I'm thinking about setting up a cookies decorating station for the kids at my daughter's party. What is the best way to execute this? Should I have the royal icing in squeeze bottles or make individual bags with x amount of different color per cookie? Would sanding sugar be too messy? How should I store the sanding sugar? Has anyone did something like this? If so, did the kids enjoyed it? Sorry for so many questions. Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA!!

Love this idea! I would use bags, a couple of bags of the same color so there is less fighting over who wants a particular color. I would have out all kinds of sprinkles, dragees, etc. and let the kids go to town!

I think you are going to have a mess no matter how you look at it, so obviously prepare yourself for that!!

what age are the kids? I think this would really depend on which route i would go.

For the younger crowd i would probably cover th cookies in fondant or royal icing ahead of time, then give them edible markers.

I was thinking of doing it for the 10 and under crowd, but I think the some adults would want a try too. That's a good idea leily. Maybe I will do that for the kids under 2. I saw some edible markers at walmart... Thanks!

What kind of icing would be better? RI or BC? Squeeze bottles or decorating bags with tips? TIA!

I make gingerbread houses for kids to decorate. I have found royal icing in plastic disposable bags with not deco tip (just cut open)is the easiet. The little hands have a hard time with the squeeze bottles. I also use the plastic table cloth and just throw away at the end.

Good Luck, Lisa

Thanks!! Do you make individual sets for each kid or a few bags of each color and they all share?

For a party I do a few bags of each color to share. Be sure they don't put bag of icing into their mouths--it's so tempting for them.

We do this every year for the little (2years - 7) kids and we have found there is less mess with the tube icings. Make sure you have more than one tube of each color because when someone tries something with a color everyone needs the same color. We always have fun. Garbage bags with a hole for the head and arms make great aprons for them.

I forgot to say I also put rubberband on the end of disposable bag so icing doesnt come out.

I did several of these childrens parties last Christmas and it was really fun for myself and the kids. The parties were paid for by the Grandma of each group and the Grandma of each group had as much fun as the kids.
I made name tags for each child and for one group, I stenciled an apron for each child. I baked a dozen cookies for each one leaving 4 plain for doing sanding sugars and the other eight had white fondant on them. The sanding sugars were in custard cups with a small spoon to apply them with. I had a thin white frosting for them to brush on the areas that they wanted the sugars on. I had just two royal icing colors in bags for them to use, plus I had two sets of edible markers for them to use also. I let them cut small shapes from colored fondant to "glue" on their cookies also. They were each given a small white box to take their cookies home in and they decorated the boxes with markers, stickers and ribbons. At the end of each party, I served hot chocolate and holiday cupcakes. The ideas are endless for other seasons of the year. This year I plan to have all gingerbread cookie parties. Hope this helps.

It was a flop! Poor planning on my part. I took on too much and was running around like a chicken with no head. I made 240 cupcakes with little fondant and royal icing toppers, decorated 250 4" cookies, and my centerpieces. I underestimated how long it was going to take me so I ran out of time to make cookies for the kids to decorate. I decided to buy store bought sugar cookies since I had made the icing already. I should of ordered them because when I went to buy sugar cookies from Safeway, they didn't have any. So I picked up peanut butter, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. I think I got only about 5 kids decorate cookies when I was expecting 30-40 kids and adults. So I had a lot of leftover cookies. I learned my lesson and hopefully the next one will be better.

So sorry it didn't work out. Live and learn.

I have cake birthday parties. I allow up to eight kids. Each kid gets a 4" cake iced and three decorating bags with disposible tips heat sealed with about 1/4 cup of colored icing each. heat seal the ends shut or you'll have icing everywhere. I have a few helium balloons around to decorate and punch and chips. The kids love it. I have had two so far and I have three booked for later in the fall. They always say they love it.