Some childhood experiences stay with us long after we've grown. The smell of sunscreen and pool water on hot summer days. The feeling of jumping in a pile of leaves when the air turns crisp. The joy of decorating cookies during the winter holidays.

Your kids might not remember every trip to the playground or every new pair of shoes you buy them. But ask any adult about their childhood winter memories, and chances are good that decorating cookies will make the list. 

Decorating Cookies = Perfect Sensory Activity
Decorating cookies engages your senses in all the best ways. There's the sweet smell of baking, the satisfying squish of the frosting, the sparkle of colorful sprinkles. And let’s be honest, there’s no better kind of art than the kind you can eat when you're done.

Cookie decorating also gives kids lots of room for creativity. There's no wrong way to decorate a cookie. A snowman with three different colors of frosting and enough sprinkles to flood a small apartment? Perfect. A yellow Christmas tree that's more frosting than cookie? Amazing.  

It Works for Everyone
One of the best things about cookie decorating is how genuinely inclusive it is. Toddlers can shake sprinkles (probably across the kitchen floor). Preschoolers can spread frosting with butter knives. Older kids can create elaborate designs or challenge themselves to make matching sets.

Cookies also don’t have to be limited to one specific holiday. Christmas cookies, Hanukkah cookies, winter wonderland cookies, or plain old, "it's cold outside and we're bored" cookies all work equally well. 

What You Actually Need
Despite what Pinterest might tell you, you don't need much to create this special memory. Store-bought sugar cookies work just as well as homemade. Canned frosting is perfectly acceptable, especially once you’ve added the food coloring. A few bottles of sprinkles work just fine as decorations if you need to keep things simple. 

Cookie magic isn’t made from perfect royal icing or professionally piped designs. It's made from sitting together at the kitchen table, laughing at the lopsided reindeer, and sneaking bites of frosting when you think no one is looking. 

Embracing the Mess for a Day
Will you be sweeping sprinkles off of your kitchen floor for a week? Probably. Will someone get frosting in their hair? Almost certainly. Will the cookies look like they came from a bakery? Absolutely not (which is kind of the point.) Imperfect cookies and a messy kitchen table are what make this activity so special. Years from now, your kids will remember the afternoons you spent decorating cookies together, arguing good-naturedly about whether green frosting belongs on a snowman, and eating more sprinkles than any one person should.

This December consider setting aside an afternoon for this simple tradition. Put down some butcher paper or a disposable tablecloth, break out the frosting, and let everyone create their own edible masterpieces. The memories you're making are worth far more than a clean kitchen.

Let’s all remember that some of life's greatest joys really are this simple.