My DH is having a Open House at his company. It is a computer-oriented instructional school. Since I had been sending in cakes for them lately, I got the job of making a cake for about 100 people. It is to be personalized with the company logo and a something that says this school has a hands on approach.

Another thing they would like me to do, since they will be having children there as well, is to have cupcake or cookie decorating booth for the kids to keep them busy while the parents tour the school. This is in May, so I will have plenty of time to think about it.

They are willing to pay for my supplies and are paying me a little bit for my time.

SO have any of you ever done something similar to this? Any pointers that you could give? Any advice or suggestions would be welcome!

Thanks.

That sounds like a good idea to keep the kids busy, but the only thing I can think of is the mess! Maybe you can take them pre iced and they can just add the sprinkles or something.

have all of your icing already in piping bags. Also remember you're dealing with little hands.

What about using edible icing paper and edible pens! They come in cookie-sized circles. The kids would be able to draw on them with the edible pens, and then they could be stuck right onto an iced cookie (or cut down to fit onto an iced cupcake).

If you want more info email me

Amy

I love the idea of the cookie circles! I posted this question to another site as well and here are some of their ideas that I am thinking of using:

Cheap aprons
Ice cream cones with the cake baked in
sprinkles
different colors of frosting (and icing too, nearly forgot) already in frosting bags
plastic decorating tips (no way am I allowing them to use my expensive metal tips)

I was also thinking of making some of the decorations in advance like some royal icing roses and leaves and others for the bigger kids.

I was on a cruise once where they did this for the kids. What they did was had plates of cupcakes and cookes and each kid got to take one. They had prefilled decorating bags with colors and a few bowls with sprinkles and spoons in them. There were a few large bowls of frosting sitting on the tables to use to frost. The children got plastic knives to frost thier items and they took turns sharing the rest. They all had a really good time doing it. Even the adults joined in on the fun.

Don't forget a tarp on the floor for super easy clean-up!

This sounds really fun- I'll bet it would be a great project at a slumber party too. My kids are too little for slumber parties, but I am tucking this away in the 'future plans' file.

I did cookie decorating for my son's Kids Club class last weekend. The kids made dookie valentines to take home to their Valentines. I took round sugar cookies and prefilled disposable (use good strong ones) with red, pink and white icing with small writing and star tips (small so they wouldn't go crazy with it). I took candy hearts and some sprinkles and other decorations for them but didn't take open frosting containers so they wouldn't make a big mess or use too many sprinkles. They had a blast and they were very creative! I just wish I had taken my camera.

Keep in mind if you use the icing sheets that you will need to ice the cookie there so the icing sheet will adhere to the cookie. If you want to take edible markers for them to decorate their cookies with either cover the cookies with fondant and let set or with glaze or royal icing and allow time for the icing to set up before the party.

Have fun! I did!
Debbie

I did cookie & cupcake decorating for our church's fall fest the last couple years, and it worked out great. I didn't have a problem with mess or anything. I had someone stationed there to help the little kids. We had a couple bowls of icing on the table, and a couple piping bags already made up, bowls of sprinkles and m&m's.

I made fairly pale colors of icing, that's something to think about. Darker colors may create more of a mess.

Have fun!
Melissa

This will really help me out when the time comes.

Thanks again.

At Christmas I see gingerbread decorating booths that have their icing in clear squeeze bottles - easy to refill and easy for the kids to use.  Just a thought........Good luck.  It sounds like fun!

Every year at Christmas I do this for about 200 kids..usually have blank cookies with an individual cup of royal frosting (covered souffle cup), and another cup of candies.

Each child gets a cookie, cheapo paper plate, plastic knife, frosting, and candies.  No sprinkles (messy). after they decorate, slip the cookies in a clear bag for easy transport.