Like most people, I've decorated Christmas cookies with kids or grandkids over the years. This activity is a little different. It was an outreach of our church to the community. The town had an outdoor Christmas event on the common last Saturday afternoon/evening.
Last year, our church participated with a choir chime bell concert in a beautifully decorated gazebo. They were invited to come back again this year, and we decided to expand our presence a bit and offer this cookie decorating opportunity for the kids.
We have never done an activity like this before, so we were just putting an idea together and hoping it would work. In this post I want to detail what worked and what didn't, so we can refer to it next time.
My hubby volunteered to bake cookies. He made three batches of these:
CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES
1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. almond extract
3/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. orange extract
2 unbeaten eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
Combine all but the flour and beat thoroughly. Add flour and mix well. Chill dough thoroughly.
Roll
small portions of dough 1/4-inch thick and cut out. [Edited to add:
decorate cookies before baking with sprinkles and colored sugars; or,
bake the cookies plain and frost when cool.]
Bake for 8-10 minutes in 375º oven.
He ended up with about 10 dozen cookies or a few more, and froze them all ahead of time, then thawed them out the day of the activity.
Two of our granddaughters made the sign at top, which we attached to the top of our pop-up canopy.
Briefly -- I will go into more details below -- we used purchased tubs of white icing, and let the kids use plastic knives to spread the icing, then we provided sprinkles, colored sugars, small cinnamon candies, and gumdrops for decorating. We provided a place for the cookies to dry and asked the kids to come back in a few minutes to get them. When they did, we placed each cookie into a glassine bag labeled with their name and with a church invitation taped to the back.
So, the details:
1. The first stop was for each child to give their first name, which a volunteer wrote on a label and stuck to a glassine bag. While the names were being written, the kids got to choose what shape cookie they wanted. We had stars, bells, Christmas trees, hearts, and round shapes. The bags then got shuttled up to the drying area to await the cookies.
2. Next step was spreading icing on the cookies. We bought plenty of plastic knives so they could be thrown away after each use.
3. Next came sprinkling on the toppings.
4. Then the cookies were placed atop the appropriate, labeled bags in the drying area.
5. When the kids came back, we placed each cookie in its labeled bag and handed it over. In some cases, they were handed to grandparents or parents who wanted the kids to wait until after supper to eat their cookies.
Was it a success? I'd say it was a huge success. We did have cookies left over, but only a couple dozen, I think.
Did we learn some lessons? Oh, yes!
1. Bring tape to hold the tablecloth in place. It was very windy that evening and the tablecloth was blowing everywhere. Metal picnic tablecloth clamps would work too. We brought tape but not for this purpose, and we ran out and had to buy more at a nearby dollar store.
2. Have a trash can behind the table. We had a bag for trash, but we needed something larger and more sturdy.
3. Have the labels already in place on the bags so the volunteer has only to add the names. And use bigger bags, like the wax paper sandwich bags.
4. Swap out the shaker tops on some of the sprinkles for ones with smaller holes. Some of them came with very large holes -- especially, inexplicably, the sanding sugars -- and we lost a lot of toppings that way. Alternatively, place larger sprinkles in a cup and have the kids use a tiny spoon.
5. Divide our team of volunteers -- we had four adults and several teen/college age helpers this time -- into two or three groups so that one group can be taking advantage of seeing the other booths at the event and also taking opportunities to get warm, while the other works the cookie booth. Next year we won't be winging it, so we will know exactly what we will be doing before we begin.
6. Buy less sprinkles and more gumdrops. I had chosen gumdrops as less pricey than the tiny M&Ms which could also have added color. I was very surprised at how many kids like gumdrops -- and they did look very festive on the cookies.
7. We had an L- shaped table area. At one point we had to start a line at each end. So next year, we will do that from the get-go and have the drying area at a midpoint.
We also did many things right, not the least of which was remembering to bring a camping lantern we could hang from the canopy when darkness fell.
All in all, a fun activity and one we will repeat next year, Lord willing. And our sign-makers who labored long and hard on the posterboard sign have instructed us to save it, as "it was a lot of work!" We plan to do just that!
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