I signed up for a cookie decorating class at McCalls. I have been watching their classes for a while and I finally decided to take the plunge. The online website was a little tricky to navigate. For starters my cookie decorating class was under the "cake decorating" section, which if you ask me isn't the correct spot for it. Anyways, I added the class to my cart and then I was spooked when I was getting a $12 shipping and handling charge. I sent an email to them and they responded within a day and told me to keep going through with the transaction and click " pick up in store" which was a little odd considering there is nothing to pick up, after all it's a class. I finally managed to get through and last night was our first class.
The way that mccalls has broken it down is there are two classes from 6:30-9:30. On our first class we learned all new techniques with royal icing and they supplied everything except for your tools ( you need to bring those). I really liked this format because it didn't require me to bake a dozen cookies and make royal icing all before coming to the class like the Wilton classes require. We had a great instructor. She was very patient and informative. Upon starting the class you are provided with a package that has the royal icing recipe and the cookie recipe for your convenience. You are also given cookie outlines and some instructions on how to do everything. I thought the evening flew by and I am excited to see how our cookies transform. We did a lot of basic work on the first night and are leaving our cookies to dry. Tomorrow we will be doing more fondant work. Probably as this doesn't require any drying time.
I read some of the other reviews of mccalls and I agree it is quite pricey (I love a good deal). And so I would suggest you pre-buy your materials maybe at michaels with the 40% off coupon beforehand as this will save you some serious $$$$$
Overall we're off to great start and I would highly recommend these classes.