9 Easy And Affordable Cookie Decorating Kits

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Holiday cookie decorating is one of the best and most festive activities you can do during the holiday season. Gather a group of friends, family, or coworkers, and relish in the opportunity to let your creative side flourish — or just have a contest for who has the biggest cookie decorating fail. Whether you're decorating for real or just as a way to celebrate the holiday season with company, you probably know that going in blind — meaning without a guide or curated supplies — can be tough, especially if you're a baking novice. This is where cookie kits come in. 

Cookie kits include all (or some) of the tools you need to decorate themed cookies. Some come with pre-baked cookies, while others just come with the stencils, decorating tools, and piping bags — meaning that you have to supply the dough and the icing. Some of these kits can get pretty expensive, costing upwards of $100, but we wanted to instead highlight some of the most high-quality, easy-to-use, and affordable (meaning under $50) cookie sets you can buy online. We used customer reviews and recommendations to compile our list and also considered whether each kit was a good value based on the tools and supplies it came with. The items we settled on would be excellent for gifting to the cookie lovers you like or for trying yourself this holiday season.

All prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

Nothing says the holiday season quite like a homemade gingerbread house. Well, this house isn't quite homemade, seeing as Taboom's comes in a kit that is ready to build and decorate. Gone are the days of worrying whether your gingerbread was the perfect dryness for construction. All you need to do is remove the sides and roof from the box, follow the instructions to assemble it with the provided icing, and then decorate it to your heart's content. The fact that it requires no baking at all is ideal for folks who are cookie novices or families with kiddos who would rather focus on where to put their gumdrops than how to mix cookie dough. Each set comes with the house, white icing in an easy-to-use squeeze tube, and some small candy and decorations to get you started (though you may need to raid your candy drawer if you really want to decorate your gingerbread house to the nines). 

This would also be an excellent kit to pick up for a decorating contest — and that's exactly what many of the folks who have purchased it have used it for. One reviewer decorated their house as a log cabin, noting that none of the components came broken or damaged. Another appreciated how this kit comes with a plastic tray, which helps increase the stability and makes setting up the house a breeze. 

Purchase the Taboom large gingerbread house kit on Amazon for $34.98

Anyone who has ever made their own gingerbread house knows that it can get expensive fast. Not only do you have to buy a ton of decorations to affix to your structure, but you have to get all of the ingredients you need for a tasty gingerbread, too — not to mention allocating time to measure all of them out. Luckily, Baketivity's baking kit takes some of the work off your plate. This is a baking set designed for kids; it comes with many of the pre-measured ingredients they need to prepare, assemble, and decorate their gingerbread houses. Plus, they can scan the QR code to watch an instructional video about how to prepare their house as they work. It's like an educational activity and a boredom buster all in one!

Overall, customers (especially those baking alongside kids) have favorable opinions about this baking kit. Not only do they appreciate the clear explanations, but they also comment that the taste and smell of the gingerbread is part of its charm. Even reviewers who have never constructed a gingerbread house before loved this one, making it baking and decorating-novice-friendly. The one downside, besides that kids should have adults present for the baking portion of the activity, is that its decorations are rather scant, so you may want to buy a couple bags of assorted M&Ms or other candies to add extra color to your ginger-home. 

Purchase the Baketivity baking kit holiday gingerbread house kit on Amazon for $39.99

When most people think of gingerbread, their minds go to elaborately constructed gingerbread houses. But, we can't forget the ginger-people who occupy these well-decorated edible dwellings. Sewanta's gingerbread cookie kit comes in three different sizes: one-pack, two-pack, and four-pack, so that you can bring your gingerbread residents to life. Each pack contains cookie people, both large and small, Christmas trees, and even little dogs and cats to decorate. It also comes with four tubes of icing, in black, white, red, and green, as well as with green- and red-colored sugar for garnishing.

These cookies are pre-made, so all you need to worry about is the decorating. Reviewers report that, for the most part, the cookies come intact and encased in bubble wrap, which minimizes the risk of broken trees and armless ginger-people. Many of the folks who have bought this kit have done so for decorating parties, with one reviewer even sharing that they sent a box to friends across the country and decorated their ginger-people over group text. While some customers report not being very satisfied with the flavor of the cookies (which makes sense, seeing as they come already baked), others report that their flavor isn't really that bad — for mass-produced gingerbread anyway. 

Purchase the Sewanta gingerbread cookie kit on Amazon from $24.99

Sometimes you need to think outside the box — or many boxes — when it comes to creative holiday gifting. This Williams Sonoma color-in cookie advent calendar is certainly unique and perfect for the person in your life who really likes drawing and art, but tends not to enjoy baking as much. The pre-baked vanilla cookies are covered in white royal icing and come with markers filled with edible ink. Every day before Christmas, open up one of the windows of the calendar to reveal the cookie and printed design, which you can color on with the provided markers — and promptly eat afterward.

Williams Sonoma is a trusted brand, and we included this selection on our list because it was unique, fun, and could appeal to eaters (and artists) of all ages. It comes in a set of one or two. 

Purchase the Williams Sonoma color-in cookie advent calendar on Williams Sonoma from $39.95

What are you supposed to do for cookie decorating if you really don't like gingerbread? Well, Swiss Miss (yes, the store-bought hot chocolate giant) offers an affordable, fun, and chocolatey alternative to the classic gingerbread house. This chocolate-flavored cookie house rings in at under $10 and would be an excellent stocking stuffer for kids. It comes with the pre-made cookies, icing, and two basic decorating essentials: candy jewels and mini marshmallows. Follow the simple instructions provided to assemble your dwelling before accenting it with the provided decorations (or bring your own). 

This certainly isn't the biggest gingerbread house — seeing as the box weighs less than 7 ounces total — but that makes it a very cutesy addition to your kids' holiday to-do list. Some customers have even purchased it to make into Elf on the Shelf houses. The most common negative feedback reported by customers was that the marshmallows weren't really tasty (granted, they're for construction purposes) and the house pieces were delivered broken (maybe this is one cookie kit that's better purchased in-person), but this doesn't appear to be the same sentiment across everyone who has purchased it. 

Purchase the Swiss Miss chocolate-flavored build-it-yourself cookie mini house kit at Walmart for $5.87

Have you ever wanted to decorate cookies just like the fancy bakers on your Instagram feed? Let The Flour Box be your guide. Each Dear Santa cookie decorating kit comes with an assortment of cookie cutters, stencils, icing bags, and a royal icing scraping tool. You can also pick the items you want inside the box, which can cut costs even further. The biggest value-added component of this box is the educational content that comes with it; you can watch tutorials for preparing and rolling your cookie dough to the right thickness, getting the right color of royal icing for piping each design, and how to properly border and flood the icing for beautiful, Instagram-worthy treats. 

The biggest downside to this kit is that you have to buy and prepare many of the components on your own, including the cookies themselves, royal icing, color gels, and more. However, if you are an experienced cookie baker looking to elevate your design skills, it's an excellent place to start. The Flour Box comes highly recommended, and there are tons more themed cookie kits and tutorials that are worth exploring.

Purchase the Dear Santa decorating kit from The Flour Box for $35.41

The holiday cookie scene is dominated by gingerbread, so much so that we forget the humble sugar cookie. This affordable cookie set from Cheryl's Cookies comes with two dozen pre-baked cookies, 2 pounds of vanilla buttercream frosting (one green and the other white), and some basic gels and sprinkles to decorate the treats with. It's not anything too far outside the box (and speaking of the box — how cute is that?), but it's a great fit for folks who are decorating in bulk, like in a classroom or at a family holiday party. 

Cheryl's Cookies has an excellent reputation, and folks who have purchased this kit note that it's a good buy. Everything is easy to use and assemble, and even if you don't have a PhD in cookie decorating, you can appreciate the festive look and high-quality taste of these treats.

Purchase the holiday sugar cookie decorating kit from Cheryl's Cookies for $49.99

Crate & Barrel may be your go-to for furniture and home decor, but do you know it also carries numerous culinary tools? This affordably priced set contains all the things you need for baking simple yet fun Christmas cookies, including four cutouts, piping bags, couplers, and an assortment of icing tips. The cutters, tips, and couplers are dishwasher-safe, making cleanup a breeze. 

Obviously, this kit may not be as beginner-friendly as others on this list, seeing as you have to make the perfect dough and frosting for your recipe. However, the fact that you can use it from season to season makes it a great buy, especially for someone looking to kickstart their cookie-cutter collection.

Purchase the holiday cookie decorating kit from Crate & Barrel for $17.95

Vegans shouldn't have to sit out on the holiday decorating party, and with a box from Maya's Cookies, now they don't have to! This kit comes with six cookies — three people and three stars, icing, piping bags, candies and sprinkles for decorations, and links to tutorials for how to assemble these treats at home. Everything is vegan, meaning it's perfect for the folks in your life who are dairy-free or abstaining from animal products. 

Folks who have purchased from Maya's report that the cookies are excellent, and some folks even report that you wouldn't even know these cookies are vegan. If you like the gingerbread cookies, you may want to check out its other seasonal favorites, including red velvet, chocolate peppermint, and holiday spice chocolate chip. 

Purchase the DIY cookie decorating kit from Maya's Cookies for $45

Our goal in compiling this list of cookie kits was to offer a kit for everyone, whether you're a cookie novice who doesn't feel comfortable holding a spatula or a trained baker who wants to hone their decorating skills. Each item on this list is priced under $50 and can be shipped right to your door, and offers some sort of value-added or distinguishing feature that makes it worth buying. For example, some of these kits come with video tutorials, are made with vegan ingredients, or offer an alternative to conventional gingerbread. Above all, each of these kits had to be easy-to-use and fit the skill level of the intended audience — be it kids or experienced bakers. 

We also gathered customer sentiment about each product based on social media and product reviews. While there were some one-off reports about broken cookies on almost every product, we considered the overall experience of customers to decide whether that kit was still worth adding. The taste of the cookies (for those kits that offered pre-baked treats) was also considered, though it should be noted that the purpose of many of these kits — namely, the gingerbread — is for decorating, not for eating.