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I wanted to do something special for the kids and their friends for the holidays.  What better than to host a Christmas cookie decorating party!

My mom thought I was brave inviting ten children over to play with icing and sprinkles, but I was prepared for the chaos and new that the carpet cleaners could always be called the next day if necessary. 

We held it on a Sunday afternoon.  It was tricky finding a time that was appropriate to fill the children with sugar--guess there is never a perfect time for that.  Since we were only inviting five families over, I decided to send out the invitations through eVite.  Through eVite, you can send free invitations to people through email.  For informal gatherings this is such a time and money saver.  I especially like sending invitations this way because it makes it so easy for people to instantly RSVP and is so environmentally friendly.   

I did all of the prep work the day before, baking not only the cookies for the kids to decorate, but also plenty of sweets for the kids to eat while decorating.  I decided to make it easy on myself and simply used the Nestle sugar cookies that are already cut into shapes and ready to bake.  I made enough for each child to make about eight cookies (about eight dozen cookies.)  There was also fudge, peppermint bark, Santa hats made out of meringue and red sprinkles, white chocolate chip cookies, and plenty of milk to drink.  For the adults I added a cheese and fruit tray and some spinach and artichoke dip.

We had kids ranging in ages from nine to two, so I brought in our Little Tikes table from outside for the littlest guests.  At the last minute I had the idea to cover both tables with some holiday GLAD Press 'n Seal wrap.  It made clean up a snap and protected my white dining table from the red icing.

I was worried about the kids using knives to spread the icing.  I only had a couple of kid-friendly knives, so I decided to use popsicle sticks.  They worked pretty well I must say, although the popsicle sticks were way too easy for the kids to lick. 

Of course I had plenty of sprinkles for the decorating.  I had the traditional red and green sprinkles, but I also found some green sprinkles shaped like trees and blue sprinkles shaped like snowflakes (both from Wilton.)  We also had M&M's and candy canes, but most of those made it into their mouths instead of on their cookies.

For around 45 minutes or so the kids worked hard on their cookies.  I had found a cute plate at Target that said, "Cookies for Santa."  I bought one for each family to put their cookies on to take home.  After all of the cookies had been decorated, the kids ran upstairs to play (the sugar had kicked in) and the parents relaxed in the kitchen drinking coffee and chatting.  

It was a great party and we now plan on doing it every year.  The Cheese has already suggested that next year we make gingerbread houses instead of cookies.  

We'll see how brave I'm feeling next year.