A North Pole-Inspired Cookie-Making Party

"When I think back to my childhood memories of Christmas, I immediately think of the warmth and comfort I would feel when seeing images of the North Pole," says Maureen Anders, the cofounder of one of our favorite party firms, Anders Ruff. "From Santa and his reindeer to the stockings, mittens, and candy canes, these were all symbols of the 'feeling' of Christmas." Maureen decided to bring the nostalgia of the North Pole to her own family — and to yours — with a North Pole party full of printables perfect for a cookie exchange or baking party. Keep clicking to check out all the details from this inspiration-filled party.

Source: Anders Ruff

Baking Supplies

Baking Supplies

"Sur La Table let us use their fabulous red KitchenAid stand mixer along with some precious red melamine baking utensils and dish towels," Maureen says.

Chefs at Work . . .

Chefs at Work . . .

"For the cookie exchange portion of the party, the children sat at the bar and started out by mixing and baking some cookies," Maureen says. "We set up dishes ahead of time with ingredients to make it easy. The kids loved cutting out the cookies, and especially enjoyed eating them."

. . . and Play

. . . and Play

Fun with cookies!

North Pole Decor

North Pole Decor

"For the printable graphic collection, we incorporated vintage yet modern holiday elements in a red, aqua and white palette to reflect the feeling of the North Pole," Maureen says. "These colors paired with patterns like vintage gingham, candy cane stripes, and modern dot patterns resulted in a fun, versatile collection for the most diverse in design taste! The full decor collection also includes some new items such as our hot cocoa bar printables, Advent calendar hanging mittens printables, and brand-new gift tag concepts."

Minimittens

Minimittens

"Our new printable Advent calendar mittens were hung from the mantle and filled with small candies," Maureen says. "Gifts were packaged and we introduced several new printable gift tag collections that we displayed on the gifts. Santa stamp gift tags, hang tags, and circle tags all coordinate perfectly with the complete collection."

Advent Calender

Advent Calender

Anders Ruff's mittens Advent calendar.

Cookie Time

Cookie Time

"For our dessert table for this North Pole cookie exchange party, we wanted to highlight all of the fabulous cookie vendors that have contributed their desserts throughout the year to our parties," Maureen says.

Santa's Coming to Town

Santa's Coming to Town

"Simple red cake stands on a stark white table cloth made a bold display statement while keeping the focus on the beautiful works of art — the cookies!" Maureen says of the cookie creations, including these Santas from Sweet Sugar Belle.

Santa Sweets

Santa Sweets

Red Bird Bakery creations.

Letters to Santa

Letters to Santa

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Red Bird Bakery creations.

North Pole Cookies

North Pole Cookies

Allyson Jane cookies.

Pretzels Pleaze

Pretzels Pleaze

Pretzels Pleaze pretzels.

Cookies and Cream Delights

Cookies and Cream Delights

Maureen made her own cookies and cream delights.

Candy Canes

Candy Canes

Allyson Jane cookies.

Freshly Baked

Freshly Baked

"The kids wore custom aprons from Made by Morgan for the baking party," Maureen says.

Favor Bags

Favor Bags

"Adorable red polka-dot favor boxes from My Little Love were displayed on the table and the children could fill up their box with cookies from the dessert table as part of the exchange," Maureen says. "For the smaller items, we assembled the printable milk carton favor box from our collection."

Milk Bottles

Milk Bottles

Milk bottles dressed up with Anders Ruff printables.

Hot Chocolate Bar

Hot Chocolate Bar

"We also set up a hot chocolate bar where we displayed different ingredients in little ramekins on our red cake stands," Maureen says. "We displayed a printable hot cocoa bar menu and labeled the ingredients with party flags. Marshmallows, cookies and cream crumble, old-fashioned peppermint sticks, red hots, whipped cream, and more!"

Cocoa

Cocoa

"The children loved mixing their own hot cocoa with the various ingredients," Maureen says. "They were all garnished so differently and that was a very easy activity for the younger children to participate in."

Cocoa Time

Cocoa Time

One happy face!

Recipe Cards

Recipe Cards

Printable recipe cards.

Favor Bags

Favor Bags

Ho, ho, ho! Cookies to go!