the bag -- because the bags are easier to work with and helps things be less messy. I have made extra icing, but we never need it. I like the suggestion above to use corn syrup and pastry brushs -- and will try that this year. Play Christmas music or have a christmas cartoon running in the background and call it a day. We usually have a vote at the end and award a prize.

[ourbabygirl]

Sounds like a fun party! :) We hosted one of these several years ago, and I'd like to do another one in our new neighborhood. Another thing you can do to take home cookies is get those cardstock & plastic donut boxes from the bakery dept. at a grocery store (the kind with the lid that lifts up). We used those for guests to take home their cookies from a Christmas cookie exchange (easy to spread them out).
Some good movies to play in the background are Elf, Home Alone, Frosty the snowman, the Polar Express, etc.

[marinkitty]

We've done the houses lots of times and here are my pearls of wisdom . . .

1. Definitely have the houses already assembled when guests arrive
2. Consider using the Wilton canned frosting (comes out sort of like easy cheese from the 70s) - it comes with different nozzles and it is so, so much easier to work precisely with than the decorator icing in piping bags. All but very young kids have the hand strength to operate.
3. In addition to colorful candies - consider putting out natural colored elements - our favorite gingerbread houses we made (adults and teens, not little kids, who I think probably prefer to candy route) were made using things like cinnamon toast crunch, nuts (pecans, peanuts), whoppers (sliced in half so the malted part showed), star anise, coffee beans, pretzel rods etc. They looked very cool and more adult.

I've always just served drinks while we are decorating - hot and cold, adult and kid. Then I usually put out some cheese and cracker and dip type things after we are all cleaned up on the decorating (kids watching a movie or playing games and adults having a glass of wine). I also usually have coloring sheets, a movie and some other kind of easy Christmas craft for the kids who lose interest in decorating way before the adults are done. One year for kids, we just had them make Christmas trees using inverted sugar cones "glued" with frosting onto holiday plastic plates. All the same toppings but better for a short attention span than the large houses. And we've done the small graham cracker houses, but honestly assembling those ahead of time is more trouble than its worth and I wouldn't do those again.

[ourbabygirl]

That was super helpful! Thanks, marinkitty!