Sweet Appreciation: School Bus Cookies for School Bus Drivers Day

There is a day to celebrate nearly all professions these days, and no one is more deserving for some recognition than our school bus drivers! School Bus Drivers Day is the perfect opportunity to say a heartfelt “thank you” to these people who keep the wheels on the bus going ‘round and ‘round. Gift them something homemade, thoughtful, and sweet—like our adorable school bus cookies! We made these for the bus driver at our mom’s school and one of them just so happens to be driver who drives us from our school to her school every afternoon.

School Bus Drivers Day is celebrated each year on the fourth Tuesday in April. But this also depends on what calendar you look at. Some calendars online recognize the day in late February while others use May 1st! Our mom is on a hospitality committee for her school hospitality team. She and the other ladies help celebrate all the various roles within their school. She signed up to help with School Bus Drivers Day.

But school bus cookies can also be given for first day of school gifts to bus drivers or to teachers! It would also be fun for kids to make these in anticipation of school starting after summer break ends.

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Start with Our Tried-and-True Sugar Cookie Recipe

Before we jump into the decorating, you will want to head over to our mom’s sugar cookie recipe on our other site to grab the sugar cookie recipe we swear by. It’s buttery, easy to mix up, and holds its shape perfectly—ideal for making decorated cookies with clean, crisp edges.

Personally, we think her recipe is the best sugar cookie recipe out there so no need to search any further. However, if you have a sugar cookie recipe already, you could probably use that.

Once your sugar cookie dough is ready, chill it well. This helps your cookies bake evenly and prevents spreading in the oven. While it chills, gather your decorating supplies and set the stage for cookie-making magic.

Recommended Supplies for School Bus Cookies

To create the cutest little bus-shaped cookies, here’s what you’ll need:

• Chilled Sugar Cookie Dough – Use the recipe mentioned above.
• School Bus Cookie Cutter – We love our school bus cookie cutter that gives a nice deep impression and a perfect bus shape every time.
• Colored Sprinkles – Yellow sanding sugar is a must for bus bodies!
• Edible Markers – These are your best friends for drawing details like windows, stop signs, and happy little faces in the windows (which we didn’t do – but you can).
• School Bus Cookie Paper Template – To help control where the sprinkles land, this paper template is a must. We sketch it out using the cookie cutter as a guide, lay it on the rolled dough, and shake our sprinkles around it.

Step-by-Step School Bus Cookies Instructions

Now, the real fun begins! Follow these steps using our template and decorating supplies:

Prepare Your Workspace

Line your countertop with floured parchment paper or flour the very clean countertop instead. Roll out your chilled cookie dough on the floured surface. Using your school bus cookie cutter, cut out school bus cookies.

Make A School Bus Paper Template

Using a piece of blank paper and the school bus cookie cutter, hand sketch an outline which covers the wheels and windows of the bus. Use scissors to cut cutouts out of the paper so that you have a template to lay over the school bus cookies (dough). The windows and the wheels should be blocked off once you place the paper over each school bus cookie.

Excuse our shadowed pictures. It was night time when we were shooting the process shots.

Add the Yellow Sprinkles

Place the paper template over one school bus cookie. Using yellow sanding sugar, sprinkle the sugar over the cutouts of the template. This will make the sides of the school bus yellow while still keeping the windows and the wheels free of the yellow sugar.

Draw On Wheels with an Edible Pen

Use the black edible pen to sketch out circular wheels in the appropriate wheel areas of the bus cookie. Also sketch squares or rectangles for windows – depending on the design of your cookie cutter.

Draw On Windshield and Windows with an Edible Pen

Use the black edible pen to outline each window, windshield and/or door for contrast.

Extra Optional Touches

We didn’t add extra touches as we were proud with what we already had. Bu you can use your red edible pen or sugar pearls to create brake lights. If you’re feeling extra creative, draw on school names/letters. It would be super cute to add the name of your school or school district!

Bake Cookies

Bake the cookies as directed in the recipe linked above. And then allow cookies to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Packaging Your School Bus Cookies

Once our cookies are set, we place them on paper plates or plastic plates and slide the paper plates into plastic zip bags or wrap them in plastic wrap so that we can transport them flat. Sometimes, we add a bit of colorful craft curls to dress up the packaging. Optionally, you can tie add a yellow or black ribbon. You can also include a small handwritten note from your child or a printed tag that says, “Thanks for getting us there safely!” or “Our Children Are in Good Hands with You.”

We had fun helping to make the cookies and delivering the cookies to our bus driver, whom we all call Grandpa! And our mom said a lot of the bus drivers at her school raved about how creative and delicious the cookies were!

Happy School Bus Drivers Day—and happy baking!

More Gift Ideas

Check out our teacher appreciation snack ideas and our free teacher gift tags to use all year!