It has become tradition in our house to make Pie Dough Cookies for Thanksgiving.  They are simple to make and the kids love decorating their turkeys, leaves and pumpkins.  Previous cookie decorating messes have led me to this trick which significantly decreases the mess and clean-up:  I give each child a plate for their cookies.  I give them another plate on which I make piles of various colors of frosting - similar to an artist’s palette.  I then give them brand new paint brushes which they use to dip into the frosting and then smear onto the cookies.  This eliminates wasting frosting and allows for some beautiful colors on the cookies.

Cookie Decorating Frosting Palette

We then top the frosting with sprinkles and decorator’s sugar.  Though,  I still haven’t quite figured out how to eliminate the waste of sprinkles.  Even the slotted tops can’t stop my boys from dumping out half of the container onto one cookie!

 And of course with every new idea comes a completely new set of problems - how to keep the frosting utensils out of our mouths before they make it to the cookies!