How To Create the Best Holiday Cookie Box.

December 10, 2017

Posted in Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Holidays + Seasonal, Recipes, Type of Meal

Today’s the day…yes, I am finally sharing my ideas on How To Create the Best Holiday Cookie Box!

How To Create the Best Holiday Cookie Box | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Here’s the thing, baking cookies and putting them in a box isn’t really a hard thing to do, right? Yeah, we get that. But baking cookies and arranging them in the box, not only to look cute but also be protected, and then properly shipping them off…well that can be a little tricky.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is shipping out Christmas cookie boxes to friends, family, and people I work with. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and it’s become one of my favorite December activities. I love setting aside a day just for baking cookies, it’s the best. Last year, I was so bummed when I didn’t have time to bake up any cookies, so this year I am making a serious effort to bake all the cookies I can, and get some boxes shipped out.

Over the years, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks to creating the perfect cookie box, so I thought it would be fun to share them with you guys. Here’s how I go about creating the perfect holiday cookie box.

Step One: Choose Your Cookies

When choosing your cookies, be sure to pick cookies, and or other desserts, that will hold up well in shipping. I like to choose cookies that are different shapes and sizes. I find it’s nice to have a little variety in the box, so I’ll normally bake up four to six different cookies and then divide them between boxes.

The cookies I used in the box you see here:

Salted Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Blondies

Coconut Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Covered Pretzel Presents

Jolly Santa Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies

Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Easy Icing

Sugar Cookie Chocolate Creme Brulee | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Chocolate Caramel Cookies (Half Baked Harvest Cookbook recipe…favorite cookies)

Step Two: Get a Sturdy Box

The box you use to package your cookies is very important. You’ll want to choose a sturdy box that can handle shipping. I love using a heavy-duty cardboard box that has dividers in it so that I can keep each cookie separate from one other. I also love using a good cookie tin. Both are great options for keeping cookies safe.

Tip: place bubble wrap in the bottom of your box, then line the box with a very large piece of plastic wrap (use multiple layers if needed) that will be large enough to wrap over the cookies when the box is full. This keeps the cookies safe and fresh.

Step Three: Gather Cute Packaging and Ribbon

Of course I love to make my boxes as cute as possible, so I try to find festive plastic wrapping, food safe tissue paper, and or ribbon to wrap around my cookies. This gives your boxes that extra special touch…plus it’s just fun.

Tip: I always wrap cookies that I want to stay extra fresh in holiday ziplock storage bags and then add them to the box. If you want to use something a little cuter than storage bags or plastic wrap, try using holiday cellophane bags that can be sealed with ribbon, small holiday cookie tins or food containers that will fit inside your box.

Step Four: Bake Cookies

As I mentioned, I love setting an entire day aside for baking cookies. Normally, Asher will come over and we’ll have a “Christmas Cookie Day”. We bake, listen to Christmas music, and eat our body weight in sugar. It’s a fun way to get a lot of cookies baked and decorated and get the boxes filled. I like to bake and decorate the cookies in the morning and afternoon, then let them chill and package them up at night so that they are ready to ship in the morning.

Step Five: Package Everything Up

Packing up your boxes is probably one of the trickiest steps of sending out holiday cookie boxes. You’ll want to make sure that all the time you spent making cookies wasn’t wasted, trust me, the worst thing ever is to hear that your cookies arrived smashed.

My tips:

Start out by wrapping any cookies that are more fragile in plastic wrap or plastic food bags.
Be sure to package the heaviest cookies on the bottom and the lightest cookies on top.
Arrange a layer of shredded paper, bubble wrap, or tissue paper between each new layer of cookies.
Pack your cookies snug in your box to keep them from moving during shipping.
For the final layer of your box, I like to use shredded paper, bubble wrap, or tissue paper. This will help keep the cookies snug in their place.
Pack the box inside a large cardboard box with about two inches of space all around and fill in the empty space with bubble wrap, as this provides just another layer of protection for your cookies.
Seal the box well with tape and then write FRAGILE all over the box. No seriously like all over the box, and in BOLD letters.

Step Six: Ship Your Box Off

I bake my cookies and package them up all in one day, and then the next morning I head to UPS or Fed-EX to ship them off. My recommendations? Do not use the USPS to ship your cookies, that just never, ever, ends well. Ship your cookies via two-day air because it’s important to get your cookies to their owner as soon as possible.

And DONE.

I know it’s a bit of work to create a holiday cookie box, but the efforts are worth it. I continually find that whoever receives a box is always so happy and grateful for the homemade goodies. And guys, you don’t have to bake a ton of cookies for your boxes. One, two, three, types of cookies is fine! I hope this post inspires you guys to get into the kitchen and bake up some cookies for friends and family!

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