KIDS COOKIE PARTY

Tonight I had my great niece, Trinity, and three of her friends over for a Cookie party.

I thought that it would be fun to set the table and also have dinner as well as make and decorate cookies.

I wanted to go with a Snowman theme but could only find two of these cute aprons.

So, I mixed it up and added Santa in with the them.

Each place setting had either the Santa theme or Snowman theme. There was an apron, a pez and a bobble head figure to take home.

I also had these cute mini milk bottles at each place setting. I figured milk went with cookies. But, of course the girls did not want milk with their dinner.

While Santa was in the mix, the main theme was Snowmen and the center piece was a mix of different snowmen as well as snowmen on the plates and napkins.

Before we started making the cookies the girls all put their hair back in ponytails, washed their hands and put on their aprons.

Then we went over to the work station where each girl had a bag of goodies, sugar cookie dough that I had made the night before so it could chill, flour for rolling out the dough and cookie cutters.

Normally the goodie bags are given when the kids leave the party but tonight they got them early so they could use what was inside.

They got a small rolling pin, a package of cookie cutters, five different kinds of sprinkles and a spatula.

The girls had a lot of fun making the cut out cookies.

They loved putting sprinkles on the cookies. The more the merrier.

They put a lot of thought into what shapes they wanted and why they picked that shape.

I kept hearing "This is so fun" from each of the girls. So it made me happy to know they were having a good time.

After the cookies were cut out, we put them in the oven. Each girl had her own cookie sheet full so she would know which ones were hers.

While they were cooking they ate dinner.

When the cookies came out of the oven they all had to look at the great work everyone did.

Each girl was happy with their final product.

We then made snowball cookies but I forgot to take pictures of making them.

The girls loved rolling the cookies in the powdered sugar. It was almost like playing in snow and making real snowballs.

Of course they all had to taste their cookies. They all agreed they were yummy and they did a great job!

Award ribbons were also handed out. There was a ribbon for the most yummy tasting cookie, the most creative cookie, the best over all cookie and the best decorated cookie.

Each girl was very proud of the ribbon they were given and was excited about taking all their baked goods home to share with their family.

I have to admit, I'm very blessed to have a wonderful girl like Trinity in my family so I can have fun doing all these girly things with her. I really love that girl a lot!

Oh and in case you are wondering, no, I didn't have even one cookie. It's weigh in day tomorrow and I'm being good!

ONE CAN NEVER HAVE TO MANY SNOWMEN

This year my fireplace mantel is full of nothing but snowmen.

Big ones, little ones and teeny tiny ones.

This jolly fellow is one of my favorites. I got him at a Christmas party years ago. We did a gift exchange and I have loved him ever since.

I don't know why I love snowmen so much. I've never even built a real one. But for some reason they make me happy.

I've been collecting them for years now.

Some I have bought myself. Some came to me as gifts.

But, each one has a special memory with it and a story behind it.

Some came home with me from vacations. Some from vacations with family members.

I love how there are so many snowmen yet they are all different.

Every year I try to add to my collection. I've gotten several new ones this year.

I love unpacking them every year. Normally I put them all in the china hutch with little trees, street lamps and so on.

This year I didn't do much decoration so I decided to put them all out on the fireplace mantel. I didn't have room for all of them so I had to put some throughout the house in other places too.

I have a Santa collection too but they didn't get put on this year. Maybe next year will be the year of the Santas.

But, this year is the year of the snowmen. All with their darling outfits and cute little smiles.

What Christmas items do you collect?