The kids decorate cookies for Valentine's Day.

It is not always easy coming up with a craft that all age levels will have fun with, especially if you have more than one child.  The monster mail box, shown in my previous blog post, is perfect for my second grader, but seemed too young for my fourth grader.  My fourth grader is also my child with the milk allergy.

Since everyone loves cookies, we decided to have the kids decorate sugar cookies during their Valentine's Day party.  I had volunteered to bring in a sweet treat for the class party, as I always do so that there is a safe snack that everyone can enjoy.   A friend suggested decorating the cookies as the craft for the party.  I have to say, I was relieved.  This is a great idea for the kids and it takes the pressure off of me to come up with the holiday design and relieved me of the extra time it would have taken to decorate, not that I mind, of course.

The recipe for the Sugar Cookies is below and will be added to my Milk-Free Recipes Page of the blog.  In addition to the cookies, I plan to bring in a bowl of frosting.  The frosting is so easy to make and the recipe can also be found on the Milk-Free Recipes page.  Don't forget to add red food coloring.  In addition to the frosting, the kids will have safe candies and sprinkles to add to their cookies for decoration.

Looking forward to seeing what the kids come up with.  Happy Valentine's Day.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup (milk-free) margarine, I especially like Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks.
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:
Mix thoroughly margarine, confectioner's sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Blend in flour, soda and cream of tartar.  Cover, chill for 2-3 hours.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Divide dough in half, keep one half refrigerated until ready to roll and cut.
Roll each half on lightly floured surface.
Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
Place on lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown on edge.
Cool on cooling racks.  Store in air tight container until ready to frost.

For 25 large heart shapes, I increased the ingredients by three.

Valentine's Day does not have to be about a box of chocolates.

If you are looking for craft ideas that do not involve food, Family Fun Magazine has some fun projects for Valentine's Day.  I especially like the alien monster mailbox.  It was easy to make and is a fun way to collect all those Valentine's Day cards.

This is the box we made at home and will be making with my son's class.  We only needed a few materials and it took only minutes to make.  To make the Valentine's Day box we needed an empty tissue box, a small piece of felt for the teeth, paper for the hands, feet and nose, pipe cleaners and googly eyes, found at our local craft store.


Check out the holiday craft ideas at Family Fun by clicking here.

Send me your ideas or photos of your Valentine's Day creations.
Happy Valentine's Day~