Star-Spangled Shades

These Star-Spangled Shades are a the perfect Patriotic Sugar Cook with Sparkle. There’s just something about cookies that wear sunglasses. 😎 These little cuties are bringing all the festive flair to your 4th of July dessert table—and today, I’m sharing how I decorated two sweetly patriotic designs that might just steal the show (and your heart).

But first, if you’re just joining us for the sugar cookie fun, here’s where we’ve already been on this 4th of July cookie trail:

• Firework Cookies That Sparkle — These dazzling designs bring the boom! Check out the full decorating breakdown [here].
• Red, White & Bloom — Two floral cookie designs that celebrate the sweet side of summer with patriotic petals.

Alright, let’s talk sunglasses! These sugar cookie shades are outlined and filled with bright red frames, glistening blue lenses, and a sprinkle (or stripe!) of sparkle. Each design uses simple royal icing techniques, star-shaped sprinkles, and a whole lot of patience.

No Sunglass Cookie Cutter? No Problem!

If you don’t have a sunglasses-shaped cookie cutter, don’t sweat it! A rectangle cookie cutter works wonderfully as a base. Don’t have that either? Just roll out your dough and use a ruler or marked guides to cut rectangles with a pizza cutter or knife. Then, embrace the beauty of negative space: outline your sunglass frames right onto the cookie using royal icing. Want an extra guide? Lightly trace your design with an edible marker before you pipe. Ta-da! Patriotic shades, your way.

The First Sunglass Design

This one’s got that classic Americana feel—red frames, blue lenses, and silver stars in each corner. Simple, striking, and very celebratory.

The Second Sunglass Design

Oh this one. Where do I even begin? Let’s just say it tested every ounce of my cookie calm.

The design was meant to feature a bold red frame with a blue lens on the left (complete with sparkly silver stars nestled into the icing), and a right lens done in red and white stripes. Sounds festive, right? Well…

Let’s just say the decorating gods were not on my side that day. My phone overheated and shut off—mid-filming. Then, just when I thought I was recording again, the battery died. So yes, I decorated multiple cookies trying to get the full footage, and still missed the first half of the blue lens. If you look closely, you’ll see one cookie with a smudged frame (yep, finger smudge), rushed outlining (we’ve all been there), and a stripe job that is… let’s call it “artistically freeform.”

Real talk: I debated scrapping the footage altogether. But you know what? Decorating doesn’t have to be perfect to be joyful. Sometimes things melt down—phones, icing, decorators!—and you just keep going. And so, I did.

Also worth noting: these cookies spread more than usual. I baked them on silicone mats and let’s just say…parchment paper, I’m crawling back to you. 😂

So here they are in all their imperfect, patriotic glory—proof that you don’t have to get it perfect to make something sweet.

Video Tutorials

• Design 1: Classic Starry Lenses

• Design 2: Stripes & Star Sparkles

Looking for more cookie help? Get your free Sugar Cookie & Royal Icing Toolkit—it’s filled with recipes, consistency tips, and everything you need to make your cookie decorating shine.

Let’s celebrate the sweet (and real) side of cookie decorating—flour dust, smudges, shut-off phones and all.

Happy 4th of July baking, friends!