I know this is super early to be thinking about it but I was contemplating on taking Christmas cookie orders (just plain sugar rollout cookies cut into shapes and decorated with royal icing) How much should I charge per dozen? Thanks!

See, NOW you sound like one of those customers who want "....just simple rolled out cookies and decorated with royal icing.."

Simple? Notice how they use that word to try to make you think it's not that much work? But they still want them rolled out, cut out, baked, iced, decorated with multi-colored royal icing with little flowers and lots of icing-mixing and piping bags. Yeah......simple.

These are the cookies-on-a-stick without the stick. Basic rule of thumb on here is $1 per inch, so a 3 inch cookie would be $3 so they would be $36 a dozen.

They're a real PITA.

The only thing that makes them easier is to ditch the Royal and use fondant instead. Then it just becomes an assembly line.

haha... I know they're a big PITA! I just figure since I'll be making a few for myself, why not take a couple of orders and make a little extra cash for Christmas while I'm at it... I never said they were simple though... just plain! What I meant by that was that the cookie recipe is nothing spectacular... I know the decorating is! I was thinking more like $1 a cookie (and that's for a 3 inch cookie)

What is that in the distance? Hmmm. Can't ...... quite ...... make it ..... out.

OH MY GOD IT'S A GIANT SNOWBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hear you say you will be taking a "couple" of orders for some "simple" decorated cookies. But what happens to your sanity when you are doing these for only $12 a dozen and suddenly you are swarmed with orders? Suddenly you are hating yourself because you're ONLY getting $1 each for these.

Don't underestimate their (and YOUR!) value.

Heck if you're willing to do them for $1 each, then I might send you all my orders and resell them . . . That's nuts.

One of the things I do is go to the grocery store and see how much they charge for a decorated cookie. Most will sell a cookie-on-a-stick for $2.99 and more.

I am not sure you would even be covering your cost let alone your time for a 3" cookie at a $1.00 you need to make sure your time/materials are covered, PLUS you want to make some money on them too.

I charge $1 per inch for up to 3 colors. Anything over that I have the opportunity to raise the price of I feel the details will be more time consuming. This price is for the cookies to ONLY be boxed up. If they want them bagged individually then it is an additional $1 per cookie.

I also require a minimum of one dozen cookies per order. I am thinking of adding something in where there is a minimum order of $20 for any sugar cookies. Because I also sell 1" cookies, but when I do this I still have to mix up a full batch of dough royal icing etc... Although I tend to have a few orders on the back burner that uses up that dough b/c they are "Whenever you have another order I want some sugar cookies"

Like Leah said, if that is what you will be charging though I would like to place some orders with you too!

Wow, if I charge $3 per cookie I would get no orders at all. I figure it costs me about $3-$5 to make up a batch of 36 cookies, icing & coloring them... I asked friends & family what they would pay and the price was WAY lower... (like $4-$5 a dozen!) Even though, yes, they are detailed and decorated by hand, I can't imagine charging $3 a cookie... they might as well order a 2 tiered cake from me for that price. I thought $1 a 3 inch cookie and $2.50 at the most for one of the bigger 5 inch cookies. I'm only going to take 5 orders (a dozen minimum) so it's not like I'll be "flooded" and if any of you want to order from me, feel free! Thanks!

You have a Cookies By Design just 49 minutes from you (according to MapQuest) .... and they get more than $3 a cookie. The market is there.

Yes but cookies by design also gives you them in a basket and they're waaay more detailed than I plan to do... I also don't plan to do the stick in a cookie thing, just cookies.

I guess I way under charge, too. I mainly stick to holidays, so I can can have dough frozen and ready. I do 2doz minimum order - Sprinkles only 15.00 and 3-D from 20-25.00 depending on details. but I have had holidays with 30+ orders and it takes all of the fun out of them. When I had the prices even 5-8.00 higher i stopped getting orders but I'm in a small town.

Fondant instead of royal icing - BRILLIANT!  I'll give this a try this week, for practice, of course - I'll ONLY eat one :)  Thanks for the idea. Will let you know how it turns out.

AI am not an expert but 1 dollar for cookie is no enough money for my for all the work a plain cookie involves,. Last year I make a cookies for my curch halloween's party a simple esquelet daw in a gingerbread shape I thought... and I was so overwhelm whit all the work, I just jave 2 half sheet cookie tray, so this year I will stick with cupcakes or bone shape meringue. The fondant is a good idea even though I don't like fondant. Good luck

I charge a minimum of $2 per cookie. If it's anything more than a one color flood and a name or shape/dots/lines/etc, the price can go up from there. $1 per cookie is way, WAY, low. I'm even on the low side with $2 per cookie.

On a side note, friends and family have no clue what it takes to make cakes and cookies :)  Everyone wants custom desserts at grocery store prices.

ARemember that you only need to take one order at $3 per cookie to make the same as you would if you had three orders at $1 a cookie, maybe even four since you're only paying for one set of ingredients. Quantity of orders is meaningless if you don't actually make anything on them. $12 a dozen is only acceptable if you are shopping, mixing, baking, decorating and packaging in less than 30 minutes.

I realize this is an old thread but I'm guessing the topic will be coming up again now that it's fall.

Oh my gosh...DUH! I usually always look at the date before I post!  My coffee must have been weak today ;)

ALol

ANo, it's relevant, might as well keep going. Would be interesting to see how the OP made out after all this time, or if she still thinks $3 per cookie is still outrageous. ;-)

No wonder you experts never reply to the "how much?" threads! Why would the OP ask if she already had her price set in stone?  

Hi everyone ! 

This post is à very old one but i'm pretty sure the topic is not ! 

Thing is, by selling 3$ cookie at 1$, it is just deloyal market, while everyone here is trying to make their place

cutting the price just to have orders is not loyal or respectful toward all the bakers

we get to be insulted or cursed when we give the real prices to the customers, they think we are thieves 

Just like the ladies who sell wedding cake covered in fondant for like 3$ permet serving or buttercream cake for 1 or 2$ permet serving 

What are you paying yourself per hour?

How long from start to finish (gathering ingredients, mixing, baking, decorating, cleaning, boxing) will it take you?

Figure out what you make an hour - charge that + cost of materials/ingredients + a little extra for utilities/supplies.

Now $36 a dozen doesn't sound crazy does it?  I personally carry a minimum of $250 for any order.  But this is my business and not my hobby.  Anything less than $250 does not make business sense.