Halloween Cookie Decorating Ideas for Kids & Halloween Scavenger Hunt

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Ready for bringing on the Halloween spirit with some Halloween cookie decorating ideas for the kiddos? I’m sharing my favorite sugar cookie recipe that makes for the ultimate decorating cookies along with a fun Halloween scavenger hunt that your kid of all ages will love this Halloween!

This post is sponsored by Fred Meyer, however, as always all opinions and statements made are mine alone.

Halloween & Social Distancing in 2020

What has your county decided on with regard to Halloween celebrations this year? So far it sounds like mine is limiting all activities but I wanted to keep things fun for my toddlers since they are just now learning what holidays are and have been getting really “esscited” to celebrate. With that in mind, I’ve been brainstorming ways to celebrate the upcoming holidays while trying to avoid big crowds and with that came up with Halloween cookie decorating along with a Halloween themed scavenger hunt.

I’m going to dive into the cookie decorating down below, which trust me, you need to check out because I am sharing my favorite melt in your mouth sugar cookie recipe that makes for the ultimate decorating cookies. For now, let’s talk scavenger hunt.

I do a lot of scavenger hunts with my three-year-old twins. Not necessarily organized, but we’ve been in the car a lot lately while going to and from their dad’s house and I keep them occupied by asking them to find me something red, or blue, or a big truck, yellow sign. Things like that. And they really enjoy hunting for things and get excited when they find that blue or red thing. So naturally, I figured the same idea could be used for a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt.

Halloween scavenger hunt: social distancing approved halloween activity!

I’ve put together a printable scavenger hunt printable for your kiddos, but feel free to save it to your phone instead and simply ask your younger kids to spot the Halloween decorations.

When it comes to searching for the Halloween decorations, I’d suggest slow drives through neighborhoods or taking a stroll with your wagon/stroller. Be mindful of the people around you and for each house, chose an item on the list to ask your littles to look for. For the older kids, you might want to have them decide what to look for next by choosing something from the printable below and crossing it off once you come across a house with the decoration.

I feel like I am over complicating this. I hope you can gather what I am getting at here with my Halloween scavenger hunt printable!

halloween cookie decorating ideas for kids

Okay now when it comes to the Halloween cookie decorating ideas for the kiddos, I’m not saying throw a big Halloween cookie decorating party. At least not this year while we’re navigating the virus and year as a whole. Keep these Halloween cookie decorating ideas at home and put together a fun Halloween activity for you and your kiddos. If you’re comfortable opening up the offer to close friends and family, be smart about it! Make sure you’re washing hands, make single plates for each child so they aren’t double-dipping into the same batch of icing, and double-check that everyone is feeling good with no signs of sickness before ya’ll get together!

Before I share the handful of Halloween cookie decorating ideas that I have, let me share with you my favorite quick and easy sugar cookie recipe.

Ya’ll know I have a strong love for Fred Meyer. I am in the store a lot less frequently than I was this time last year due to the virus, but I still place one Clicklist order each week and usually end up stopping by for a thing or two that I forgot (I always forget to buy ice, anyone else??).

Something I’m getting a big use out of lately is their website. Not only can you shop your local Fred Meyer store via their site & app, but you can browse their huge selection of recipes and add the ingredients right onto your shopping list, or into your Clicklist cart. I shared my favorite holiday appetizers with you last year, but my new favorite find is this quick and easy sugar cookie recipe. It makes for the perfect, melt in your mouth sugar cookies every single time and they are perfect for decorating.

I use their Simple Truth line for the majority of my cooking and baking and I really think the products are what made their sugar cookie recipe turn out SO well.

I’ll share with you an odd fact about myself. I have a thing for butter. Not like eating it with a spoon, but I need the perfect butter for all of my cooking. Some of the stick butters I’ve tried don’t work very well in baking, especially cookie making, but after I tried out the Simple Truth stick butter, I don’t think I’ll ever go back. Combined with the other ingredients, the butter makes for amazingly soft and delicious cookies that just melt in your mouth. I highly recommend at least taking one shot with the Simple Truth stick butter that you can find here.

Enough butter talk, I know you’re just here for the recipe and Halloween cookie decorating ideas, so I’ll cut to it.

Melt In Your Mouth Sugar Cookie Recipe

halloween cookie decorating & Marshmallow paint

Now that you have your sugar cookies baked, let’s put those aside and talk cookie decorating. You can probably tell by now that I set up a muffin pan (actually brownie pan, but you can use whatever you like) and I put together some marshmallow paint that I’ll share the recipe for in a moment, along with some fun Halloween themed sprinkles I found at Fred Meyer. I use a muffin pan for most all crafts/activities with my twins because it’s an easy way to allow them to share without actually sharing. They each get their half of the pan and tantrums usually don’t break out.

I’ll also add real quick that this halloween themed activity kept my toddlers busy for over an HOUR. It did need to be supervised as I didn’t want a huge mess, but I was able to get some work done on my phone while they decorated their cookies which I call a win for the work from home parent like myself!

The true mess that came along with this activity was from the marshmallow paint I put together. I found the idea for the edible cookie paint a few months ago when looking for easy toddler activities but hadn’t come up with a use for it until now.

It ended up being so easy to put together and I probably could have saved most of it for later if I hadn’t given all of it to the twins for their Halloween cookie decorating.

DIY edible marshmallow paint

All you need to put together a batch of marshmallow paint is one container of marshmallow fluff, 1/4 cup of water, and 3Tbsp of corn syrup. Mix it together until it’s silky smooth, and then divide into cups to add some food coloring and make for some cookie painting fun!

After putting the colored marshmallow paint & sprinkle mixes into my brownie pan, I set it up on the kitchen table between where my twins were sitting, gave them a few cookies, and said go at it!

This activity could easily work for a small or large group of kids of all ages, but I hope you stay mindful given what all is going on right now.

I’d love to see if you try out any of these cookie decorating ideas or even the sugar cookie recipe of Fred Meyer’s that I shared! Tag me on Facebook (@twinsandcoffee) or Instagram (@twisnandcoffeepnw) and let me know what you thought!

Keep safe mamas, and happy halloween!

If you’re on the lookout for more Halloween fun, click here!

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