I baked my son's teacher a cookie bouquet for Teacher's Appreciation and he came home today to tell me that the teacher love the bouquet. She told him that she would only eat one cookie because it was too pretty to eat. She added that she could not bring it home either because her children would eat them and she didn't want that. Well the longer I sit here the more I think what a shame. Cookies are meant to be eaten and not sit on a stick and rot. The funniest part is my mother saw the bouquet I made for his teacher and asked why I never make her one. (She is diabetic) I asked her what she was going to do with it since she can't eat it and she told me the same thing. "That is too pretty to eat. I just want to look at it". Don't get me wrong, I am flattered that they think they are pretty, but does anyone else understand my thoughts. You put your heart into making them for people to enjoy(eat!!!!!) Please tell me if I am crazy. PS. I am going to make my mother one for mother's day for her to look at.

Oh, you are sweet to do that for your mother! I face the same problem with my in-laws the most. Time and time again, I make them cookies and they don't eat them. He parades them through the office and I have found out that they end up putting them standing on a shelf for friends to see. The funniest was when I asked my father-in-law what he thought of the taste of his tool cookies only to find out that he built a shadow box for them and has it hanging in his workshop. And to think I used the good Madagascar vanilla! Next time I am going to borrow JenWhitlock's idea and make some that say "Eat me!" on them. Hopefully they won't end up on the shelf! My parents on the other hand inhale them when the box arriives.

At least the teacher's reaction and your mother's in particular show just how cute your cookies are! And they are at that! I looked at the teacher cookies and I can see why she didn't want to eat them. They are really wonderful!

I love that idea of writing "Eat me" on one. LOL

I was so thrilled to bring my mom and dad a "bottle of wine" in a brown paper bag as a joke (they don't drink) when I visited them a while back. As you can guess it was a cookie that was a bottle of wine!! I was so bummed that they never ate it because they kept it in their fridge forever to show everyone. I guess I had no choice but to take it as a compliment and you should too!!!!

Oh, most definitely it is a compliment! Before you ever started cookie-ing, can you imagine how it would have felt to make something so special and so personalized for you? No, those teacher cookies are precious. I am sure she has a gazillion "World's Best Teacher" items, but your cookies are truly unique! Maybe if you send her the picture she might actually eat them. I found out that one person I gave them to wasn't 'allowed' to eat them until his wife photographed them a few days later (couldn't find the camera/needed the right lighting, etc). The next time I sent a pic right after I gave him his cookies and he got to enjoy them much sooner. Sp maybe the picture idea might work for you (but she will still likely keep them to look at. )

I definitely agree that it is a compliment and I am thrilled someone things so much of it that they wouldn't eat it. It just seems ashame. Cookies and cake are meant to be eaten even if they are works of art!!!! (Not saying that my cookies are). Take a picture is a great idea. Face it, those cookies are not going to hold up forever. Eventually you are going to have to throw them out. I hope the message did not read as if I was angry because I am not. I guess I just didn't understand. If I got a bouquet I would eat those puppies.

My parents are the same, but not with food items. Like if I get them a really like a really nice mug, they will just keep it on a shelf because its too pretty to use.

Cookies and cakes are another thing...they do love to eat those!

BTW>..your cookie bouquets are awesome!

Oh, I feel your pain My haunted house cake took me weeks to make everything edible and the house and hill it's self was a lot of work. It sat there and not only did not get eaten at the party I made it for, it ended up sitting on display in a real estate office. Heck, if I had known that I would have made it out of dummies and fake clay. It was soooo mad that all that time and work was for nothing.

It was hard to feel flattered when you know that food was going to waste.

sandy

My dear friend has a freezer full of cookies I have made for her! At Easter, I gave her HUSBAND the bag of cookies, with instructions to eat them! I'm sure at least one is in the freezer, but that's OK too!

I was going to suggest the same thing Tracy did, include a picture.

I also love the"Eat Me" cookie idea.

Funny story here.

I saved one of my penguin cookies as a freezer experiment a while ago. I'm thinking it is going on over a year now. It's doing well as far as the colors keeping ect. I have a 2 year old grandson who is so totally into Pingu, he saw it once when I was getting something out of the freezer and now tells everyone that Grandma has Pingu in her freezer!

I have to say Tracy and others here, that I would probably save a cookie you guys have made also. They are so darn beautiful!

I've had a couple people actually shellack the cookies I gave them, and the cookies are now sitting in display cabinets for all to see. It doesn't help to tell them to eat them and I'll make them more. Just take it as the compliment it is, and laugh.

I think that the most common phrase we all hear is, "Oh, they're too pretty to eat!" I tell them, "They taste even better! Eat one!" The first cookie bouquet I made was a log cabin housewarming gift for some friends. They ended eating all of the cookies, but shellacked the cabin and have it on display in their new mountain home. I have to admit that I got a kick out of that My son who is "away" at college (only 15 minutes away) always appreciates the goodie bags I have for him, which almost always include sugar cookies. My high school son, on the other hand, sees so many cookies pass through our kitchen that he rarely ever eats one. I ended up freezing his Easter sugar cookies because he didn't even touch one of them. It made me sad because I gave him my masterpiece "It's Raining Carrots!" cookie, and there it sits in the freezer But let me bring home a box of Oreos and he's all over them I've always thought that Jen Whitlock's "eat me" cookie is a good idea, and maybe I'll have to add one of those to each batch that I give away

Maybe you could make them out of gumpaste and sell them as ornaments

I wish she would take a bite, but I doubt she will. She never cheats on her diabetic diet. We have tried for years to eat a bite of cake or something, but she will not cave. I have never met anyone like her.

Here is her bouquet. I wish I could have put crushed oreo cookies for dirt instead of the tissue paper, but since she was worried about ants I put the paper. She enjoyed it and laughed that I actually made it.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1365393.html

Wow! That's crazy...I was just teasing about her taking a bite. She must be very strong willed to never break her diet. But that's really good too!

The cookie bouquet turned out GREAT! Very cute!!!

I made a basket of cookies for my cousin when she had her baby boy. He's starting kindergarten in the fall, and the cookies are STILL on the shelf. The cookies I made for her baby girl last year are right next to them.

I've had the same thing happen. The lady eventually threw the bouquet away, without ever knowing how they tasted.

As Shiney's signature says, "Take a picture; eat the cookie!"

I get that alot, too. Used to be that way with cakes, but after I make sure everyone has had a picture of it, I just cut it and serve it. Then they have no choice but to eat it because the art has already been hacked up. Now that I do edible image cookies, if a customer wants a sample, I send 1 with a photo as their order will look like, and 1 dozen mini iced sugar cookies for them to sample. I figure they will want to show everyone the logo cookie and not eat it, but I want them to know how good they taste, as well, so they have no issues eating the mini ones.

Some have said the picture does not do it justice, however, if the photo was taken while the cookies were fresh, it will do it justice after the cookies are all faded out, dusty and chipped sitting on the shelf. I consider that clutter. I like edible art because it doesn't have to sit around. You admire it, then you eat it. Photos don't take up much room.

BTW my grandmother-in-law, now 87, still has a dummy cake I made for her 80th birthday for the sole purpose of showing it to all her friends!

OMG this is so true with my family. I just made my first mother's day cake couple of days ago and it had like roses on top and everything, and they all thought it was great!

Now when it came time to cutting all the family was like no no we don't want to cut it it is too pretty and i am like just stab the knife in the cake already! lol

So my mum would go to cut it and everyone was going oh no no no wait! and then ok go and then oh no wait! oh no ok go and it went on like this till i was like cut it already, it's fine lol

So they ended up cutting it trying to avoid cutting the buttercream flowers cose they didn't want to ruin them lol

Now i do love my cakes but i don't mind when they are cut, as long as i don't cut them myself, i'd rather someone else do it lol But yeh it's a shame when people don't want to eat what you have made cose it's too pretty cose it seems like a bit of a waste, but i guess i can understand because i am the same way with things other than cakes like not wanting to use wrapping paper etc cose i don't want to ruin it cose it too pretty lol

Update - My son came home from school yesterday with a thank you note that stated how much she loved the cookies and they were too cute and very tasty. My son said that she had taken the cookies home, so I guess she did break down and eat them. YEAH!! I know it is silly, but it makes me happy to see someone eat the cookies and cake I make.

that's hilarious!! cricket i wish i could make my bouquets as pretty as yours-i'm practicing though and trying a couple of different techniques (marbles or rocks around the foam is very pretty) but i need to figure how much to include in my pricing as packaging. i did a chalkboard cookie for the end of the year for my kids teachers and they are so cute (this year they'll be even better!!) i agree that i would send a pic with the cookies so no excusses for not eating them!! hehe