Easy and Fun Tips for Hosting a DIY Cookie Decorating Party for Teens This Christmas

Looking for a fun holiday activity your teens will love? A cookie decorating party brunch is a fantastic way to gather friends, unleash some creativity, and celebrate the season with plenty of laughs (and sprinkles!). It’s a simple and festive idea that’s sure to create sweet holiday memories.

Today, I’m sharing our fun cookie party brunch, and my best tips for making it a low-stress and fun-filled get-together for teens. Read on for easy setup ideas, and you’ll be ready to host a party your teens and their friends love!

A festive table setup for decorating cookies. Various bowls with colorful icing and sprinkles surround a platter of star-shaped cookies. A small Christmas tree is in the background, adding to the holiday atmosphere.

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I wanted to do something special and fun for my daughter and her sweet group of friends this Christmas — a chance for them to take a break from the stress of school, enjoy some holiday fun, and spend time together before finals week and the busyness of Christmas kicks into high gear.

We decided that hosting a Christmas brunch with cookie decorating would be perfect. It gave the girls a relaxed morning to enjoy good food, decorate cookies, and spend plenty of time chatting and, of course, taking lots of cute photos. A little organization and planning ahead made the whole experience feel easy and fun for everyone involved!

A variety of colorful sprinkles in small white containers are arranged on a green mat with star patterns. There are also two bowls containing blue and pink icing in the background.

Simple and Festive Party Setup

I wanted this party to feel festive but easy to pull together. Here’s how I kept it simple and stress-free.

Simple and Festive Brunch Menu for Teens

Brunch foods are some of my favorite things to serve for a holiday gathering! It’s easy to throw together a breakfast casserole, make some muffins, and add some fruit to the mix, and you’re good to go!

I served a mix of our family favorites and quick, easy options:

Sausage breakfast casserole (Our family fave!)
Muffins in festive paper liners (I kept it super easy and used a boxed mix!)
Mini yogurt parfaits with granola and fruit (Make it cute and serve with mini spoons!)
A hot chocolate bar with fun toppings like marshmallows, peppermint sprinkles, and of course, whipped cream (Who doesn’t love hot chocolate?)
Juice served in cute glasses (I still had pretty gold-rimmed plastic cups left over from our son’s rehearsal dinner!)

A tiered stand with yogurt parfaits topped with berries and muffins in festive red and white snowflake wrappers. A white bowl filled with granola is in front, and a lit candle is in the background with holiday decor.

How I Styled Our Festive Buffet and Table

The food was displayed buffet-style on our kitchen island, making it easy for everyone to serve themselves. I used a wooden tiered stand to hold the muffins and mini parfaits, adding a little height and making everything extra cute — important when serving teen girls!

To keep things simple, I used paper products, including red snowflake plates from the Dollar Tree with matching napkins and plastic cups.

Festive holiday table setting with colorful placemats featuring floral and leaf patterns. A decorative arrangement with greenery and ornaments is in the background on a woven mat. A red napkin with a snowflake design holds cutlery.

For the dining room table, I kept the setup easy. Since the table was already decorated with a festive centerpiece, all I had to do was add pretty paper placemats that paired perfectly with the Dollar Tree plates. It looked festive and pulled together without much effort. Keeping with the simple theme — I had a few of these cute Hester and Cook placemats left over from last Christmas!

Five young women wearing white aprons stand together in a festive dining room. The table is set with plates, napkins, and green decorations. Greenery and red bows adorn the windows in the background. They are smiling at the camera.

DIY Stamped Aprons for Extra Fun

To make the cookie decorating experience even more fun (and keep the girls’ clothes clean), I bought simple white aprons for each of them. For a festive touch, I stamped the aprons with a cute peppermint design.

Hands are using a rubber stamp with a candy cane design on a white fabric. The fabric has some red print already on it. A piece of green patterned tape is visible nearby.

A close-up of a white cloth apron featuring three red and white candy canes above a strip of green geometric pattern fabric. One hand is touching the apron, which is laid on a cardboard surface.

I used a piece of tape to help me line up the peppermint design on the apron.

The girls loved wearing the aprons, and it made for such adorable photos! Plus, the aprons doubled as a little keepsake from the party.

Stress-Free Cookie Decorating Tips and Tricks

To make the cookie decorating process smooth and enjoyable, I prepped everything ahead of time. I covered the kitchen table with a plastic table cloth, and then make a paper runner with wrapping paper to add fun color.

A wooden stand with stacks of star and tree-shaped cookies. Nearby, bowls filled with pastel-colored icing in pink, blue, and red are ready for decorating, and more cookies in various shapes are on a tray.

1. Make the cookies ahead.

I baked and cut out sugar cookies the weekend before, froze them, and thawed them the day before the party. They were ready to decorate and tasted fresh!

A table set for cookie decorating, featuring a plate of cookies, bowls of colorful icing in pink and blue, and small cups filled with various sprinkles and decorations. A piping bag is visible next to the setup.

2. Make royal icing for piping and powder sugar icing for filling in color.

I made 2 kinds of icing for decorating — white royal icing for piping the cookies, and colorful powdered sugar icing for filling in. I made the royal icing with meringue powder instead of egg whites.
I placed the royal icing into small piping bags with decorating tips for each girl to use.
Caroline tinted the powdered sugar icing with four different colors of food coloring. Each icing color was placed in bowls on each end of the table with small spoons for easy use.
I made the icing the morning of the brunch, but in hind-sight, I could have made the icing the day before to save time before the party. As long as you store it in air-tight containers you should be fine.

A woman decorates cookies at a table covered with bowls of colored icing and sprinkles. She wears a red sweater and white apron. A decorated Christmas tree and small pine trees are in the background, near a window.

3. Organize your decorating supplies at each seat.

Each girl had a small aluminum cookie sheet (ours were from the Dollar Tree) lined with brown parchment paper. This helped to keep all the sprinkles confined to the table.
I sorted all the sprinkles by color into small paper condiment cups at both ends of the table, with tiny appetizer spoons for scooping. (You can also find both of these at the Dollar Tree.)
A cake stand loaded with pre-baked cookies set up in the middle of the table made it easy for everyone to select their cookie shapes.

A tray of colorful, decorated sugar cookies in various shapes, including stars, trees, and snowflakes. Bowls of icing and sprinkles are visible in the background, suggesting a festive cookie decorating session.

4. Provide take-home packaging for the girls to carry their newly decorated cookies.
I bought small plastic crystal-look trays from the Dollar Tree for the girls to take their cookies home. Each tray was wrapped with Press’n Seal plastic and tied with festive red and white string.

Five people seated around a table are decorating cookies with icing. The table is covered with bowls of different-colored icing, cookie cutters, and paper towels. A small Christmas tree and festive decorations are visible in the background.

The girls had so much fun decorating their cookies, snapping fun photos, and enjoying the morning together. It was so much fun to watch them get creative with their designs, and they really took their time making each cookie just right. I loved their attention to detail!

Since the girls took their time with each cookie design, they didn’t end up needing as many cookies as I had originally planned. Their slower pace allowed them to enjoy the decorating process fully, and the smaller trays and cookie sheets worked out perfectly as a work space for them!

A festive table setup for cookie decorating, featuring a centerpiece of cookies on a stand, bowls of colorful icing, and sprinkles. The background includes a decorated Christmas tree and holiday-themed decor by the window.

Why not start your own tradition with a Christmas cookie decorating brunch? Hosting a Christmas cookie decorating party doesn’t have to be complicated to be special. With a little prep and a focus on simplicity, you can create a festive and memorable morning that teens will love. Whether it’s the creative fun, the delicious food, or the chance to connect with friends, this is an easy holiday tradition worth trying!

Happy Hosting!

A festive display of decorated Christmas cookies, icing bowls, and colorful sprinkles sets the stage for a DIY cookie decorating party. The text reads "Christmas Cookie Decorating Party for Teens" and "Perfecting Places.

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