HO, HO, HELLO, my friends!  Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a little cookie decorating fun, am I right?  

The delicious aroma of cookies baking in the oven, the sweet taste of frosting straight off the spatula, and, of course, popping a few candy decorations into your mouth for every one piece that makes it onto the cookies.  :)

There's just something so magical about creating cookies for Santa!

You know what else is magical?  Today.

Today is a magical, exciting day because...not only do I get to share my super adorable "Holly Jolly" Cookie Decorating Party with you...

...today marks the kickoff of the super fun 2016 Holiday Party Hop!

I am beyond thrilled to join 18 other fabulous blogger friends as we each share fun holiday entertaining ideas with you all week long!

To see all the party sites in the 2016 Holiday Party Hop, please start here.  You'll find the link to the next stop at the bottom of this post.  

If you're making your way through the tour and are joining us from Mirabelle Creations, welcome to the party!  

Isn't Deanna's Hot Cocoa Party amazing?!!! I'm pretty sure I need her "Baby, It's Cold Outside" print hanging in my house...GORGEOUS! If you missed the post, be sure to check it out here.

Peeling your eyes off of her dreamy hot cocoa photos isn't an easy feat, so I wanted to be sure to follow it up with something that would keep your mouth watering...Christmas cookies!!!

You guys, the minute I finished designing the Holly Jolly Cookie Decorating Party Invites, I knew I had to contact my friend Mel, the creative cookie gal of Say Anything Bakery.  

If you follow my blog, you know that Mel designed some cookies to match the Halloween "Boo Ball" invitation that I'd made, and she killed it!  See the pics here.

The cookies were seriously works of art, y'all.  GORGEOUS!

This time around, once again, Mel did not disappoint.

I nearly fell off my chair when she sent me the sneak peek photo of what she'd created.

Take a peek at the invite below, and then scroll back up to the pics above.  

Seriously, y'all.  Just, WOW!!!  She also made penguin cookies that are identical to the little guy on the invitations....you'll see pics of them further down in the post. You'd better make sure you're sitting down!  ;)

If you're in need of stunning cookies that taste just as scrumptious as they look, give Mel a call!

So, let's get to the party, shall we?

The "Holly Jolly" invite set the tone perfectly!  It's so fun and cheery...who would possibly want to miss this party?!!

Mel's cookies work perfectly as party decor, but also double as party favors.  (Those are some lucky kids, huh)?!!  

Cookie Party Decorations

The rest of the party decor was incredibly simple and inexpensive...two qualities that are very appealing during the crazy hustling and bustling of the holiday season!

• Tinsel from Target: One bundle was about $3.00, and what an impact it made! I used it to spell out the word "Jolly" on the wall, and also used it as trim for the party table. SO super easy and fun!

• Cookie Cutters from Target: These little cookies cutters were just adorable, and the colors matched our party decor perfectly. At just $0.99 per cutter, I knew these would look absolutely precious hanging from our table. I tied them up with some ribbon that I already had on hand, and mounted them underneath the tinsel. So. Darn. CUTE!!!

• Marshmallow Garland: Now, I can't remember how much a bag of marshmallows costs, but they don't break the bank y'all. Super inexpensive, and they go a long way! I found these pink and white marbled peppermint marshmallows in the holiday section of the store and knew that I had to have them. I strung them together, and created the sweetest little bunting that you ever did see! {SIDENOTE: If you decide to do this, it has the potential to become a sticky mess. I dipped the needle in oil before I started threading, and then again about every 2 or 3 marshmallows. The oil helps the needle glide through the marshmallow instead of collecting all of the gooey goodness inside}.

• Peppermint Garland: Once again, one bag does the trick, and you can get an entire bag for $1.00! Just string them through the ends of the wrappers and you're good to go!

• Snowflake Garland: Maybe it's not a very original idea, but it's definitely cute, easy, and affordable. Plus, I happen to kinda love old school ideas like this! You know the drill...just fold your paper and cut away! String them together, hang them on the wall, and voila! Instant holiday cheer!

• Wrapped Presents: Empty boxes dressed up in coordinating wrapping paper make excellent party decorations, and don't really cost anything! Sit them all around your party area for instant decor. {P. S. How fun are those bottle brush trees? Another fun score from Target}!

The Main Event:  The Cookie Decorating!

This is so easy peasy, you guys.  Seriously!

Just set out some cookies, some frosting, and a variety of candies, and really, that's pretty much all you need!

The "party" is all in the process!  :)

Here are some candy ideas:

• Gum drops

• Red hots (you might call them cinnamon candies)???

• Marshmallows

• Crushed candy canes

• Chocolate chips

• Coconut (great to use as snow)!

• Edible candy decorations (like the snowflakes above)

• Sprinkles (because...when AREN'T sprinkles a good idea)?

Be sure to have spatulas on hand for spreading frosting, and maybe a few bags of frosting for piping.  

I'm all about the puns, so my fun "Spread" Cheer on the spatula jars makes me smile.  :)

Last but not least, what's a cookie party without milk?!!!  I dressed up little milk bottles with our Holly Jolly Penguin Water Bottle Labels, and layered them over strips of paper to match our paper snowflake garland.  Don't you just love the way they turned out?!!

Cookie Decorating Party Favors

As I mentioned earlier, the "Holly Jolly" cookies that Mel created can serve double duty as both party decor and party favors.

These cute little snowflakes that she made are great to use if you have a lot of kiddos coming to your party.

You can also tuck the kids' homemade goodies into cute little bags to send home.

I found these festive candy cane striped bags at Target, and finished them off with these adorable little penguin favor tags that matched our party theme.

So easy and soooooo cute!  

I hope you enjoyed my "Holly Jolly" Cookie Decorating Party, and I hope you come back and visit soon!  I loooove Instagram, so be sure to come follow me there, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, too!

Thanks so much for following along on the 2016 Party Hop Tour!

The fun isn't over yet!!!!

My incredibly talented friend, Andressa, the creative genius behind Twinkle Twinkle Little Party is the next stop on our tour, and she's sharing something you do not want to miss!

Click your way on over to her blog and show her some love!

Big hugs to ya, and Happy Holidays!

xoxoxoxo ~ Jen