In this fun and easy kids' baking activity, children and parents make a homemade cookie gift basket full of gingerbread cookie men and women that can be "dressed" in a wardrobe of decorated cookie clothes. Dress-up gingerbread people make great holiday presents that boys and girls can play with and then eat!
How to Make Gingerbread Cookie Men and Women
- Find gingerbread cookie cutters shaped like a man and a woman.
- Pick a gingerbread cookie recipe to use. For extra fun, use a recipe from a children's picture book such as The Christmas Cat by Efner Tudor Holmes [HarperCollins, 1989], The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth [Scholastic Press, 1998], or Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett [Putnam Juvenile, 2008].
- Bake enough cookies to put at least one gingerbread man and one gingerbread woman in each gift basket.
How to Make Cookie Clothes for Gingerbread Men and Women
- Mix up a batch of cookie dough that will result in cut cookies that keep crisp edges, using a recipe such as a shortbread cookie recipe. Using a second type and color of cookie dough will make the cookie doll clothes look and taste more interesting in contrast to the gingerbread cookie dolls! Frugal bakers can use the remainder of the gingerbread cookie dough once enough gingerbread people cookies have been made.
- Use the same gingerbread man and woman cookie cutters as before to cut out shapes from the second dough.
- Use a sharp knife to carefully cut off the head and parts of the hands and feet to make clothes-shaped cookies. Creative bakers can use their imaginations to cut gingerbread people shapes into pants, shirts, overalls, skirts, blouses, and bodysuits. For extra fun, draw cardstock patterns for hats, purses, or umbrellas and use them to cut out cookie dress-up accessories.
- If clothes are to be decorated with egg yolk paint (a mixture of one yolk and 1/4 tsp. water plus drops of food coloring), paint the cookies now, before baking.
- Bake the cookie clothes and let them cool thoroughly before decorating.
How to Decorate Gingerbread Cookie People and Their Cookie Clothes
- Children might enjoy picking a theme for their cookie gift basket, such as Santa and Mrs. Santa Claus Christmas outfits, fairytale snow prince and snow princess outfits, or sports outfits such as football or soccer uniforms.
- Help children decorate the cookie clothes with icings that will harden and allow the cookies to be stacked and layered in a basket, such as royal icing, fondant icing, or a glaze made of powdered sugar and water. Sprinkles, colored sugars, jimmies, nonpareils, and dragees can be stuck into icing for added embellishment.
- Children can decorate the faces of the gingerbread people by drawing on eyes, mouths, noses, and perhaps hair, but bodies should be left blank so that the clothes can rest on them when the gift recipients play with them.
Once the cookies are all decorated and the icing has set and will not smear or be crushed, line a cookie gift box or basket with food grade tissue and gently arrange the cookie people and clothes inside. To complete the present, trace the cookie cutters on cardstock and create and include a gift card that explains how the cookie people can be dressed.
As much fun as it can be to present special friends with this unique cookie gift, these cookies can also be made to decorate a holiday party table or as a kids' Christmas baking activity or winter day baking activity.
Renee Carver - Renée Carver has an Elementary Education degree and over ten years of experience writing and editing children's educational products.
Join the Conversation