Just wondering if you all would weigh in on whether you use parchment bags, cloth bags or if you use squeeze bottles to decorate your cookies. I broke down and bought special bottles for decorating, and they worked ok, but my thumb went completely numb. It's been 2 hrs since I stopped and it's still numb. Weird. Hope it comes back! Anyway, let me know what you all think. Never had this problem with bags. I just thought the bottles would be less messy. I'm soaking them now, but can't get the icing out of the bottom of them! grrrr.

I sometimes use bottle with big opening.. or a really prefer to use a small spatula and a bowl.. way more faster! (I outline first and then fill).

I like the plastic squeezie bottles from Wilton. They are firm but flexible. My hands have never hurt after using them. I only use the plastic decorating bags with a round tip to outline.

I like bags. I too had numb thumb syndrome after using bottles (that was the first and last time). You can put the bottles in the top rack of your dishwasher for a quick clean up.

I only did 12 cookies and my thumb went berzerk. I guess I need to go back to parchment bags, but they always oooze over for me.

I use plastic ziplock bags...

I use the disposable decorating bags. (But I'm kinda cheap...I wash them out and re-use them until my project is finished). I feel I have better control with the bag. Maybe because I got used to using them for cake decorating, and I'm a creature of habit.

Bottles with the small opening - I think I have 8 or 10 of them now. I heat the candy melts in them too. My local cake store didn't have any and I ended up getting some for $.99 at WalMart (with the utensils). The only time I've used parchment is when I made tassles on graduation caps. I cut one tip larger to spread strawberry jam in between heart cookies with a "heart hole" in the top cookie. I use them whenever I can. I clean mine with a bottle brush. To clean the candy melts out of them, you just put in the freezer for a bit and it cracks right out.

I use brushes to paint the icing onto the cookies.

I use a small spoon to ice the cookies and let them dry. I then used decorating bags to pipe details and borders, but i happen to like those squeeze bottles now because they are easy to clean and less costly.