Christmas Cookie Decorating & Mocktails for Moms -

A fun and festive Christmas cookie decorating party with kids, featuring easy sugar cookies, natural dyes, cozy pajamas, mocktails, and easy holiday hosting ideas.

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Every single year since I was a kid, I have taken at least one or two days to decorate, cut out, and ice sugar cookies. My mom started this tradition with my brother and me when we were really young. Of course, she used the yummy Pillsbury dough, icing, and sprinkles, which always gave us belly aches because we were so obsessed with eating the raw dough and sneaking icing straight from the tub. Still, the tradition of decorating cookies together is something I never skip.

For the past few years, I have loved doing this with my son and a few of his friends. This year, I threw together a last minute setup for him and it ended up being so much fun. And of course, before Christmas is over, I really wanted to get these photos up just in case you are hoping to host something similar and need a little inspiration.

What recipe did you use?

Last Year’s Decorating Set Up:
The Recipe I use for Christmas Cookies

Now, every Christmas decorating party deserves some yummy food and mocktails for moms, after coffee is served of course. There is just something about holding a fruity and fizzy drink in my hand that I love.

Mocktail for Moms: Cherry & Apple Citrus Fizz

These simple mocktails are made with freshly squeezed orange juice, organic no added sugar pure cherry juice, and Crisp Apple Olipop, finished with a sprig of fresh rosemary from my garden. They were so refreshing.

For the kids, I made a tray with carrots, cucumber, hummus, pecans, strawberries, blueberries, an assortment of crackers and cheese, and a few extra snacks. I also toasted slices of jalapeño cheddar and gouda sourdough bread to serve with the chopped Caprese salad I always make.

Easy Caprese Chopped Salad:

This caprese salad has chopped fresh mozzarella, balsamic glaze, olive oil, tomatoes, and Arctic seasoning. It’s amazing on bread and in salads.

I absolutely love setting up the table. The little kids have gotten bigger this year, so I ditched the tiny table and used the big table instead. I made cute little cutouts in Canva with place cards and coloring sheets. I have been all about Canva lately.

I found the cutest gingerbread trays at HomeGoods and could not resist. I placed all of the baked cookies on them and gave the kids extra decorating space. I also had bakery boxes so they could take their cookies home.

Baking Cookies the Night Before

All of the sprinkles and dye for the royal icing are completely dye free.

My Easy Cut Out Frosted Sugar Cookie recipe is simple and foolproof. I also included the royal icing recipe, along with links to the natural dyes and natural sprinkles I used.

For my gingerbread men, I used my shortbread gingerbread cookie recipe and doubled it so I could make extra.

The trick to making cookie decorating parties easier and less tiring is to always bake the sugar cookies the day before. Do not do it the day of, or you will be completely burnt out.

And of course, the parents always end up decorating most of the cookies after the kids are done with three or four. Running around on a sugar cookie high is much more fun to them. My son especially enjoyed the free range snacks, since he seems to be made of only cheese and crackers these days.

Over the years, I have loved collecting Christmas plates, mugs, and serving dishes. I think the fun thing about Christmas is that nothing has to match. It all just goes together. Next year, I want to host it later in the evening and light everything up with vintage colored Christmas lights. And having the kids wear pajamas makes it even more fun.

Sprinkles and Icing

For the colors, I used red, green, white, and a chocolate option. I simply added cocoa powder to the royal icing to make the chocolate version. All of the icings were flavored with almond extract, but if you do not like almond, you can use lemon, orange, just vanilla, or even peppermint instead.

Do you have a gluten-free sugar cookie recipe?

I also have a gluten-free version of this recipe that works like a charm! Here it is. We used this recipe last year for our gluten-free friends.

One of my good friends is hosting a Christmas party in a few days, and I plan to make that Caprese salad again with plenty of sourdough bread that is currently rising right now to serve on this tray. I made it last year, and it was a hit. I also plan to make my mother in law’s pizzelles, along with pralines, chocolate peppermint brownies, gumdrop cookies, fudge, linzer cookies, gingerbread bars, and peanut brittle for gift boxes this year. It will be a busy weekend, but I love it.

And if you want to make your house even more festive, find a five hour Christmas ambiance video on YouTube. I love putting these on our screens during the holidays.

My son mostly wanted to eat all the sprinkles and drink the icing, so that was fun. He did end up making some very iced and fun looking sugar cookies for Santa, though. The good thing is that these cookies have such a long shelf life. I bag them up and we place them out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve with some carrots for the reindeer.

Such a fun way to kick off the holiday season. Now that we are officially on Christmas break, we will be baking so much more together. I hope you are following me on Instagram to keep up in real time.