Baby Showers Galore!

My school currently has FOUR pregnant teachers. Everyone was banking on the group of recently married teachers to get pregnant this year, but so far it is four women who have been married for several years. Two are having their first babies (both boys) and two are having their second babies (genders not yet known).

I absolutely love parties of any kind; wedding showers, baby showers, birthdays...you name it! I also enjoy baking a lot, so I have been combining two of my loves and making decorated sugar cookies for the showers. 

So far, I have gotten excellent feedback. 

For the last baby shower I used a cookie cutter shaped like a baby onesie and decorated the cookies in baby blue and white with polka dots. I did not want to do the exact same design for the next shower, which is tomorrow, so instead I used three different dinosaur cookie cutters and frosted them in pastel colors with round pastel candies on top for decoration. I think they came out great.

My inclination is to say, yes, my cookies are from a cherished family recipe and I make them from scratch, but alas, the mix comes in a bag that can be found in the baking aisle at your local grocery store. I think they taste just as good as homemade and truly it is the decorating and love that goes into them that make them extra special!

I made the same kind of cookies for my sister-in-law's baby shower in December with the onesie cutter and pink and white cookies (It's a girl!). Since those cookies were the shower favor, I individually wrapped them in plastic bags and tied them with pale pink curling ribbon.

Although time consuming, these cookies are not difficult to make. It is helpful to have a free standing mixer because the Royal Icing requires about 10 straight minutes of mixing before it forms stiff peaks. A decorating bag and tip are also required as well as colored gel to tint the icing to your desired color. All of these items (except the mixer) can be found at a store like Michael's or probably even JoAnn Fabrics. The colored gel for tinting is extremely concentrated therefore you only need to use the tiniest amount to get pastel colors like I used.

My next batch is going to be some Margarita shaped cookies with pink and green icing for a friend's birthday. Many websites sell very cute and original cookie cutters, but there are also plastic sets available that include numbers and letters in addition to many holiday themed cutter in which you get about 100 for around 10-15 dollars. 

The Cookie Cutter Shop website has a great variety with many different themes and designs for customizing cookies for your loved ones.