Where to Find Free Containers for Shipping Cookies in the Mail

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.