Packing homebaked cookie gifts

I went a bit bake crazy this year. For a person that doesnt really eat cookies or bake sweets very often, I sure got myself deep in trouble in the kitchen. I think I lost my mind somewhere along the way. It was not enough to just whip up a huge batch of the things, I had to make variety of cookies.

There is one thing for sure, I dont know when to stop.

I baked and cursed some, and had a few floppers (which got eaten by my in-house tasting team), I wanted to cry at some point, I am sure, and in the end I had more cookies than I had ever been in the presence of in my whole life.

Then came real life, or the life where you have to think of how to send off those piles of carefully baked items to people all over the world. I hate that life. It always ruins the fun I have in my head.

I put on my thinking cap and went  to work. Since the intended recipients have now gotten their gifts, I can share with you the results.

Creativity is a messy business, no way around it.

I got a few boxes from the “two dollar stores” and luckily they had a selection that was not sparkly or shiny with bright offensive colours.

A few ribbons – simple to go with the boxes – again from the dollar stores, and gift bags that were on sale from the craft store, was all that I had to purchase. I dug out some papers I had in the house and wondered what else I can come up with.

Since I had a few types of cookies, I thought I will make tags to go with each. Those tags were meant to hang on the boxes or gift bags. Then I thought to make labels, and I liked that option better. Since all the work was done at night, I called it my Night Bakery.

With the logo ready, simple informal writing indicating the type of cookie inside, finished the labels and I printed them all out.

The blue ribbons were an accidental idea. I was cutting up the papers that go under the printed labels and I had a few thin pieces hanging around. When I started playing with them, I came up with those beautiful little ribbons.

The bagged cookies are packed like that: cookies inside are tightly enclosed in clear kitchen wrap; paper gift bags with removed handles and thickened inside part; over the opening I draped the blue paper; over that went the smaller printed label; stapled together and on top of the staple I glued the ribbon.

The mexican wedding cookies were a bit more challenging. I cut up a piece of dotted blue paper to go on the bottom; on top of that I put some baking paper to prevent the oil from soaking in to the bottom; the clear material is just cellophane (cello wrap), which I aired for a day outside to remove any residual smell; that is gathered and tied with a ribbon and on top is the same procedure as the bags.

The boxes held a variety of cookies.

I wrapped each variety of cookie in clear wrap, to keep it fresh and to avoid any mix up in the box.

The best option to keep the boxes of cookies nice and secure in their shipping box is…popped corn. I had read about this packing material idea awhile ago, but never had a chance to use it, until now.

If you want to try this, pop the corn yourself and dont add anything to it. Certainly no butter ;)

After days of work and heavy brain usage, this process was over. I cannot tell you how good it felt to have those boxes leave the house. A feeling only eclipsed when I heard they had gotten to their new home and are being enjoyed by family and friends.

I dont think I am doing that again any time soon. Although, now that I am a pro…oh, who am I kidding.