Holiday Entertaining with a Christmas Cookie Decorating Party

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Back in November I got to thinking how nice it would be to do some holiday entertaining and get a few of my son’s friends and their moms together to do a little holiday party for the kids. All too often we only get together for birthday parties, but then we don’t see anyone until the following year when the same birthdays roll around again. So this year Molly and I decided to throw a little Christmas Cookie Decorating Party for our two son’s and their friends. In all we invited eight kids and their moms to the little event that we held at my house. We threw the whole thing together the day before the event and on a budget by shopping at Walmart….here’s what we did!!

My house is not very large, but we managed to fit all the kids at my kitchen table. We set up each place setting ahead of time with a Santa hat at each place setting that had the child’s name on it. We used iron on glitter transfer paper and my Silhouette machine to create their Santa hats…which we got at Walmart for $2 a piece. Each child was asked to bring a choice cookie decorating item like sprinkles or topping and we provided cookies and icing, as well as food for the event.

Since we were likely going to make a mess, we opted for a plastic red table cloth along with an 8 pack of Santa belt plates for food. We set out little gingerbread man coloring pages for each child to color, as well (prints from DimplePrints).

We hung a “BE MERRY” sign over the table as well as polka dot garland I had from my Red and Green Christmas Party a few years ago.

Place tags were set on each place setting so that we could label their crafts and cookies once they were done.

Walmart had a fantastic selection of items that are very inexpensive and perfect for children’s holiday parties! They had these cute Santa straws for one dollar, as well as the holly garland also for $1!!

After all our guests arrived we first fed the kids. We served the kids mini pizzas made with cookie cutter shaped pizza dough, cheese, and mini pepperonis. Then we served grapes, strawberries, pretzels, and “snowball” cheese puffs along with some lemonade. We also made a large crockpot of homemade hot cocoa for dessert.

We put snowman marshmallows on top of red paper straws for garnishing the mugs and we also served peppermint marshmallows to top the cocoa.

For party favors, we made little reindeer fudge favors using candy canes as antlers. We package them up into individual clear bags and tied them off with ribbon.

Typically fudge is quite cumbersome to make, but we used the Nestle Carnation Famous Fudge kit, cut it into 8 large pieces and then used 2 Sweet Tart candy canes to create the antlers. I added candy eyes and an M&M using icing to make the reindeer face. Then we used twine to tie the whole thing together and make it look more Christmasy.

The famous fudge kit is great because it has everything in it (except 2 tbsp butter) to make the fudge for a GREAT price and it’s such an easy recipe! And it’s SO tasty!! Here’s what the finished favors looked like…

We handed each child a fudge reindeer as they left. During the party we made a half dozen cookies in various shapes and flavors for each child and we decorated cookies together and then wrapped them up with a tag on a take home plate. The kids really enjoyed getting to decorate their cookies with bright, fun sprinkles and frosting.

There may have been more than a few sprinkles dumped in heaps on top of the cookies, but the kids loved it. After cookie decorating, we made the dads a fun Christmas present using the kids’ handprints. The Santa ornament was made with an embroidery hoop, felt, paint, white poofy balls, and red bells.

The kids were proud of their creations and my son couldn’t wait to show his dad!

Overall, the party was so great and my house was TRASHED after all the kids left. We got it cleaned up quickly though and have decided to do more fun, seasonal parties “just because” rather than just for birthdays.

My son and his best bud had such a good time….they donned their best Christmas attire, made some yummy cookies, decorated a gift for their dads, and played with their friends.

I highly suggest popping into Walmart and searching their holiday goodies if you’re doing any type of entertaining and obviously, grab a Famous Fudge Kit and make an easy dessert or favor for your guests! It’s an insanely easy recipe and it’s a great price too (probably costs much more to buy all those things individually and make the fudge on your own). I found the fudge in the center aisle where they keep most of their seasonal baking items.

Each box of fudge makes 1 1/2 lbs of fudge that’s perfect as a gift and is rich and delicious. The SWEETARTS® flavored Candy Canes come in 3 tangy, fruity flavors, including Blue Punch, Green Apple and Cherry and they make the perfect colorful addition to your Christmas gift giving or favor making!!

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