Painting on cookies has never been easier or more FUN! Check out how to make a 'Paint-Your-Own' (PYO) cookie and see how to use the Sweet Sugarbelle edible paint palettes. Plus, learn my tips to host a Cookie Painting Party for the holidays or a birthday party (it is so easy!)

Have you heard the term PYO? It stands for (P)aint (Y)our (O)own. And kids loooooove these cookies! 

Check out this video to learn how to stencil a cookie to create a PYO canvas. Also, check out the new Sugarbelle Paint Palettes and how to use them. Use the graphics in the video to get tips to create these cookies. 

Are you new to decorating? Before starting your first project, check out our FREE videos! Click here to check out our 'getting started' tutorials for videos on how to:

• Making royal icing tutorial
• Piping and flooding tutorial
• Rolling and baking tutorial

Let's take a closer look at making the PYO cookies. 

First, create the image on the cookie with a stencil. You can definitely use a projector and pipe an image, but it is much easier and faster to use a stencil. Just look at all these options!!

I like to use stiff icing when stenciling and apply it with a scraper. You probably saw in the video that I generously spread on the icing, but remove the excess. This not only keeps that image clear and crisp, but it makes it possible to reuse the stencil multiple times (you can probably do 6-12 - or more - cookies before you need to clean it).

SUPER IMPORTANT PYO COOKIE TIP: I don't recommend airbrushing these images for a PYO cookie.During painting, the color really smudges and makes a mess of the cookie.

Plus, don't feel like you need to stick to one cookie shape. Have fun with your cutters or use up leftover cookies. 

Click here to view all PYO stencils in our shop!

One thing that makes these cookies so easy is the new Sugarbelle Edible Paint Palettes. These are awesome, bright, and offer an easy way to create palettes with lots of color options!!! No more messy food color palettes!

These palettes come in two color sets TRENDY (on right, click here to view in shop) and PRIMARY (on left, click here to view in shop). Each package as 3 palettes of color and 3 brushes. One palette will have enough paint for at least 3-5 cookies.

The colors appear much darker on the palette than they will on the cookie.

I kept a water dish and paper towel on my workspace. This kept my brush clean as I changed color. I also used the center of the palette to mix some custom colors (you saw this in the video when I made the mermaid skin color). I also mixed colors to make brown for the pumpking stem. 

SUPER IMPORTANT PYO COOKIE TIP: Don't make your brush too wet. Not only will the excess water start to dissolve the royal icing, but you'll also notice a little smuding of the black. I keep my brush damp and I tried not to touch the black lines as best as I could.

These cookies and palettes would be a great set. Here's how I packed them up...

I used a white 7" box from BRP Box Shop for one cookie and one palette. I used a white 9" box from BRP Box Shop for two cookies and one palette. I put a little crinkle paper in the base and placed a wrapped cookie and palette inside each box. I tied the paint brush to the outside. For an in-depth look at PACKING YOUR COOKIES, click here to check out this blog post with links to my favorite cookie packaging products!

Okay...so we've covered how to make these fun cookies. Let's chat a little bit about...

HOSTING A COOKIE PAINTING PARTY

I have hosted and taught dozens and dozens of cookie classes, and this Cookie Painting Party by far was the easiest. It was easy to prep and set-up and soooooo easy to clean up. Plus the kids LOOOOVED IT!

Check out these for tips on hosting your own Cookie Painting Party!

Once the cookies are stenciled and ready (use above tutorial to learn how to make them), it's time to prep for the party. Let's break down each step of the process: 

1. First, set the table. I created a work station for each painter. I used the large pink Genie Ultimat (available here), but you could easily use a paper plate! I put out the cookies that were ready to be painted. And I had a few examples for them to get inspiration.

2. Set-up your work stations. I gave each painter a small dish of water, paper towel, paint brush and a primary and trendy paint palette. 

3. Do a DEMO cookie so the painters can see how to use the palettes. I gave the painters tips on make their projects successful. The two best tips are: don't add too much water to your brush (or cookie surface) AND stay inside the black lines of the designs. These tips will REDUCE SMUDGING and keep the cookies looking pretty.

4. This activity is really fun for children of all ages! My 6-year-old loved it and was very successful, but the older girls were also totally into it!

5. Active painting time. We did 4 cookies per person and the painting fun lasted about 45 minutes. 

6. Packing up the cookies and taking them home...the results were impressive! These girls were 10 years old and I think they did an amazing job. I carefully put the cookies on a paper plate (don't stack them!) and covered them with tin foil. You could have boxes ready, but the paper plate was just easier and cheaper.

COOKIE PAINTING BIRTHDAY KIT

Are you a cookie business...you might want to consider creating a PYO Birthday Party Kit. You could prep the cookies and supplies needed for the party in a box and sell! If I were to sell this product I would charge $9.00 for a box that had 2 PYO stenciled cookies, 1 palette, and 1 brush. I would offer to add on additional cookies or palettes for $2.50 each (this would increase the box size). For example, a set of 4 PYO cookies, 2 palettes and 1 brush boxed up would be $16.50. Instant fun!

Post questions if you have them and if you host a Cookie Decorating Party, please email me photos! I'd love to see them!

Happy Decorating,

Anne