23 Unexpected Ways to Use Cookie Cutters

Pull out those Christmas cookie cutters for Halloween, and those Valentine’s Day shapes for Christmas. These hacks will show you how unbelievably versatile cookie cutters of all shapes can be.

 

1. Use heart shaped cookie cutters to make Santa cookies.

Just flip your heart cookies upside down and you have a point for Santa’s hat and a bottom for his beard.

 

2. Make your own stamps.

Get started by cutting a potato in half, then taking a cookie cutter and pressing it into the center until it’s flush with the potato. Use a knife to cut the outside of the potato away to reveal the cookie cutter. Slowly pull out the cookie cutter and you’re ready to dip your stamp into some paint and design.

 

3. Carve pumpkins.

Gut your pumpkin then place cookie cutters on it and tap lightly with a rubber mallet. (You may need to help your cookie-cutter shape break through the pumpkin with knife.) Add a candle and you’ve got yourself a well-designed jack-o-lantern.

 

4. Turn cookie cutters into ornaments.

Make your own ornaments with plastic cookie cutters and scrapbook paper. Just trace each cookie cutter on the back of the paper and cut it out. If the paper goes over the edges you can trim it off later. Drill or poke a hole through the top of the cookie cutter, pull some ribbon through it, and hang.

 

 

5. Make candles.

These candles make great gifts, and the tutorial is straightforward. You’ll need metal cookie cutters, beeswax, wicks, a saucepan and crayons–if you’re looking to add color.

 

6. Put together a DIY cookie cutter rain chain.

You’ll need some old cookie cutters, chain, and wire. Build the chain about 8-10 feet depending on where you’re hanging it. Loop wire between the cookie cutters and the chain, and place it somewhere where it doesn’t matter if there’s a lot of splatter.

 

7. Make an ice sun catcher.

A fun activity, especially if the kids have cabin fever. Place a cookie cutter in a shallow tray with water to create a mold. Lay the end of a string in the cookie cutter so it freezes in place. Leave your cookie cutter mold outside overnight to freeze, then slowly and carefully remove the cookie cutter so you don’t lose the shape.

Tip: If it’s not a freezing temperature outside, put the tray in the freezer overnight or for several hours.

 

8. Hang a cookie cutter bird feeder.

You’ll need some gelatin, birdseed, cookie cutters, and some string to start. Follow these directions for making a bird feeder you and the birds will love.

Tip: Use birdseed that’s appropriate for outdoor birds that live in your area.

 

9. Create a Cinderella carriage with a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter.

 

10. Use cookie cutters as napkin rings.

 

RELATED: 11 DIY Mason Jar Gift Ideas for Christmas

 

11. Create watercolor stamps for greeting cards.

Brush just enough water onto thick watercolor paper to wet, but not saturate the paper. Then, use a paintbrush to apply paint to the thicker side of a cookie cutter and press the painted edges to the wet paper. The color should start to bleed from your cookie cutter. Create more interesting colors and patterns by repainting the same cookie cutter with different colors and pressing it down onto the same paper.

 

12. Transform skull cookies into friendly ghost cookies.

 

 

13. Make monster cookies with an upside-down teddy bear.

Cute and easy. If you don’t have sprinkles, frosting works, too.

 

14. Make a wreath.

This makes a great gift for any baker in your life. They can disassemble and use later. Arrange metal cookie cutters into a wreath–cutting side up–and attach each one with a piece of wire or adhesive putty tab. Add a bow and hang the wreath from a cookie cutter or use a small piece of wire.

 

15. Make a full-figured elf with multiple cookie cutters.

From a Halloween spider cookie cutter to a tulip shaped cutter, you can make a cookie elf that the kids will love. Plan on piecing some of the cookies together to get the the perfect elf figure.

 

16. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter as a handle.

Pick out your favorite cookie cutter and use some glass glue to attach it for a funky look.

 

17. Make an owl from a pumpkin cookie cutter.

You can make your owl as simple or elaborate as you want—it really just comes down to the owl’s eyes and beak.

 

 

18. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to make skeletons.

 

19. Turn flower cookie cutters into spiders.

20. Make fun-shaped crayons.

Reuse all your broken crayons by making new ones in fun shapes and sizes. Melt crayon pieces in an aluminum baking sheet for 10-20 minutes at 325 degrees. Then, cut with metal cookie cutters and leave them in place for a few minutes before gently pulling shapes out.

 

21. Use cookie cutters for a game of target.

Scatter medium and large cookie cutters on the grass outside and have the kids try and throw a bean bag into one of them. Each child gets one point for each cookie cutter target they hit.

 

22. Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes out of cheese, tortillas, and sandwiches in school lunches.

 

23. Organize the fruit, cheese, and candies in party trays.

Find a square or round box and set cookie cutters inside filled with fruit, cheese, vegetables, or candy.

 

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