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TracyFD
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Please help - I am pathetically stressed out after two days of decorating our cut-outs with my children (ages 6, 4 and 3). It's not the cutting out that's doing me in- just the frosting and sprinkles. I am way too uptight -
"Don't lick your fingers! Don't shake the shaker so close that it gets frosting on it! Please wait your turn - I can only frost one cookie at a time! Let's pray for mommy right now so I can have the patience to do this with you!"
Now, I have made great strides in the patience department since beginning homeschooling last August, but this is really doing me in. Give me Easter eggs any day.
There are few approaches that have worked well for which I am grateful:
1) I froze leftover colored frosting from birthday cakes throughout the year. Green, yellow and red have been especially handy.
2) I mixed up four batches of dough on day one, baked days two and three and decorated days four and five.
3) I taped waxed paper to the island for easy clean-up.
4) I finally cut off my 3yo boy who was pestering me the most - sent him away to play - and the older girls did well by themselves.
Any other tips? Maybe a one-helper-at-a-time policy? Sticking to cookies that do not need frosted for next year? Your advice would be most appreciated!!
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Lisbet
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um, my only tip, wine, lots of red wine... 
Sounds like your doing great! I've been at it for 10 years and I still get too uptight.
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momwats8
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this year to cut down on my frustration and lack of patience I decided to wait until my younger kids were in bed and decorate the cookies with my kids ages 8,9, and 11. They helped frost and do sprinkles. I had a little bit of the "don't lick your fingers" ,but for the most part it went much smoother. I just couldn't bring myself to include the younger kids because murder is not a good thing
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mom2mpr
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Have cookies for the younger set that are theirs alone--and they eat them
I found when doing sugar cookies that sprinkling sprinkles on them before baking made them so pretty and it was easy-no frosting 
I need to go pick up some red wine--that is a great idea
Good luck and enjoy!
Anne
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JodieLyn
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just close your eyes 
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Michaela
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TracyFD wrote:
| Maybe a one-helper-at-a-time policy? Sticking to cookies that do not need frosted for next year? |
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Well, it wouldn't matter if we went with cookies that don't need to be frosted because my children would find something to argue about. It becomes such a battle that even mixing the dough is an ordeal. Everyone wants a job, then the arguements of who got to do more or got the better (more fun) job begin. 
We made some cookies the other day & I just had to sit down and not look. Nathan wanted to cut out the cookies, but must have dumped 1/2 of flour on the counter to do it. I let him have a little bit of dough & hid the rest in the refrig because I knew my other two would want to do it...wasting my dough.
He enjoyed cutting out cookies...honestly, he was soooo proud of himself (beaming) that I was glad I didn't say anything negative.
Usually, I'm on the verge of snapping when they put on too much sprinkles or could/should have done it this way or that way.
Recruit someone who can help....my mom invited us over this past weekend to decorate cookies. I couldn't stand watching because of the little things....she was unusually patient with my children. It was wonderful actually. I did tell my oldest once he was putting on too many sprinkles, but I backed away after seeing how happy he was doing it....and my mom wasn't complaining.
Yeah...maybe giving them their own batch to have fun with would work. I'd probably have to send DH in to supervise...he's so patient.
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Bridget
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I let the younger kids do some cut outs on their own. (I try to just manage the flour mess.) Once they have a couple of trays done, we clean up and I finish the rest. They have a great time and we still get cookies that I can give to people.
One of the benefits to letting them do it is that now my older kids did several kinds of cookies on their own this year. Good ones that we can give people. They know how to do cookies.
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jdostalik
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I'm about to go tackle our first batch of sugar cookies with my 4,6,9 and 11 year olds...please pray for me and thanks for the advice--I wish I could have some red wine (only a month til the baby comes and I can have one!).
Oh and I hope the 2 yr old stays napping until we're done!!
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TracyFD
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I love all your tips! If I weren't pregnant I sure would have some wine, or vodka, or spiked egg nog! Since I can actually handle the flour and cutting out part, I will have to remember that sprinkles can be added before baking! (do those sprinkles have expiration dates, btw? I've had some for years)
The girls do great with cookies like snickerdoodles that they roll in cinnamon and sugar, so - mental note for next year, maybe I'll try Dawn's Lemon Snowballs or something else that can be rolled in powdered sugar.
Thanks for helping me feel not-so-psycho!
Blessings,
Tracy
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stefoodie
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We always have the younger ones help with mixing and cutting part, instead of the decorating part. And if they insist on decorating, they get a few cookies each with their own supplies so they can mess it up as much as they can. After they've done a few, they usually get tired of it and leave us (15-yo and me) alone.
You can also go with the easier/no-bake cookies/sweets when younger ones are around -- like sugarplums and rumballs, which you can shape and they can dip.
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Jacinta
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No suggestions, but I'm sure glad to hear I'm not alone in finding it hard to do Christmas cookies with the little ones! We just did some today - no decorating, just rolling and cutting out, and I had a TERRIBLE time being patient. Really, I think I could have handled it except for the 13 month-old who wanted to eat the dough, stand on the table, etc. She cried a lot, and I felt like I was about to lose it when I got the brilliant idea of bringing in the baby's stroller and buckling her in. That kept her out of mischief, and strangely, she didn't cry anymore. It was like she needed more limitation than I had been giving her!  Anyway, glad to hear I'm not the only one!
Jacinta
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MaryM
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TracyFD wrote:
The girls do great with cookies like snickerdoodles that they roll in cinnamon and sugar, |
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Know what's really pretty? Snickerdoodle dough rolled in the red and green sprinkle sugar (instead of cinnamon sugar mixture). Easy and Christmas festive!
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Cay Gibson
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Tracy,
Sounds like you're doing a great job already.
My children are getting older but I use to roll out the dough myself then let the younger ones cut with the cookie cutters. If the cookies didn't turn out right (ie: reindeers head fell off, snowman was too skinny, star looked like a dripping ice cream) it just went back into the dough bowl.
If I didn't feel like messing with this chaos, I just cut and baked them myself and gave each child a ball of dough to play with.
I resigned myself to the fact a clean wet dishrag got the baking area clean after a few wipe downs and lots of elbow grease.
Decorating? I make it a point to get each child their own sprinkle bottle. When it's empty, it's empty. I usually give them about 5 (or so) cookies each to decorate. I do the rest for edibility.
They made decorative sugar cookies at my aunt's house this week. She used cheerios, gumdrops, butterscotch chips and marshmallows for decorations. That's another way to limit the confetti shower of sprinkles.
There's no full-proof way to control baking Chrsitmas cookies. One thing is for sure...they never, never, never look like the ones shown in magazines and on TV commercials with a smiling mother (in clean work clothes) and joyful children. That's the illusion.
Where's the flour? for goodness sake?
One other thing...I don't think you'll see the messy, lop-sided cookies on any one's blog either. Though Bridget was brave enough to show the reality. 
Really, the mother's smile (even if you're grinding your teeth behind it) is the icing on the cookie and is the most important ingredient of all.
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ALmom
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Ok, you guys are going to laugh but here are a few of our solutions with sugar cookies:
put a table outside on the porch - makes the mess easier. (Not a great solution for those further north). I wish I'd thought of this in our old house that had carpet under the kitchen table.
I buy the tube sugar cookies - 2 tubes for 6 kids. I have tons of cookie trays. Dampen a towel and put it under the tray - one tray for each child. I also turn the tray upside down so that it is flat and they can roll dough right on the tray - no need to transfer cookies this way - just peel around the cookie cutter after stamping out several at a time. The damp towel keeps the tray from moving and means the youngers can roll out the dough without as much help.
I let everyone coat the cookie tray with flour - also the rolling pin and cookie cutters as much as they would like. Flour is usually everywhere. Some children decide to flour the table as well and there are always a toddler or two that end up playing in the flour and must be distracted to more gainful employment.
When the tray is ready, I distribute dough to each child - basically taking what we have and dividing in equal portions. They know ahead of time that this dough is it - when their portion runs out, they're done.
(What the youngest in the crowd usually do is play with the dough like playdough so it gets rolled and re-rolled and floured many times but the child is very happy and more importantly, doesn't destroy somene else's creation. They are a bit tougher in the end but I can usually still manage to cut something out if they decide that way - though usually only after they have cut and recut the same cookie a thousand times - into little bits.
I do not attempt to decorate sugar cookies. I simply act as roving helper and passer of supplies. I bite my tongue about the mess. In the end the youngest usually welcomes a bit of assistance at the end after they have had time to play with the dough and are ready to decorate.
As far as I know there is no expiration date on sprinkles - we have used the same bottles for many years. I even scrape leftovers from the table back into a container for next year.  It is mixed with a tad of flour sometimes but so far we have all survived this. I do have to rove and make sure the toddler doesn't use the entire batch of sprinkles on one cookie and leave everyone upset that there are no green sprinkles left. Also I save empty containers so that after a toddler has managed to squeeze a whole lid into the dough, I can replace it with another of the same size before the finicky older children use it. This also takes care of the inevitable missing lid or two.
Each child stores cookies in their own container after baking so they can show daddy their creations - but with the understanding that anyone in the family may eat any cookie on Christmas. This, again, keeps toddlers out of siblings cookie creations.
I put the trays in line for the oven after the majority are done - I at least wait until the youngest are finished so that I do not leave the table. Keep trays away from sink so that none get accidently knocked over. The higher the trays are either waiting in line for turn to bake or in the cooling stage, the better. Each child gets to help with this portion of their own cookies if desired - with my supervision of course.
Vacuum the table when all is done using an attachment - this gets most of the flour up. Only after doing this, do I clean with warm, soapy water. I edited to add that we also vacuum each other to keep the flour mess from traveling - but I start with the older children and myself and the toddlers are then clamoring to be vacuumed too.
Now, I don't have as much trouble with the toddlers. They are generally messy but happy with everything. It is my very artistic, perfectionist older children I have to work at being patient for. I kid you not - my children spent hours, literally, seperating the colors from the mixed color sprinkles. We do sugar cookie Nativity scene and they had to pick out blue stars for Our Lady's mantle, etc., etc. When my mom came to pick up my girls to do some baking with her, I warned her not to get sprinkles if she didn't want to be with it all day. My mom, who is the epitome of patience, thought I was exaggerating since I am not a patient person. Well, she admitted later to hiding the sprinkles after a while or they never would have finished . I noticed this year that there are some sprinkles already divided out by color - guess what I bought! Yipee!!
One rule - part of baking is cleaning up, so all the children have to do something in this arena. Eventually this does become a motivator for being a tad neater. Usually the littles are assigned to take the cookie cutters to a bucket of soapy water. Most want a turn vacuuming the table - that seems such a novelty to them.
We don't worry about the mixing and making sugar cookies. I did do them from scratch one year, but the main point of sugar cookies for my littles was the rolling, cutting and decorating. I can deal with one or the other but not both together. We bake other cookies from scratch and do all the measuring and mixing with these - but these are not cookies that need decorating.
Oh, everyone of us needs baths after sugar cookies and clean up. I dedicate an entire day to it.
Also, if we do decide to give away some of our sugar cookies, we choose from the older children's batches since these have not had peoples fingers in them. I suspect there is plenty of eating and tasting of both the cookie dough and the sprinkles and licked fingers in the cookies on the part of the younger set - but I honestly don't have time to supervise that completely. I figure we bake off any germs and keep it in the family. My husband is not at home at the time as he is the more hygenic one here and might get a tad grossed out by it all. Fortunately, he is not terribly fond of sugar cookies so I bake other things that he likes.
Janet
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lilac hill
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Shop Vac
It picks up flour, sprinlkes and stray dough.
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Viv
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lilac hill
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Tracy
I started thinking a bit more seriously about your cookie dilemma/frustration.
AND I started thinking about my Mom and our childhood Christmas celebrations.
Mom never decorated cookies--she was neat and tidy and as children we spent very little time in the kitchen. That was her place of peaceful work. Years later she did participate in the mayhem with my DD's though and enjoyed it, tamping down her perfectionist tendencies beautifully.
That said, no holiday kitchen memories, the 6 of us have great holiday experiences.
I sometimes yearn for the time spent gazing at the tree with her at night before bed.
I would love to sing Away in the Manger with her, and singing was not her forte either but at Christmas she relented.
Fixing the sheep 's broken leg for the manger, whatever needed to be done.
There were all sorts of little things, and it did not seem that there were many "traditions". She kind of winged it and we all benefitted.
You are obviously an attentive, loving mother. Whether it is cookies, driving around looking at lights, singing, or coloring in a Christmas coloring book together, your children will have wonderful memories too. I find that each of the 6 of us have different favorite memories and they probably are not the ones my mother fretted about.
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Viv
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Cay Gibson
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Janet,
You're a genius.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
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TracyFD
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I really may have to print out this thread for future use! Next Christmas we will have a 7mo in the house and I will have new techniques to employ!
Viv - I have a central vacuum I use for everything and love love love it. Also, thanks for the reminder that I can give myself permission to opt out of cookie decorating if it is not my forte - what a relief! We have PLENTY of other traditions to fill their memory banks! Maybe I will have patience for this particular activity by the time I am a grandmother?!
Ladies, I think my biggest lessons so far in homeschooling is learning that I tend to do too much too soon. Even the neat Christmas ornament craft kits I ordered from Chinaberry are too difficult to do with the kids. I should really be doing the projects like the ones from Enchanted Learning! Well, they will still be little enough next year - good thing they don't grow THAT fast!
Tracy
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Topic: Decorating Christmas Cookies
