i know it's not even close to Christmas yet, but i was thinking about making up some flyers for some Christmas cookie platters and was wondering what types of cookies you all do for yours or what kinds of cookies you'd like to see on a tray (if you were buying them).....I'd like to do something where all the orders have to be prepaid and must be due by Dec. 1st or something so that I have time to bake them all, and also..how much do you normally charge.....or how do you charge rather?
I've seen sites where they charge by weight (ie; 5 lb. cookie platter), and others that charge per dozen of flavor cookies and some just charge a certain price for the tray. I'm not sure how to price.

I have some ideas for some recipes for cookies and also some little desserts, but just wondered what everyone else does

You and I both are thinking the same thing today! I am thinking Thanksgiving and Christmas already....I was thinking of small platters, maybe 1-2# and a large one of 5#.

I also was thinking of doing 'candy' platters....still out on that one.

As for types, I need to look back and see what did well for me last year...maybe even add some new ones....once I get to do some 'taste testing' with my panel.....rofl.....family and friends.

I've been promo'ing Christmas parties, corporate employee dinners, Christmas cookies and holiday caterings for the last 6 weeks or so. It's NOT too early!

thanks indy............if you're doing it then I know I'm not crazy!! lol I was thinking of doing some peanut butter cookies w/ kisses (people around here would die of shock if they weren't on the platter), some raspberry almond thumbprints, some lemon cookies, some decorated sugar cookies, and maybe some mini pumpkin tarts? I dunno, or maybe mini carrot cake bites (like a mini muffin with a dollop of crm cheese icing).......but then I think, oh ......what about brownie bites, fudge, choc. dipped pretzels.
So that got me thinking, maybe I should do a "cookie platter" and a "mini desserts platter" and maybe have a "deluxe platter" that has both of them on it?? I've never done this before and don't want to get in over my head (which i usually do anyhow)........and I definitely want to charge enough to make it worth my while. I also want to have the money in hand before I start baking so I know my efforts aren't all for nothing.


Now onto packaging........how do you all package them? Is it tacky to just do the platters with the clear snap on lid? maybe with a bow? Or should they get shrink wrapped like a gift basket?

Any help would be very appreciated!

I see by the response that countrycakes must sell by the pound. Is that how it's normally done? I would think it would be easier to tell people

this platter contains: 6 peanut butter kiss cookies
6 carrot cake bites
12 chocolate chunk cookies
and so on..........

What do you charge for them also? I realize that our areas and all that make a difference.........but I'm just curious how you charge as compared to maybe a decorated sugar cookie. i realize the ingredients alone for some of these more "gourmet" cookies is way more than the time involved in making them!

I have done it both ways...however, I need to redo some of my prices...because all the ingredients that I use have gone UP in price as well! Egads!

I can say that more people ordered by the 'pieces' as in 6 pb, etc. than by the pound.

A lot of people who ordered from me did not go for the 'gourmet' cookies....they just wanted good old fashioned cookies!

I would definitely decide up front what's in them. Otherwise, you're making god knows how many different batches of cookie dough for 4 cookies here and 6 cookies there.

Another version of the peanutbutter/kiss cookie is to put a mini Reese cup in the cookie. The restaurant next door has a client that orders 40-50 lunches at a shot on Saturdays, and they ALWAYS want these cookies. I keep reminding the restaurant that I make dang good choc chip and snickerdoodles, but he says, "Nope! This guy wants just your peanut butters!"

The packaging is totally up to you. If I were doing anything with height (cupcakes, for example), I'd use the snap on lids. Flat cookies only, I'd saran wrap them. Bows, baskets, etc., is up to you on how far up you want to kick it.

I forgot to add that I used the industrial sized plastic wrap from Sam's....made up some pretty holiday bows...and did them that way. I also made small sized 'carrot cake truffle' baskets last year for my dh's Gma's caregiver for her family...each basket contained 12 golf ball sized carrot cake truffles with cream cheese filling and dipped in white choc coating...placed in basket with food grade liner of tissue paper and wrapped in clear plastic wrap with a festive bow.
Took me about 2 hours to do 10 of them...I charged $20 each....she paid me $250 total! She was thrilled.

PS; I was too...got a $50 tip!

Last year I sold a couple of Cake Ball/Cookie/Tart platters for $25 each. I used the small plastic trays with the snap-op clear lids. I had not planned to sell them, but my hairdresser needed something for a party and I had extras at home (I had taken a platter to the salon and they loved them!) I'm thinking of trying to "market" them this year and see what happens. The cake balls worked out well as well as Pecan Tarts. Good luck with it!

Oh i'm so glad you brought this topic up...i was thinking about it today too.lol Last year i had several requests for trays of baked goods but i just wasn't prepared and thus didn't do them.
I was thinking 'bout my decorated sugar cookies too. Last year i was on the brink of making up a handout with different designs but was just not sure how i would pkg them so that they looked professional yet cost effective.

I would think on a cookie platter, any type of 'bars' would be great, tarts, spritz type cookies, decorated cookies for added color, cake balls, even dipped marshmallows made to look like a snowmans hat are cute.. etc...things that are pretty and easy to pick up.

I can't wait to hear everyone's responses.Before we know it christmas will be here so it's never to early to prepare.
I also wondered about when to have orders in by, and what the latest p/u would be. I don't want to be sitting at home waiting for customers to p/u cookies on christmas eve.

Oh indy..........you mention baskets and a light went off in my head (DH and I tried our hand at a gift basket business before a few yrs. back and we have a TON of gorgeous rectangular baskets that I think we paid around 2.00 each for and bought hundreds............I'm certain I've got at least 50 of them and a couple that are even smaller in size).......they would be perfect!!!!!!!

Oh and I'm totally running with the whole peanut butter cup in the cookie......are you saying it's baked inside of the cookie or is it just stuck on top like the kiss cookies? I was thinking baked inside and that sounds just wonderful!

I was thinking on charging around $1.00/cookie........for choc. chip/ decorated/ all of them as a base price and then add in what I spend on packagin (probably 5.00 or so for a bow and plastic and the basket).......so for a basket with 20 cookies all wrapped up for $25.00?? That seems high compared to what you guys were charging, and I know I charge way less for cake than you guys.

Indy I know you charge 3.00/serv. for cake right? And I charge 2.25 and everyone else around me charges 1.25 lol suckers! Maybe 20 cookies will look more substantial on a platter or in a basket?

I love this idea and have done it for family for years. And thinking about it 20 cookies on a plate look alot nicer than 20 cookies in a basket. However, is it possible to fit a higher amount of cookies in your baskets? I would definitely have a last day of pick up, and I can tell you that corporate parties start from the 1st of December to the weekend before xmas, so I hope that helps with your timeline.
Good luck!!!
Shannie
P.S. You are not too early at all, I already have my xmas shopping done for my family =)

For our family-close and extended (both DH's and mine), and close friends, we make each household a basket ~ "The Twelve Treats of Christmas". We make about 25 baskets.

We buy baskets at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, $1 a piece and their shrink wrap bags at $1 each. They come with a bow, too. Some years I don't use their bow and use ribbon or raffia, whatever, to match my card theme.

We make a list of 12 treats which is a good variety of cookies, bars, candies, breads, etc. I handmake a gift tag that includes the contents of the basket. EVERYTHING is individually wrapped (a pain, but much appreciated by the families and makes it look nicer) and a make a hand beaded ornament for each basket, too.

On assembly day, line up baskets, put tissue paper/confetti in each, fill with individually wrapped assorted goodies, shrink wrap, attach bow with gift tag and ornament, and viola, finally done

They're going to be soooo disappointed they aren't getting them this year! We put the money into our Free Cakes for Kids Chapter, so I'm just giving everyone a tin of 2 or 3 different types of cookies.

Oh, my hubby's favorite that has been in the basket EVERY year is Choco-Orange Diamonds. It's an orange flavored shortbread with chocolate and nuts cut into diamonds. Everything else changes from year to year, and we do through in some "easys" like chocolate covered peanuts, candy molds from candy melts, chocolate covered holiday shape pretzels, candied nuts, etc.

Hope that helps someone! Everyone always says I should sell them, but I'm in TX

I love the idea of the goodies with an ornament for family, so sweet and such a great idea. Those are the kinds of gifts I LOVE to receive! The ones where you know someone spent time thinking about you while making it!

Every year we have a bake sale at Christmas for church. I do baskets and platters. We also have a favorite that I did not do last year. I make a small plate bite size cookies with a matching mug or glass for "Santa". I found plates at a dollar store one year and thought that they would be fun. The first year I sold 4 or 5. The year before I sold 30 at $10 each! I did quick breads with flavored butter as well. My plates, baskets, liners, and all the wrapping bows should be here this week. I live in Texas without a legal kitchen, so selling to sell is out but the church fundraiser is ok. We have a blast making tarts, cookies, breads, candies. The kids look forward to helping and doing "quality control" checks.

Its ironic that this topic was posted today because I was also thinking about my holiday baking and how I would handle any orders I might get for cookies....great minds think alike . When I was younger, I'd bake a variety of Xmas cookies for the family...giving a large container to each of my mother's siblings and their families. I now do Holiday trays/large bowls wrapped in celophane and topped with a bow. I usually offer the usuals...Peanut Butter, Walnut-Chocolate Chip-Pecan, White Choc-Macadamia Nut, Oatmeal Explosion, Choc Dipped Shortbread, Junk Yard, and Gingerbread men. This year, I might also offer platters of decorated sugar cookies.

Its sounds like a really good idea to have cut off date for accepting orders.

Walmart here last year had really cute oval aluminium trays about 9 inches in Christmas themes and colors.They were 99 cents.I bought like 2 dozen and that's what I wrapped up my cookies on.I wrapped up with cellophane and tied a pretty holly around etc that you can get from Michael's craftstore.Very inexpensive!!

I do these every year. I do a cookie one and a candy one. I can't believe it Indydebi, I also make the peanut butter cookie with the mini reese in the middle, in the mini tart pan, they are the most popular I have!!!

Make sure not to mix any mint in with your regular stuff. I individually wrap all my candy, with the truffles in a paper cup in a box, the others in cello bags. The cookies I do are just in cello bags that fit 2 or 4 or 6, depending on the size of the cookie. All my bags have bows. Then they are on top of the paper shred stuff and either in a very, very inexpensive basket covered with shrink wrap or a flat tray (usually from the after xmas sale the year before). That will normally have cellophane wrapped all around it.

I charge $30 to $35 depending on the tray. Cookie tray is 5 different cookies (usually totalling 18-25 cookies depending on the type and size) and candy tray is 5 different candies, about 15-18 per tray.

I've not sold cookie trays, but agree w/ Indydebi---don't have but a certain options.

Cookies that are popular here:
The Hershey Kiss cookie (but like the reese's cup idea!)
Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Covered Oreos
Traditional: choc chip, snickerdoodle, oatmeal raisin
My Fav: Gingersnaps & Pumpkin w/ Cream Cheese frosting
ETA: No Bake Choc Oatmeal cookies go like CRAZY!

Candies:
Choc Covered Pretzels
Choc Covered Marshmallows
Buckeyes
Rum Balls
Choc Covered cherries

Loaf Breads:
Zucchini
Pumpkin
Fruit
Chocolate Choc Chip
Friendship (but time consuming)
Cinnamon Swirl

I think the cheapest route would probably be platters, but if you have baskets utilize them! I never know how to charge for platters & such since I only bake non-decorated cookies during the holiday season.

Those reeces cookies, mine are done with the peanut butter cookie recipe like for kisses, only you just use a small melon scooper and put them in the mini tart /muffin tins and bake, when they come out, you push a mini reeses into the middle of each one while they are still hot and let them cool. They really fly out the door, my girlfriend bought me another tray of 24 cavities just so I could make more for her each year....smart girl.

We need pictures!!

Yes, you just push the mini-Reese cup into the cookie as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Drop cookies can be made ahead in dough balls. Scoop them out onto a cookie sheet; freeze; then transfer them to a container (wax lined box; rubbermaid container; those disposable alum food pans .... a layer of wax paper between each layer). When ready to bake, they go from freezer to oven. When I was doing 300 cookies a day, there's no way I could have kept up without a stash in the freezer!

$25 for a basket of 20 cookies is a steal!! Do the Easter basket trick .... fill the bottom of the basket with "filler" so when you stack/layer the cookies on top, it looks REALLY FULL!!!

Christmas Mugs: Fill with chocolate covered gourmet pretzel rods. Package in a clear bag. They get a treat AND a mug! Great for those office gift exchanges.

I always plan to do these for my family/household gifts every year and spend months daydreaming the different combinations and planning...and then run out of time due to other committments, so I've never really done them! But I have done Christmas cookies and candies in general, and one that everyone always loves is the Andes' mint chips cookies - yummo!

I have done cookie trays for my business the last 2 seasons and have done really well with them. I just used cookie recipes from growing up and a few newer items. The tray is what Christmas feels like to me. here is a photo. Each item is between 1/4 and 1 lb. I don't remember the exact weight of the finished tray, but they retail for $40 and I also make a mini version for $10.

Where could i find plastic containers with lids for cookies?

Let's keep this post going! Great one KHalstead! One day we are going to meet!

Yes, I put the cookies right on the shreds. I did that on 2 years ago, but not last year. I think it looks good, but adds more time. I made about 30 large and 15 small last year.

I get my trays from a restaurant supply store. They are wholesale priced, so are much less expensive than party supply like Party City. For a tray and dome lid at Party City would be like $7-8, which eats profit. At the restaurant supply, I can by a pack of 5 trays and 5 lids for about $15. The small ones are just like "to-go" containers.

Ok, you guys motivated me today! I whipped up a small batch of NFSC's, iced them into Smiley Face cookies, bagged 'em up and I going out tomorrow with a cookie-in-a-bag and a flyer to my business neighbors! Thanks for this thread that gave me the kick in the butt!