Drop in and Decorate Party with Girl Scouts

Have you ever heard of Drop in and Decorate, cookies for donation?  If you have not it is worth looking into if you are looking for a service project for a group or just and way to help the community with your girl friends.

Drop in and Decorate is a non profit organization that was started by Lydia Walshin to help people get together and help their own community.  The premise of the organization is to provide cookies to to an organization that meets the most basic human needs of food or shelter in your community.  They are very specific as to whom you can use their logo with so check their website to see if your organization qualifies.

I was in chosen to host my daughter’s December Troop meeting.  I choose Drop in and Decorate as part of the activities.  Our chosen organization was the Ronald MacDonald House.

Drop in and Decorate sometimes offers party hosts some assistance with their  parties.  When I notified them they sent me a booklet with cookie ideas as well as a $25 Michael’s gift card to help  purchase supplies.  Last year when I was looking into it they were sending some supplies. How wonder is this, I was given a donation to make a donation.  Pillsbury is a proud supporter of this organization.

Don’t feel overwhelmed with the idea of making 40 to 50 cookies for a large group.  The great thing about sugar cookies is that they can be baked ahead of time and frozen.  Also try a local bakery or grocery store and see if they will donate some.

The troop had 10 girls and I knew it would be expensive to buy 10 cookie writers, so I purchased a few and decided to make royal icing.  This was my first time outside of making it with a gingerbread kit.  Wow, I now know why it is so expensive to buy those specialized cookies.  Making the stuff is daunting, but so is putting it in to squeeze bottles….  Check out Drop in and Decorate for ideas…found this after the fact.

Over all the girls had a fun time coming up with creations for the cookies.

Here are some of their creations:

Here they are all packaged and ready to go.  I used a box from a tower of treats we received one year.  I knew I was keeping those boxes for a good reason!!

Because the cookies need some time to set up we were not able to go directly to the Ronald MacDonald House that evening.  My husband took my daughter the next morning.  It was a great experience for both she and my boys to see this property and were given a complete tour of the facility.  It makes you feel blessed this time of year that we are not spending our holidays away from home and in a hospital room.  Bless these families and those around the country in other Ronald McDonald houses.

It may be too late to help communities this season but organizations need and are willing to take donations through out the year.  Mix it up and host a Valentine’s Drop in and Decorate party or just a winter blah event after the holidays.  Have some wine and help decorate some cookies to cheer up someone in need.