Decorating cookies can actually be super easy. There's really no need for fancy piping skills, all of the little accessories that go along with baking, or a perfectly-achieved bakery-look to make your cookies look adorable! Some of the most creative cookie decorating ideas that are both colorful, messy and fun.
Whether you're looking for a baking activity to do with your kids, have a birthday party planned, want to make some cute holiday treats or are just trying cookie decorating for the first time ever -- there are so many easy cookie decorating ideas for beginners that will add some edible fun to your kitchen.
The best part? Beginner cookie decorating is all about fun, not perfection. A little icing, a couple of sprinkles, some googly eyes and a funny face with some chocolate chips can go a long way when it comes to turning simple cookies into a tiny edible masterpiece.
Cookie Decorating Is A Great Pastime for Beginner Bakers
Cookie decorating is one of the easiest baking crafts there is simply because there's no right way of decorating cookies. Kids can pile sprinkles on their cookies and adults can create pretty, simple icing designs and everyone can get in on the fun creating something unique.
When getting ready to try cookie decorating as a beginner, you should consider using simple sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, gingerbread cookies or a cookie decorating kit. HomeBaker kits are especially great for families with beginner or little decorators because they're specifically designed to be as fun and easy as can be.
Here are 50 Easy Cookie Decorating Ideas for Beginners:
1. Classic Sprinkle Cookies: You can't go wrong with spreading some icing on a cookie and loading it up with sprinkles.
2. Polka Dot Cookies: Add different-colored icing dots to create a super fun polka dot pattern.
3. Rainbow Cookies: Cover your cookies with lines of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple icing for a rainbow effect.
4. Cookie Faces: Put some googly eyes and a smiley face on your cookies with some icing and chocolate chips to create silly faces.
5. Heart Cookies: Take your plain cookies and fill them with cute red, pink and white icing for Valentine's day or any day for a sweet treat.
6. Star Cookies: Use yellow icing and some gold sprinkles to make your stars pop.
7. Letter Cookies: Use some icing and any sprinkles you have on hand to write out kids' names, initials or special words such as 'love' or 'yummy' on your cookies.
8. Number Cookies: These are perfect for birthday gifts and can also be decorated by young children. Just cover the numbers with icing, sprinkles, and small candy pieces.
9. Dipped Chocolate Cookies: Dip half of the cookie in melted chocolate and sprinkle the chocolate with other candy pieces before it sets.
10. Drizzle Cookies: Use a spoon to drizzle icing or melted chocolate over your cookies for a nice bakery style finish.
11. Marble Icing Cookies: Swirl two different colors of icing together and dunk your cookies in the icing to give it a marble-look.
12. Confetti Cookies: Pour some sprinkles into a little icing, or simply add different colored sprinkles into some plain white icing.
13. Animal Face Cookies: Bears, cats, lions or bunnies and any other animal could be featured on your cookies using simple icing shapes and candy pieces.
14. Flower Cookies: You can use icing, candy, and sprinkles to create various types of flowers.
15. Butterfly Cookies: Use some bright colored icing and sprinkles for a super cute butterfly design.
16. Dinosaur Cookies: Use icing to cover the cookies to make them into dinosaurs, add sprinkles and candy to resemble spikes and eyes.
17. Unicorn Cookies: Make colorful unicorn cookies using white icing, edible glitter and rainbow sprinkles.
18. Monster Cookies: Children tend to love making monster cookies! Use colored icing, candy eyes and make funny mouths.
19. Snowman Cookies: Create a Snowman cookie with a white frosting icing topped off with a piece of a licorice lace, eyes made out of icing.
20. Christmas Tree Cookies: Decorate Christmas tree shape cookies by covering them in green icing and using sprinkles for ornaments.
21. Gingerbread People: Create cute gingerbread people with icing for a mouth and shirt and sprinkle on sprinkles and other candies.
22. Candy Cane Cookies: These are fun for Christmas time and easy to decorate with red and white icing lines.
23. Ornament Cookies: Decorate round cookies as Christmas ornaments with nice icing designs.
24. Reindeer Cookies: Decorate cookies to resemble reindeer by adding pretzels for antlers, candy eyes and red candy for the nose.
25. Snowflake Cookies: Use white or blue icing for a delicate snowflake effect on your cookies.
26. Halloween Ghost Cookies: Place two candy eyes on top of white frosting to make Halloween themed ghost cookies.
27. Pumpkin Cookies: Use orange icing and green colored decorating icing for a pumpkin and then design it into a jack-o'-lantern with candy pieces or icing.
28. Spider Web Cookies: Frost the cookies with chocolate icing and add whiteicing around in a spider web design using a tooth pick to complete the look.
29. Easter Egg Cookies: Use a bunch of pastels to make your Easter eggs unique, or go with a solid color, stripes and dots with the icing colors.
30. Bunny Cookies: Use white colored frosting and two pink colored candy ears to design a super cute bunny.
31. Ice Cream Cone Cookies: Decorate cake-shaped cookies to resemble ice cream cones by covering with an ice cream cone flavored frosting and adding candy pieces.
32. Donut Cookies: Make cookie donut shapes out of cookie dough and then decorate with icing and sprinkles as though it was real!
33. Pizza Cookies: Cut cookies out in pizza shapes, cover with a layer of red icing and then sprinkle with shredded white chocolate and candy pieces to imitate a yummy dessert pizza.
34. Cupcake Cookies: Frost cupcake-shaped cookies using traditional cake decorating frosting and add some sprinkles.
35. Teddy Bear Cookies: Cookie shape the dough to resemble a cute little bear using an edible marker or some black icing for the eyes and mouth.
36. Beach Cookies: cover your cookie with a bit of blue icing for water and then crushed Graham crackers for the sand, add candy shell pieces for the beach.
37. Garden Cookies: Add some cute green vines and colorful candy flowers to resemble a sweet summer garden.
38. Sports Cookies: Cookie cut your dough into balls or simple shapes, then decorate to resemble a basketball, soccer ball, baseball or tennis ball with colored icing.
39. Emoji Cookies: Use colored icing to make adorable little emojis including Happy, Surprised, or Loving emojis.
40. Tie-Dye Cookies: Use tiny dots of several different icing colors and lightly swirl them together using a toothpick.
41. Simple Border Cookies: A simple border of piping or spoonful of icing around a cookie can make it stand out.
42. Sprinkle Edge Cookies: Spread white or chocolate icing to cover the majority of the cookie and then press only the outer edges into sprinkles.
43. Candy Button Cookies: Lay mini candies in rows across the cookie to make them resemble a piece of clothing.
44. Chocolate Chip Designs: Place chocolate chips on your cookies to make fun shapes such as hearts, smiley faces or stars.
45. Edible Marker Cookies: Once the icing has dried on your cookies, draw cute faces and designs or write sweet messages with edible markers.
46. Mini Cookie Sandwiches: Between two miniature cookies, place a layer of icing or frosting and then roll the edges in sprinkles.
47. Color Block Cookies: Decorate half of your cookie with one color of icing and the other half with a different color.
48. Simple Glaze Cookies: Melt some icing with an ounce of water or milk and dip the cookies in this glaze for a sweet coating.
49. Decorate-Your-Own Cookie Tray: Set out a variety of plain cookies, icing, sprinkles and candy pieces and let your guests create their own cookie designs.
50. HomeBaker Cookie Decorating Kit: For an ultra easy cookie decorating option for the whole family, try a HomeBaker baking kit. These kits are designed to be fun, simple, and stress-free with easy recipes for kids, beginners, families and more.
Tips for Beginner Cookie Decorating:
Start with fully cooled cookies, as warm cookies can make icing melt and get gooey.
For finer details like outlines, use thicker icing, while thinner icing works well for filling large areas. If you don't have piping bags, a small zip-top bag with the corner cut off works in a pinch.
Keep decorations simple: sprinkles, candy eyes, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, crushed cookies, and colored sugar can do most of the work for you.
Most importantly: don't stress about perfection. Fun, creative, and playful are key when it comes to easy cookie decorating.
Best Ideas for Kids' Cookie Decorating:
The best cookie decorating activities for kids are the ones that allow creativity without a lot of strict rules. Sprinkle, monster, snowman, animal, rainbow, and "decorate your own" cookie trays are all great choices.
Cookie decorating kits for children also make the activity much easier for parents. A kids baking kit or DIY cookie kit allows children to enjoy the fun and excitement of baking while ensuring that the process is as easy and manageable as possible.
Best cookie decorating occasions:
Cookie decorating is perfect for almost any occasion! Think heart cookies for Valentine's Day, bunny cookies for Easter, pumpkin cookies for Halloween, snowman cookies for Christmas, or number cookies for birthdays.
Cookie decorating is also an ideal activity for playdates, classroom parties, family weekends, sleepovers, holiday celebrations, and even corporate family events. It is now incredibly easy to use HomeBaker kits to transform cookie decorating into a memorable experience that the whole family can enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What are the easiest cookies for beginners to decorate?
Sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, and gingerbread cookies are considered the easiest cookies to decorate because they have a sturdy structure and a smooth surface perfect for icing and toppings.
What do beginners need for cookie decorating?
For an easy beginning in cookie decorating, you'll need fully cooled cookies, icing, sprinkles, small candies, and a good dose of creativity. If you want to make the cookie decorating process that much simpler, a cookie decorating kit is an excellent way to get everything you'll need.
What are the best cookie decorating ideas for children?
Some fantastic ideas for cookie decorating for children include rainbow cookies, sprinkle cookies, snowman cookies,monster cookies, animal cookies, and decorate your own cookie trays, heart cookies, and more.
Are cookie decorating kits helpful for beginners?
They certainly are! Cookie decorating kits for kids offer an incredibly simple introduction to the exciting world of cookie decorating, taking all of the complexity out of the process. HomeBaker kits are specifically designed to be fun, simple, and family-friendly.
Beautifully decorated cookies do not need to be complicated. With simple icing, colorful sprinkles, and a few easy decorating ideas, beginners can produce cookies that not only look wonderful but also feel personal and delicious.
Whether it is a family holiday activity, cookies designed with your children, or even your first experience with a cookie decorating kit, cookie decorating is the perfect opportunity to strengthen your bonds.
At HomeBaker, we see every baking occasion as an opportunity to spend quality time together. So gather your cookies, let your imagination take flight, and have a blast decorating!
