I am planning a 13th birthday party for my daughter and she would like to do cookie decorating as the craft.

There is no specific theme or color scheme for this party, and she doesn't really have any specific hobbies. I will plan it around whatever the cookie idea will be.

Would love to hear suggestions and ideas which would be appropriate for this age group. Thank you so much

How about girly cookies like dresses and shoes and purses....or sunglasses,bathing suits,flip flops.beach towels...

Thanks for responding.
The party is planned for the end of November.
Would you recommend giving each girl a variety of cookies to decorate or just one or two big ones.
Should i flood the cookies and just have them add decos so that they go home somewhat dry, or should i just leave them plain?

I would allow each girl to make 2 big ones or 3 medium ones.I wouold just leave them plain and let them decorate each one.Kids like to do their own designs even if they don't look perfect and most of them eat them..I do cookies every year for my kids birthday parties and we just put them in a baggie afterward..they don't care if they are smudged!!

These kids will care if things get smudged cuz at this age they are into perfection That's why i'm having a hard time deciding what to do and what theme to follow.

Well you can flood them then and give them the decorations.....or better yet...let them roll out fondant pieces and cut and place it..That way it won't smudge and who doesn't like playing with playdoh like icing!!!

That sounds like a great idea. I'll let them roll it out, and lay onto cookies and then they can decorate with royal icing. By the time the party is over, the cookies will be mostly dry.
I only have one fondant roller and really don't want to buy more as they are not cheap for so many.......about 35 girls. Even buying enough so that 2-3 girls can share is expensive. Any ideas on what else i can give out to roll the fondant?
Thank you!

Yup...go to the hardware store like Lowes or Home depot and buy some 1 inch dowel ..it usually comes in a 4 ft length...have them cut down to small rolling pin size and sand them really good at home.Most of the dowels are made from raw wood and don't usually have an chemicals on them.I used to work at Rona here which is like Homedepot so I know! Just use those.It is inexpensive and works!!

In stead of cookies why not try haveing the girls decorate cupcakes take a picture of the girl with her work of art than assemble all the cupcakes together on a cupcake tree or stacked cake stands take another picture of everyone together you could even go with a kind of camra theme and give dispisable camras to use as they wish and you don't have to worry about sending home a mess.

While cupcakes are a great idea, these girls have 'been there, done that' when it comes to cupcakes. They definately need more stimulation and creativity which is what i can give them with cookies. It's a great idea for my younger daughter's birthday coming up after this one! Thanks.

kiddiekakes, that's an interesting idea. I'll have to check that out.

The advantage of doing 5-6 cookies is that you can have small stations set up to share each technique (not to mention more fun for the girls)
I did a party for my niece; the decorated 5-6 cookies and I gave them cake boxes to take home the cookies. I also had them decorate the cake boxes, so that was an additional activity (though we did not have 35 girls!)
I did shoes/purses/dress/hat. I had cookies as follows (1) undecorated shoe, that they roll fondant with an impression roller, (2) purse pre- iced with royal and had food pens that they could decorate (3) plain cookies that they could decorate with royal icing I also had some sugar pearls they could use on the shoes and purses and some flower cutters to make small gumpaste flowers for the cookies. I think I allowed them to decorate 2 of each type/style so they left with 6 cookies. The loved it, the cookies were cute and they had fun. I had pre-decorated some of each style so they had a sample to follow/start with.

Hope you and the girls have as much fun as we did !

Kiddiekakes is right about the dowels very inexpensive,,I work at Rona here I would make a bunch of different colors of royal icing and also different colors of MMF. As mentioned set up stations. Do you have small cutters for fondant? Also make a variety of different cookies and have a mix of colored sugars and decorations you can get at a bulk food store. Believe me they will have a blast! Good luck that is alot of girls

Thank you so much guys!

Coffeecake, setting up stations is an excellent idea and much more exciting than having it all layed on one long table. That way i can also use the kitchen table as a station as well. Great.
Great idea to decorate the cake boxes as well cuz it will take up extra time.

traceyjade, i don't have small fondant cutters but i'm willing to invest in some as well as getting my husband to go to home depot for the small dowels. I also have a large amount of colored sugars and sugar flower decorations. thanks

I am doing something similar for Halloween for mine and friends kids. Because it's Halloween, I'm doing Halloween cookies. They are all young, so I am going to outline all the cookies in white the night before and fill squeeze bottles with the icing for them to fill in.
I know your party guests are older....how about Fall/Harvest themed cookies. Is there a theme to the party? You could make a bunch of different flower cookies. Or, you could make different random shapes and have them be creative.
I, too, was going to suggest the cake boxed to take them home in so they dry. Let us know how it goes!

Thank you so much. I need to talk to my daughter and find out what kind of theme she is interested in. Then i'll put my head around it all.

I am so excited to read this thread. My daughter is turning 11 at the end of November and she wants a party at the house where she and her friends "do something" (she has no ideas for the 'something') and then have a sleepover.

I have been struggling to come up with a craft idea that the girls could do. Last year we had a mani/pedi party and it was a blast.

My daughter loves to decorate sugar cookies with me, so this will be a project she will enjoy and I know her friends would too! I have some cute cutters for dresses, shoes, purse, etc.

I like the idea of having them decorate cake boxes to take the cookies home in. Great idea, thanks!
Jane

I had another idea....... I think I will get some white aprons and have the girls decorate them with fabric markers as a craft idea, then they can wear them while they decorate cookies. I found a dozen aprons on ebay for $25, including shipping.

Jane

That is a great idea!! Where on ebay did you find the aprons?