Up Cookies (& how to pack and mail cookies!)

My nephew turned 1 year old today!! But he lives 13,000 km away so I wasn't able to celebrate his big day with him. If I could've gone, I would've been all over making his birthday cake and lots of other yummy desserts, but one is limited by what one can send in the mail, so I had to settle for cookies! I've mailed him cookies before for his welcome baby party last July! (technically they were suppose to be baby shower cookies, but my nephew was in a hurry to be born and surprised everyone by arriving 3 weeks early!)

Up Cookies!

Anyway, back to Up cookies! I went with lots of colourful balloons and some cute little house cookies. The cookies are decorated with royal icing, dyed six colours of the rainbow. 

ROYGBV balloon cookies

The houses were a bit more challenging to decorate. I had trouble piping out the lines for the windows and the fence, so it looks a bit messy. I need more practice with royal icing, for sure!

house cookies

Now, the last few times I've mailed cookies home, I used DHL's Express service, which gets the cookies there is 3 working days... but costs a bomb! So this time, I decided to try out regular old air mail. I figured that if the cookies were packed well enough, it didn't matter how many times they were chucked around as they made their way across the Pacific.

Up, Up & Away!

Before you start packing the cookies, make sure they are completely dry!!! I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but there's nothing worse than all the effort packing and shipping, only for the cookies to arrive with a not-so-lovely bubble wrap pattern indented into the surface of the royal icing. ha! 

wrap cookies individually in bubble wrap

First, individually wrap each cookie in bubble wrap. You may want to double bubble wrap if you have any delicate likely-to-break-if-jostled parts. Don't cheap out on bubble wrap!

pack in Ziploc bags to keep them fresh

Then place the cookies in Ziplock bags to keep them fresh. You can use bigger Ziplock bags to fit more cookies in, but I prefer the small bags so I can have more flexibility arranging the bags in the box.

more bubble wrap for the sides of the box!

Place a layer of bubble wrap on the bottom of the box for added cushioning. Again, don't cheap out on the bubble wrap! Then, layer your cookies in. Optimize the package arrangement so that there is very little movement when you shake the box. If your cookies move around while the box is being shaken, they're more likely to break. 

wrap the box in packaging paper & mail it off!

Add a final layer of bubble wrap on top. Then, seal up your box & wrap in packaging paper, if desired. Don't forget to write the address on it! Get the post office people to mark your package "Fragile" (not like that's gonna help much from the mail guys tossing it about...but still.) Then mail it off and cross your fingers that the cookies make it there in one piece! 

giveaways for the party, with cute little Thank you tags*

Hooray, all 35 cookies made it over to my nephew without a single one breaking! Woohoo good job regular air mail! Less than half of what it costs to DHL. My sister repackaged the cookies nicely in cellophane bags, tied with curly ribbon and an Up-themed Thank You tag. 

Happy 1st Birthday, baby Mattias!*

I really wish I could have celebrated my little nephew's 1st birthday with him! Check out the cute little set up, DIY'd by my sisters! My nephew's mom made this super adorable photo collage of baby, month by month, holding up the corresponding number of balloons. She did that waaay before she even thought to have an Up-themed party! And my middle sister did the awesome painting of Paradise Falls, and the two photo-cut out of Russel & Carl! Yes, hand-painted! So talented. The Up cake and cupcakes were made by my mom's coworker. Up, Up and away on a fun 1st birthday adventure! Happy 1st birthday, sweet baby Mattias!!

*pics courtesy of the birthday boy's mom