For Christmas, my oldest son asked for a very simple gift. He missed Ma’s baked-from-scratch cookies and bars, and asked if I wouldn’t mind mailing him “some of those awesome fudgey brownies and chocolate chip cookies you used to make when I was a kid.”
I came up with the idea of a “Cookie of the Month club” and since December, have been sending him 3 pounds of cookies on the first of every month.
Making cookies is the the easy part, finding something to pack them in was another matter all together. Sure, I could buy those plastic storage containers at a dollar fifty a pop, but instead, dipped into my stash of leftover paint, craft materials, and recyclables for unique containers that are sturdy enough to keep those cookies from crumbling.
Before we move on, for those of you expecting resources for free boxes, the US Post Office will deliver free priority mail boxes to your home that are perfectly sized for shipping cookies. You can also order free tape and free shipping labels too. To order these free shipping materials, visit the web site of the US Post Office at www.usps.com and click on the link that reads “Postal Store.
Where to find free containers
Do you drink coffee, eat oatmeal or ice cream, or buy baked deli chickens or store bakery cakes? Any hard sided container such as coffee and Coffeemate canisters, plastic ice cream tubs, large deli containers or oatmeal containers can be used to packaged homemade cookies.
To turn those boring canisters into a fun and funky cookie container, follow these directions to turn that trash into pizzaz!
Supplies needed include:
Spray paint (whatever color you’ve got)
Stickers, gummy circle rings, yard sale dots, address labels, glitter glue pens, or dimensional acrylic paints or paint pens.
Step 1: Clean the container thoroughly by washing the interiors of the plastic containers or wiping out the inside of the paper containers.
Step 2: Take outside to spray with your base color. To spray the container so the paint doesn’t drip, apply the paint in very thin applications. Most of these containers need to be sprayed at least three to four times for a complete coverage. Remember to invert the container before spraying to avoid over spraying the inside.
Step 3: Let the container dry; usually a few hours is enough.
Step 4: Decorate with items found in the craft box.
Some ideas:
Use white yard sale dots or gummy circles on a black, gold or brown canister for an Op Art look.
Spray a container in overlapping colors of gray, gold, brown, and black for a camouflage effect.
Dip into your stash of ink pads and march a series of thumb prints across a white canister. Use a sharp point felt marker to turn those thumb prints into tiny creepy crawlers.
Spray a container in gold or bronze, and decorate with an assortment of stickers and acrylic paint flourishes.
Packing the cookies
Because the cookies are being shipped, they can’t just be tossed loosely in the container. The best way to pack those cookies so they arrive in one piece is to put two cookies together~back to back~ and then carefully wrap in a piece of wax paper. Wrap all the cookies in this method before packing them tightly in the canister.
For kids living away from home (and Mom’s delicious cooking), shipping a box of cookies is a sweet gesture that doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. By recycling existing canisters and sprucing them up with a bit of paint and creativity, your kids will enjoy looking at the outside of the container almost as much as looking inside. For instructions how to ship those cookies safely, visit my article on “How to Ship Christmas Cookies” by clicking on this link.
