How to Ship Christmas Cookies so They'll Arrive in Great Condition

Tricks and Tips for Shipping Christmas Cookies Safely

Homemade cookies and Christmas sweets are a wonderful and thoughtful gift for family and friends who live far away. Because cookies are fragile, special care is needed when shipping to make sure they arrive in great condition.

What are the best types of cookies to ship?

Certain types of cookies travel much better than others. Bar cookies, drop cookies, molded cookies and fruit cookies seem to ship quite well. Avoid fragile rolled cookies, wafer, and other thin cookies which tend to crumble while in shipping.

What type of packing material should be used?

I once received a box of candy that had been shipped in a standard manila envelope. Needless to say, the candies were as flat as coins when they arrived. Since shipping boxes will be bounced around and stomped upon, it's best to use a container made of sturdy cardboard.

During the Christmas season, shipping parcel post can take up to 2-3 weeks for delivery. Since the quickest method will be shipping via US priority mail, why not use one of the US Post Office's free priority mail boxes for your Christmas goodies? Boxes, tape, and labels can be ordered free of charge from the US Post Office web site at www.usps.com.

For filler, use shredded paper, crushed newspaper, recycled bubble wrap, or recycled plastic bags. One old cookbook even suggested using unbuttered and unsalted popcorn, which is a fabulous eco-friendly filler.

Wrapping the cookies

In addition to being smashed, cookies will also break by the force of being bumped against each other. Cookies should be wrapped individually, or paired up back to back, and wrapped two at a time. I prefer using a layer of clear wrap to seal in freshness, followed by a second layer of wax paper.

Packaging the cookies