Tips for Throwing a Christmas Cookie Party for Girls Aged 10-12

Just because the economy is down and money is hard to come by doesn't mean you have to rule out throwing a Christmas party. Instead of putting together an extravagant affair opt for throwing a much less expensive Christmas Cookie party for girls aged 10-12 by following these tips.

1. Stick with sugar cookies. The idea behind a Christmas cookie party is the decorating, not how many kinds of Christmas cookies you can come up with. Sugar cookies are the easiest to make and don't require alot of costly ingrediants. Make several batches of sugar cookie dough ahead of time and store in the refridgerator. An hour or so before the party starts use cookie cutters to cut out the dough and start baking your first batch of Christmas cookies so that when the guests arrive there are plenty of cookies to begin decorating.

2. Provide the basics. Don't go all out on cookie toppings. Have a few different colors of icing and some sprinkles set out for the girls to decorate with. Making your own icing is cheaper than buying premade store bought icing and tastes just as good. You can find many icing recipes online by googling christmas cookie icing recipes.

3. Keep the refreshments to a minimum. Since a Christmas cookie party is all about decorating Christmas cookies don't go overboard on snacks. Let the cookies themselves be the main attraction. Provide hot cocoa, milk and Russian tea. If you feel like you must serve some other foods then maybe set out a bowl of chips and dip or popcorn.

Here's a good, cheap and easy recipe for a Christmas time Russian Tea.

1 cup of Tang

4 tablespoons of instant tea

1/2 cup of sugar

6 tablespoons of lemonade powder mix

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of cloves

Mix together and store. Use 2 teaspoons in a mug and add hot water.

4. Gift Swap Game. Before you complain about the cost of a gift exchange keep in mind that you can set a cap on the cost of the gift. You can require that all gifts cost no more than $1 or $5.

To play the gift swap game all gifts must piled into a pile and have no name tags on them. Have the girls sit in a circe around the pile of gifts. Draw numbers to decide who goes first. The order of players can then go clockwise or counter clockwise or even by their drawn number.

The first person to draw a gift from the pile must open the gift and show it to the other girls. Player 2 then gets to decide if they want to steal player 1's gift or draw a gift from the pile. Should they decide to steal player 1's gift then player 1 must again draw from the pile. Player 1 can not resteal the gift back.

The stealing and unwrapping cycle continues from person to person until everyone has a gift.

5. End the party with a round of caroling. This doesn' t have to be anything fancy with candles and whatnot. A quick visit around the block with a few tried and true carols like Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer will do.

Send every girl home with a batch of cookies and your party will be a sucess. It doesn't take much to make holiday memories for your children and foster the Christmas spirit. Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy the cookies!