Celebrating Spring: Cookie Decorating Party!

Saturday, March 29th 2025

I have been planning for this day for months now, and I am astonished at how big of a success it was! I emailed dozens of schools in Marin to search for volunteers who wanted to sign up. The results were five lively volunteers who were amazing. Four from San Rafael High School, and one from Redwood High School.

I prepped for the cookie decorating party as I always do, except this time I wanted to try something new that would be extra fun for the volunteers and guests. So I printed out little easter egg coloring sheets that they could use to design their own easter egg which they could then draw (with edible ink) on their cookie, and bring to life with frosting and sprinkles!

All the volunteers arrived on time, and they helped me set up. I took a minute to explain to them what we would be doing today with the easter egg coloring sheets and the cookies, and then told them that they would each partner with a senior resident. Each resident had a high school volunteer"partner" which helped them.

Ussually I have a seat at the table and help a resident, but this time I took a different approach. My job was to instruct/assist the volunteers the whole time, and keep the activity flowing. If I saw a resident who wasn't speaking much to their "partner", I would walk up to them and start a conversation. This worked wonders and ensured that everyone felt included in the fun. Also, as always, I made sure Charlie (who is Lactose Intolerant) had his own activity to do. I gave him a paper owl and stickers to decorate it, to which he smiled and enjoyed.

When I found out that today was one of the resident's birthday, I started singing "Happy Birthday to you", and everybody else joined in, even the other residents! When we were finished, she told me "I am so grateful for you! Thank you so much!" which made my day.

Overall, I was so impressed by how helpful the volunteers (Emily, Birdie, Adriana, Astrid, and Ashley) were. We ended up having so much fun that we lost track of time, and actually cleaned up after 2:00! I was so grateful for the volunteers and happily signed their volunteer tracking sheet. I can't wait for tomorrow, which is another cookie decorating party!

🌟 About Hearts & Hands

 Hearts and Hands is a volunteer movement where students share their time, creativity, and compassion with seniors. From games and art to holiday cookie decorating, Hearts & Hands builds meaningful bridges across generations. Find out more at hhmarin.org.