7 Easy Winter Cupcake Ideas (Snowflake, Polar Bear Cupcakes and more)

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Here is a list of some fun and creative winter cupcake ideas to enjoy over Christmas and the holidays. They are fun to make and your kids will love them!

festive winter holiday cupcake decorations

Although winter themed cupcakes might seem difficult to make, they are actually much easier than you would think. It is all about having the right frosting colors and decorations, you would be surprised how creative you can get. All you need is a plain vanilla cupcake base or any of your favorite flavored cupcake (like these delicious red velvet ones) and then get to decorating as you would like.

Why you should make winter themed cupcakes

  • Much easier to make than you would think
  • They look like they are made by professional bakers
  • You can get creative with your decorating skills
  • A great activity for the holidays to enjoy with kids and family
  • Super delicious and moist
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How to make winter themed cupcakes

It’s amazing what you can do to with a few cupcakes decorations to make plain white cupcakes adorable and festive. I have an entire cabinet in my garage devoted just to sprinkles, I usually order them online in bulk and use them over the year. I obviously uses some special winter themed ones in this recipe. They are adorable, aren’t they?

My kids are kind of spoiled when it comes to bringing cupcakes to school. I’ll make them anything they want and will Pinterest-obsess over decorations. I love doing it, and it is something that I look forward to when their birthdays roll around every year.

I am including below 6 very easy cupcake ideas, you won’t regret trying them!

1) Sugar penguins and snowman cupcakes – my favorite!

penguin cupcakes

I baked a batch of vanilla cupcakes with my favorite buttercream recipe. For this cupcake, I used sugar penguins and snowmen, North Pole sticks, and a little white edible glitter to make it look like snow. (This one is my favorite, I just think that it is so cute.)

2) The present cupcake – adorable

gift cupcake decorations

The presents cupcakes were second place I found these cute little red polka dot cupcake liners at the grocery store. These are smaller than a regular cupcake, and I love the size. I just dusted the edges with red and green sanding sugar and added a bow ring. Adorable, and took 2 extra minutes.

3) Mitten cupcakes – my kids’ favorite

mitten cupcakes

Mitten cupcakes. I used a large round tip to pipe the frosting, added the sugar mittens, and sprinkled a generous amount of snow all over. (I used a mix of blue and white edible glitter.)

4) Polar bear cupcakes – my husband’s favorite

polar bear cupcakes

For these guys, I used a ice cream scoop to make a mound on top of the cupcake. Then I rolled it in coconut, added polar bear and penguin rings, and a North Pole stick.

5) Snowflake cupcakes – if your kids like Frozen, they will love those

snowflake cupcakes

I love all white. And I love snow. So I love these snowy cupcakes. These are so simple, but so pretty and elegant. I used a large star tip to pipe the frosting (tip – a push a wooden spoon handle through the tip to make the opening wider, I like the way the piping looks better than when the opening is tight.) Sugar snowflakes and some edible white glitter was all I needed to make these beauties. If your kids like Frozen (well all kids do!), you may want those snowflakes.

6) Polar bears in the snow

polar bear fun cupcakes

I had some extra sugar decorations, so I made these polar bears playing in the snow. How cute are they?

7) Christmas light cupcakes

These ones are always a hit, you can see the full recipe here.

Storage Information

You can keep cupcakes chilled for up to a week but I would be shocked if they last more than a couple of days. If the frosting isn’t kept cool, it will go bad so keep the cupcakes in the fridge in an airtight container.

Tips and tricks for the best winter cupcakes

  • Purchase ready made cupcake mix. It will help you focus on the decoration.
  • Make sure to have enough sprinkles, decoration and cupcake toppers. You can buy them online, or just picked them up in your grocery store, they surely have nice ones during the festive season.
  • Make ahead. You can also make the cupcakes and the frosting ahead and store them in the fridge in air tight containers. Just take them our of the fridge one hour before piping time. I usually
  • Get children into the kitchen. These cupcakes are so easy to make, even children love making them. Prepare everything so that they may decorate whichever they choose.
  • Package for a bake sale at school. Place them into little cellophane bags after placing them into clear cocktail glasses. Use a nice ribbon to tie. These cupcakes will definitely go quickly.
  • Pipe bags. This is a complete aside, but where have these rolls of piping bags been all my life? I use piping bags for a lot of things and I really never understood the packaging. They are a nightmare to get out and put back into the box. I ordered this roll of piping bags and I’ll never use anything else again. 
piping bag rolls

Creating those cupcakes was so much fun. It inspired me to do the same in my children’s classrooms for their holiday parties this week.

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