Tip #1 : Sprinkles This is by far the easiest idea for Christmas cupcakes. Simply prepare your favorite cupcake recipe, frost with white, red, or green frosting, and top with red and green sprinkles. Instant holiday! Tip #2 : Christmas Cupcake Tree Use a large rectangular Xmas platter for this cupcake idea. Prepare cupcakes and frost all but 4 cupcakes with green frosting. Frost the remaining 4 cupcakes with brown chocolate frosting. These 4 will form the Christmas tree trunk. Arrange the green cupcakes in a triangular tree pattern on the platter with the 4 chocolate frosted cupcakes at the bottom. Decorate your tree with red and green candies, chocolate bells, peppermints and other Christmas candies. You can even use red licorice for garland, and shredded coconut works great as snow! Tip #3 : Gel Icing Christmas Trees Simply frost your wonderful cupcakes with white frosting then use store bought gel icing in a tube to draw a simple Christmas tree on each cupcake. You could make a plain triangle tree or even a squiggle line Christmas tree. Tip #4 : Reindeer Cupcakes This is a very cute idea for a child's school party. Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Use various candies to make the facial features of your reindeer. For the antlers, use a large twist pretzel that you break in half and carefully trim. Tip #5 : Snow Cupcakes These are incredibly simple to create and are great if you're short on time. Frost cupcakes with a white frosting, top with grated coconut and dust with powdered sugar. Voila! You now have your very own winter wonderland. Tip #6 : Snowman Cupcakes Top white frosted cupcakes with a large marshmallow then a small marshmallow. Use a toothpick inserted through the marshmallows to hold them in place on the cupcake. Use assorted candies to decorate your snowmen. You can hold the candies in place with a small amount of frosting. Tip #7 : Santa Faces Frost half of your cupcake with red frosting and the other half with white frosting. Use mini marshmallows to outline where the two frostings meet to form the rim of Santa's hat. Use a small amount of different color frosting for Santa's face on top of the white frosting. Use candy for his facial features. You could even use fruit leather cut outs to make Santa's face. Tip #8 : Elf Faces Follow the directions above except use green or blue for the elf hats. Dried fruit, such as dried apricots, cut in the shape of elf ears look great. You may have to use toothpicks to hold the ears on the cupcakes. Tip #9 : Individual Presents Frost your cupcakes in a variety of colors, and decorate each one like a present. Red licorice can be used to make bows. You can make place setting holders by placing name cards on your presents to look like gift tags. This idea is great for birthday parties as well as Christmas parties. Tip #10 : Christmas Train Cupcakes Make trains for the tops of your cupcakes using Tootsie rolls, licorice, fruit leather and small round candies for the wheels. Black licorice works great for making the train tracks. For a long train, simply make different cars on top of individual cupcakes and present them side by side like a connected train. | 
