Cookie Advent Calendars: Why We Love Them and How to Make Them Easy
Our Cookie Advent Calendars were the very first product we offered, and they're still one of our most popular and beloved items.
Before I founded Miss Cookie Packaging, I had a long career as a graphic designer, followed by a year-long foray into professional cookie decorating. During that first holiday season as a cookier, I wanted to offer Cookie Advent Calendars to my customers but I couldn't find the right packaging. I had no choice but to make it work that year with what I could find on the market (because I had already pre-sold calendars!) but I wasn't thrilled with the outcome. And that's when I had a lightbulb moment! With my packaging design experience, I could make a better packaging solution myself! I spent a year developing, designing, and perfecting the first-ever Cookie Advent Calendar created by a cookier for cookiers!
The launch of that first calendar design in 2020 completely sold out, and it was then that I realized there was no turning back. Miss Cookie Packaging was born, and our calendars quickly became one of our signature offerings.
I won't sugarcoat it—Cookie Advent Calendars require some work. But if you follow the tips you'll learn in this post, you can see incredible results (and make great money too!) when you package your sweet treats in our irresistibly cute calendar packaging.
There are plenty of reasons to consider adding Cookie Advent Calendars to your lineup this holiday season.
Cookie Advent Calendars aren’t just fun and adorable, they’re also . . .
Nostalgic
Many of your customers fondly remember opening the little doors on an Advent Calendar as a child. You can help them recreate those memories with their family and friends with our nostalgic, storybook-inspired countdown boxes, creating a tradition they look forward to year after year.
Unique
A beautifully decorated cookie is fun, but 12 or 24 beautifully decorated cookies in an interactive package? That’s something truly magical. Cookie Advent Calendars offer a way to make your products stand out from the many holiday treat options available to your customers.
Premium
Our custom-designed calendar boxes turn even simply decorated cookies into memorable experiences. And because they are a premium product, you can increase your profit margins—all while making people smile.
Your pricing will depend on the market in your area. Most of our customers sell their filled calendars for between $65–$85, allowing them to make back the cost of the packaging within the first few sales.
Take a look at our new 2024 Cookie Advent Calendar designs
In addition to the designs we have offered in previous years, we have several brand-new design options to delight your customers this year.
What's even more exciting is that I've designed custom cutter sets to accompany these new calendar designs, taking all the guesswork out of finding the perfect minis to fit!
12 Day Cookie Advent Calendars – Merry Christmas
$56.50 – $90.40
12 Day Cookie Advent Calendars – Nativity
$56.50 – $90.40
12 Day Cookie Advent Calendars – Woodland Creatures
$56.50 – $90.40
24 Day Cookie Advent Calendars – Merry Christmas
$84.20 – $134.60
24 Day Cookie Advent Calendars – Woodland Creatures
$84.20 – $134.60
Each calendar is made in the USA and features a sturdy, food-safe tray to keep cookies securely in place behind each door.
To find the most success with your Cookie Advent Calendars, try these tried and true #protips!
If you're excited about adding Cookie Advent Calendars to your holiday lineup but nervous about getting it all done, I've got you.
These are the tips to make the process as streamlined as possible so you can make the most of your efforts. The main thing I want you to remember is this: planning is crucial. Consider your schedule and determine when you'll have time to fold, bake, decorate, and fill your calendars. Then, stick to your timeline and keep these three make-it-easy-on-yourself tips in mind:
Start folding your boxes early!
Get folding out of the way so you won't be scrambling to get it done days before cookie pickup. All of our calendars ship flat and need to be folded. Once you fold a few, you’ll get in a groove and be able to Netflix and fold, but be sure to watch our assembly tutorials to start.
When folding the boxes, lay the side with the doors against a table or hard surface to avoid accidentally opening one of the perforated doors!
If you need to add ingredient information or branding labels to your boxes, this is also a great time to apply those stickers. There is dedicated space on the back to include your labeling without covering up any of the fun design details.
Once your calendars are folded and labeled, store them in a clean, dry space where they won’t get disrupted by kids, pets, or anything else.
Bake and freeze your cookies ahead of time.
If you have never tried freezing your cookies, this is your moment! I have frozen naked and decorated cookies, and both freeze exceptionally well. In fact, my husband and I actually think that my cookies are better after being frozen—weird but true!
Baking in advance can alleviate a lot of the pressure as it gets closer to order pickup dates. Here are some things to think about when you bake ahead:
Naked Cookies (oo-la-la): Stack completely cooled naked cookies in your food container of choice (parchment between layers is optional), put the lid on, and pop them in the freezer.
Decorated Cookies: If you are freezing decorated cookies, heat seal them after they have thoroughly dried, put the heat-sealed cookies in the container, put the lid on the container, and place the container into the freezer.
Containers: Any food-safe container with a good seal should work. My containers are about 3" tall, 13" long, and 8" wide, and I can stack about five layers of 3/8” thick naked minis in them. I purchased them from Walmart. They are the TakeAlongs Brand (1.1 Gallon / 4.4 L size). If you purchase new containers, check that they will FIT into your freezer first, especially if you use a stand-up freezer. With chest freezers, you can typically fit larger containers. Both types of freezers work great for freezing cookies.
Thawing: To thaw your cookies, remove the container from the freezer and leave it on the counter for several hours with the lid ON. Wait to remove the lid until the container (and cookies) have come completely to room temperature, or you will get condensation on the cookies, which will not be good. Time-wise, give your frozen cookie containers a few hours to overnight.
The great news is that your customers can still freeze their cookies again without any trouble!
Keep your designs simple.
I know it's tempting to buy the cutest cutters and then design THE cutest cookies to go into your calendars, but I am here to tell you to exercise restraint. Not with buying cutters (you need them, and I've designed the sweetest little sets! #enabler), but I mean to keep your DESIGNS simple… or at least SOME of them anyway.
I like to start by choosing my cookie cutters and putting them in order according to what days I want them to be (for example, the present behind Day 1). Then I trace the cutters (ensure you wash them after you trace them!). Next, I label them and sketch (roughly sketch) the details. Last, I make note of the icing colors that I'll be using, make a list of what colors and consistencies I'll need to make, and what extras I will need.
Try to limit yourself to a limited number of icing colors to simplify your process. For the past few years, I've made sure my calendar mini designs utilized 1-2 colors and that I only needed to make 6 colors for all 12 designs. Of course, I added a few extra accents, like writing "Joy" on one cookie and some edible gold and silver paint on 2 others. But overall, they were relatively easy to decorate "assembly style," and I was thankful when they were all done!
If you are a seasoned cookier, you know how long a detailed mini can take (sometimes almost as long as a full-size cookie!), and you know what you're up against if you offer 12 or 24 super-detailed minis per calendar. But if you are new to cookie decorating, trust me when I say to keep it simple and let the premium packaging do some of the leg work.
Try something simple, like a star with sprinkles. One color, two steps (flood and sprinkle while wet), and you can quickly bang out a tray and move on to the next design. That way, if you do have a few detailed eight-step minis you can't resist including, you'll still have time to, you know, sleep!
Remember, the less time it takes to decorate the minis, the higher your profit margin will be. You’ve paid for premium packaging—let the packaging do a bit of the work.
Ready to make some cookie magic this holiday season?
It’s time to order your calendars before your favorite designs run out and get started on a new holiday tradition. Stay tuned later this fall for a blog post with an even more detailed, step-by-step breakdown of my process for assembling, baking, decorating, and filling Cookie Advent Calendars!
