How to Make a Banner Ghost Cookie Set

Do you and your neighbors "Boo" each other? It's a fun Halloween tradition meant to spread joy throughout the Halloween season. If you're unfamiliar, let me explain.

First, you place a Halloween gift on the porch of the person you are Booing, ring the doorbell and run (so they don’t know who left the gift). Once they open the door, they'll be thrilled to find the gift.

The gift also includes instructions on how to Boo someone else. The best part is watching how far the “Boo” spreads up and down the street, around the block, and maybe even over to the next neighborhood area.

This Halloween season, I came up with cookie designs that could be included in such a "Boo" gift. My favorite out of the bunch of these new designs is this Banner Ghost cookie set.

Banner Ghost Cookie Cutter Set

To make these banner ghost cookies, I used this banner ghost cookie cutter set, which was just posted to the shop.

The set includes one ghost body cutter and one arm cutter. To make the other arm, flip one of the arm cookies over to get the other arm.

If you prefer a single-piece version, this smaller banner ghost cookie cutter is available as well.

Template for the Banner Ghost Cookies

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template of all the designs of my 2020 Halloween cookie collection, including this banner ghost cookie design.

Click the link below for the downloadable template PDF file.

• 2020 Halloween Cookie Templates

This file is four pages long and is rather large in data size. Just a warning, it might take a moment before the file opens in your browser.

The Decorating Process

For these banner ghost cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

• Black royal icing. (I used Americolor Super Black.)
• Light Blue piping icing. (I used Americolor Wedgewood.)
• White piping and flood icing. (I used Americolor Bright White.)
• Orange medium icing. (I used Americolor Orange.)
• Pink medium icing. (I used a tiny amount of Americolor Tulip Red.)

Step 1

Begin by applying a thin layer of black icing to the center of the cookie, as shown. I used an offset spatula to quickly spread an even layer across the middle where the face would be.

For those without a projector, score or etch guidelines where the face details should be, as shown. I made a template with template plastic from the PDF file above and used a scribe tool to etch the guideline on the cookie.

Step 2

Next, with white piping icing, outline around the eyes, mouth and around the entire cookie. Then flood with white flood icing. Let this icing set for an hour.

Once the white icing layer has set, add the orange banner triangle flag to the middle of the chest. Also, add the white reflection dot accents to the eyes, and a little pink tongue detail.

Step 3

Finish off the ghost's body cookie by outlining the edge of the cookie with light blue icing. Then add a black string across the top of the orange flag, and add an "O" to the top of the flag, as shown.

Step 4

Moving on to the arms now.

Start by filling in the top arm section with white icing. Then fill in the bottom flag section with orange icing. Let this icing set for one hour.

Step 5

Next, outline the arm with light blue icing. Add the letter "B" to the left arm and "O" to the right arm.

Finish these arms by adding a black string line detail as shown.

Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in this time-lapsed video I put together.

When all the 3-pieces are assembled together, the completed ghost should look like the one below.

For packaging ideas, this banner ghost set would fit nicely in this 9.5" x 6" x 1.25" box from BRP Box Shop. (Shown below)

When you give this ghost set out as a gift, keeping the cookies in place might be a little of a challenge. Here's how I kept everything in place.

I heat-sealed the tiny arms in 3"x5" bags and the large body in a 5"x7". Then I taped the arm bags to the back of the body. Now the cookies will stay fresh and won't shift around on you.

As an alternative, if cookie sets aren't your thing, I did make a smaller, single-piece version.

For a gift box option for this smaller design, this cookie will fit in this 3 3/4" x 1" x 5 3/8" from Clearbags.

For other "Boo" themed designs, I also made this little boo ghost. It's nice to have options, right?

The REGULAR ghost holding boo cookies will fit in these 4"x4" gift boxes.

The LARGE ghost, when paired with a plaque cookie, will fit in these “7 3/8″ x 5 1/2” boxes from Paper Mart.