Neigborhood Baking Party

A couple of years ago several of the moms in my neighborhood came up with the idea for a Neighborhood Baking Party for kids. We divide the large group (usually 15-20 people including moms and kids) into three groups and we rotate between the houses creating each of the featured recipes. The hostess at each house walks the group through the mixing, baking and decorating stages of the cookies. To keep things moving, we generally have some cookies baked in advance so we don't have to wait for things to get out of the oven. When the first group arrives they mix the dough for the second group and the cookies bake while the groups shift. Of course the most fun is decorating the cookies. We usually make cut-out sugar cookies with all sorts of colored frostings and decorations at one house, gingerbread cookies at another house and another kid-friendly cookie/candy at the third house. When we're all done, each child goes home with a dozen or so cookies. The event is looked forward to by both adults and kids alike.

~Karen B., Eagan, MN