Your favorite holiday cookie recipe calls for extra love, so why not put lots of care into the batch's gift wrapping, too? After all, holiday cookies are a fantastic present for people you interact with on a daily basis—think friends, co-workers, teachers, and neighbors.
From snickerdoodles and shortbread to biscotti and thumbprints, baking is only half the fun when gifting cookies. Presentation is key; using simple crafting skills, you can make your edible gift feel that much more special when you dress it up in packaging that makes use of seasonal motifs.
Using cellophane wrappers, decorated gift boxes, and more, our holiday cookie packaging ideas will give you all the inspiration you're looking for this season.
Icicle Treat Bags
The icy color palette of these cone-shaped treat bags show chocolate, powdered, or brightly decorated cookies at their best—and the cellophane bag inside keeps your treats fresh. Adorn each with a name tag to further personalize the gift.
Pine Ribbon Gift Box
Give a plain box a seasonal makeover with fresh pine sourced from your own backyard. Arrange the leaves in a small ring and glue together the stems before securing the delicate wreath with ribbon.
Satin Bow Cookie Gift Box
These charming packages of holiday cookies are like a woodland fantasy in each box. To keep the cookies from sticking, we sandwiched each between layers of waxed kraft paper. Fine wood shavings protect the cookies from any breakage. Embellish the outside of the boxes with your choice of wrapping paper and your own adornments. Here, we use a graphic tree cutout to accompany the satin ribbon.
Christmas Cookie Crackers Set
Stack this year's holiday cookies and sweets inside store-bought clear tubes. At under $1 each, they're more affordable than tins or plastic containers; they're also sturdier in transit than cellophane wrapping. Finish them with our custom clip art to secure the boxes by covering the tube's end caps.
Statement Crepe Wrap
Make a statement with your wrapping by placing your cookies in a simple box and covering it with gold crepe paper. For an extra festive touch, cinch the paper on both ends with a fabric Christmas lights garland.
Towel Ties
This clever wrapping technique is like two presents in one. Keep the cookies secure by placing them in a box then wrapping it with a beautiful printed linen. Your giftee won't just be getting a delicious treat—they'll also receive a stunning kitchen towel.
Town House Gift Boxes
Quaint town house boxes are a creative way to package "lebkuchen," a type of cookie that the German town of Nuremberg has been famous for since the late 1300s. Create a custom sleeve that slips over a box filled with cookies.
Mix-and-Match Cookie Tins
A mixed cookie tin is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Line the bottom and sides of a square or rectangular airtight tin with corrugated paper. Fold short lengths in half for dividers. Then, envelop your cookies in tissue paper, buffer them with corrugated paper tubes, and protect them using accordion folds of red paper. You can also tie a short stack of cookies with baker's twine.
Cellophane-Wrapped Cookie Sleeve
Treats as pretty as home-baked cookies shouldn't be hidden in paper or cardboard. Here, neat rows of chocolate-espresso wafers and orange-ginger rounds are rolled in cellophane, and the ends are finished with ribbons.
Cookie Jars
Show off your beautiful Christmas cookies in clear jars with festive lids. After all, who would want to hide these palmiers (a classic French treat that's sometimes called palm leaves) in a closed box? For cookies that are shapely and beautiful all on their own, up-cycle a mason jar instead.
Holiday Cookie Mailing Tubes
Just the right shape for mailing (or hand-delivering) cookies, bright-colored cardboard tubes look even more festive when outfitted in red and white to mimic the season's best candy canes. Nail the look by cutting strips of adhesive paper in different widths with a utility knife on a straightedge; then, wrap the strips of adhesive paper around your mailing tubes. Wrap and pack your cookies in decorative tissue paper before slipping them into the tube.
Kitchen Molds
Kitchen molds make attractive gift containers, and they serve the recipient well long after the cookies are eaten. Here, pudding molds lined with parchment make excellent vessels for soft cookies.