How To Mail Christmas Cookies

How To Mail Christmas Cookies

Many of you will have loved ones far away for the holidays and for those separated from their families a gift of a box of cookies from home is such a wonderful treat. Here are a few tips about how to package and ship cookies so that they survive in the mail.

• Pick cookies that are soft and moist. Bar cookies work nicely, too.

• Don’t send cookies with frosting, cream cheese or other fillings or cookies that need to be refrigerated to prevent them from melting.

• Keep crispy cookies and soft cookies in separate containers.

• I love using metal tins to store or ship my cookies. Metal tins keep the cookies fresher and more well protected. You can buy metal cookie tins for very little money at a thrift store. You can double box the cookies, putting a smaller box inside a larger box, but be sure to line the inside of the box with plastic wrap, wax paper or foil – enough to fold over and cover all the cookies when you have them stacked in the box. If you use a tin, you don’t need to do this step.

• Lay one layer of cookies in your tin or box. Then top the first layer of cookies with wax paper and place another layer in the box. If there are any spaces between the cookies, crumple tiny pieces of wax paper to fill in the spaces. The main thing that will cause cookies to break is shifting, so be sure there are no spaces.

  You can use plastic wrap or parchment paper but I find that wax paper works best because it has more body and cushioning volume than plastic wrap and it is less expensive then parchment paper.

• After you lay the top layer of cookies in the tin or box, top it with one more piece of wax paper. Some people lay a piece a bread on top of the cookies to help keep soft cookies moist. Next, place a layer of bubble wrap*, popcorn or just wad up a few more tuffs of waxed paper. (I usually use the waxed paper.) Then place the lid on or close the first box.

  *Don’t buy bubble wrap if you don’t have any. When you double box cookies in this way, wadded up newspaper packed tightly should work fine, too. Just make sure the smaller box or tin can’t shift of or move.

• Place a layer of bubble wrap or popcorn into a second box to act as a cushion. Then place the first box of cookies in and add more cushioning. Remember- leave no spaces – Shifting is a no no.

• Alway place your address inside of the box in case something happens to the outside of the box.

• Mark the box “perishable” so the shipper will be more careful with it.

• You also could use Pringles cans in place of cookie tins.

• For added freshness, wrap the cookies individually in plastic wrap if they are going to be shipped a great distance or are going to be in transit a long time, like when you’re shipping them overseas.

• Some cookies that ship well are:

  • Snickerdoodles
  • Oatmeal
  • Shortbread
  • Peanut Butter
  • Gingersnaps
  • Monster cookies
  • Butter walnut
  • Ranger cookies

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