Start by Collecting the Goods
In the interests of being efficient, you’ll want to gather together everything that you will need for the party at least a day or two ahead of time. Bake up several batches of cookies so that they can cool properly and be ready for decoration. Store them in bags or containers to maintain their freshness. For Valentine's Day, sugar cookies (like these rose-flavored sugar cookies) tend to be a crowd favorite. If you don't mind bucking tradition, you can also try baking a few batches of gingerbread cookies to decorate too. There’s no rule that says gingerbread isn’t for V-day! Use cookie cutters to cut your cookies into fun shapes like hearts, or little X's and O's. You will also want to gather together things like cookie frosting, sprinkles, and decorator candy, especially if you want to encourage your guests to get fancy and creative. The more toppings, the better! You can store them in the fridge, so they are ready to rock the next day. You will definitely need other essentials, like paper plates, napkins, party decorations, plastic knives (to spread frosting), little icing bottles, and don't forget to pick up little baker’s boxes or bags so that everyone can take their goodies home. Try making little decorating stations around your kitchen and living area the night before the party, so that the next day all you have to do is set everything out and get to decorating.It’s Party Time
On the day of your party, you can set out everything you have stockpiled so that your decorating stations are ready for the first guest. You also may want to set out some healthy snacks to munch on, just to help balance out all the sugar consumption. This is especially important if you are hosting a cookie party that involves the kiddos because they would love nothing better than to survive on sugar for the day if you let them! You may also want to create a coffee or a hot chocolate bar (or both!), where you can lay out all the accouterments. Think cream, sugar, peppermint sticks, marshmallows, cinnamon, and whatever else you might like to use in your coffee or cocoa. Remember to make sure you have lots of paper towels on hand that are easily accessible, because messes happen, and make sure you cover each station area with some sort of festive disposable tablecloth or even butcher paper to help make the clean up later as simple as possible.Cookie Decorating Party Pro Tips
Unfortunately, given the busy lifestyles of today, you may worry you won’t have time to bake all the cookies you’ll need in advance. No need to worry though. When you're in a pinch and need a bunch of ready-to-decorate cookies fast, hit up your local grocery store and check out the bakery section.
You can usually find sugar and gingerbread cookies already made and ready to be beautified. The best part is, it can be your little secret.
With that said, if you do have time to bake your own cookies beforehand, it’s highly recommended, as there's nothing quite like real, homemade treats.
Here’s another tip if you want to get super creative at your party. Surf the internet to find unique and original cookie cutting shapes in advance to delight your guests. Then, instead of typical hearts, you can make other types of cookie shapes that are suitable for Valentine’s Day, such as a pair of kiss lips, teddy bears, or perhaps even find cutters that spell out words like “Love” or “Be Mine.”
The goal is to get creative and have a blast. Hosting a Valentine’s cookie decorating party is an event that you can get pretty much anyone involved in, whether they are friends or family and little ones, all with equal degrees of success. The upside is plenty of yummy cookies to go around! 