Missionary Cookie
Gift Ideas
If you’ve served a church mission, you know the beauty of this experience—not just for yourself, but for those you teach and serve. It’s a singular chance to focus on a higher power and to help others do the same.
A mission is a time of great highs and lows. There are the highs of seeing people desire to grow close to God and the lows of seeing them grow distant.
There are the highs of falling in love with a new area—its culture and people—and the lows of having to leave it behind when you are transferred or end your mission.
There are the highs of working in synergy with your mission companion(s) and the lows of the occasional disagreements.
There are the highs of getting invited over for a really awesome dinner and the lows of, well, having to eat food you don’t always recognize (strange riffs on meat loaf, anyone?).
Serving a mission is incredibly brave and selfless. It’s a step into the unknown—a great surrender to God. You leave your family, a girlfriend or boyfriend, a scholarship, a shot at a college sports team, and all the comforts of home. You have no idea what lies ahead, but you do it out of a desire to obey and serve.
Missionary Care Packages: What to Send?
If you have a missionary in the field, that’s another journey of ups and downs. There’s nowhere you would rather have them be, but, man, you miss them. Your heart may sink when you walk by their room. Your home feels emptier, more quiet. Holidays pass with a void.
Fortunately, you can stay in touch through phone calls and packages, which brings us to another discussion: just what kind of care package do you send to your missionary? What can you stick in the mail to let them know you’re thinking of them through the good and the bad?
Heavy stuff can be a problem. They’ll have to lug it around every time they transfer and, ultimately, lug it home (assuming it’s something they’ll want post-mission).
Here are some suitcase-friendly, popular missionary gifts:
- Shoes. They get some serious wear and tear on the mission, so your missionary may need a refresher partway through their service.
- Clothes. White shirts get yellow armpits. Suits get ripped. Dresses get dingy and tired. New clothes are always appreciated.
- Accessories. A tie tack for guys or a small piece of jewelry for girls adds some fun variety to life.
- Socks. Can anyone have enough?
- Gum/breath mints. Missionaries are dealing with people all day long, and they want to be at their best. They’ll appreciate having a little something to freshen up their mouth (and so will the people they talk to!).
- Food. Missionaries are so busy they don’t always have time to eat. And while friends may invite them to dinner, the food may not taste quite like home. Goodies from home can soothe both hunger and homesickness.
Why Cookie Deliveries for Missionaries?
As you search for the perfect gift for your missionary, consider sending a missionary cookie box straight to their doorstep. Here are just a few things that make cookies the perfect gift:
A rare indulgence
Missionaries spend so much of their time in the service of others, their own comfort can become a complete afterthought. They’re up at the crack of dawn and often on their feet until late. Chances are, they don’t have time to make themselves cookies. You can send them a little indulgence to boost their body and mind.
No extra suitcase weight
Anybody who has packed for a mission knows how hard it is to shove everything they’ll need for 18 months to two years into two suitcases. Those two suitcases that got your missionary to their service area will also have to get them home, so they have to be extra careful about not adding to their inventory. Thankfully, missionary cookies won’t add an ounce to their suitcase. They can simply be enjoyed in the moment.
A taste of home
Some missionaries are away from home for the first time, and that means new living spaces and conditions, new people in their lives (including the constant proximity of a mission companion), and possibly new weather (think of a California-bred missionary getting sent to Maine in January). Throw on top of that new foods that they are cooking for themselves or being fed by community members (that may not be quite like Mom’s recipes).
All of this can add up to some significant homesickness, and there’s nothing quite like cookies to offer relief. Cookies carry special nostalgia. They transport you back to the smell of Mom’s chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven or the sight of Grandma’s always-full cookie jar. Cookies can be that bridge to home on days when your missionary is pining for something familiar.
Portable
Your missionary is busy. They need something they can eat on the run. Cookies fit that bill. Your missionary can grab ‘em and go.
Shareable
Your missionary may be able to eat a dozen cookies in one sitting, but it’s more likely that they’ll have a few left over. The great thing about cookies for missionaries is they’re perfectly shareable. Your missionary can offer them to fellow missionaries on exchanges or at conferences or meetings. This will, of course, elevate your missionary to hero status. And if your missionary wants to share their cookies with their future self, they can simply pop them in the freezer for safe-keeping.
What About Service Missionaries Serving Near Home?
While some missionaries will be called to serve full-time, there’s a whole army of home-based service missionaries making their community a better place. Service missionaries are unsung heroes, quietly elevating the people and the world around them. Do they deserve some cookie love? Heck yeah.
A surprise missionary cookie delivery can offer a sweet diversion from the normal routine. They can make the whole day special and allow the missionary to feel just how loved they really are.
Considerations for Baking Cookies for Your Missionary
If you’re ready to gift your missionary some cookies, you may be wondering what kind of cookies ship best? If you’re baking the cookies yourself, you want sturdy cookies that won’t crumble. You also want cookies that age well and won’t get hard and dry during shipping.
Here are a few guidelines:
- Avoid sticky cookies (like jam-filled thumbprints)
- Avoid cookies dipped in chocolate (the chocolate coating could melt in transit)
- Avoid fragile cookies (like florentines or lace wafers)
- Avoid cookies that are too big (they can be awkward to ship)
Shipping tips:
You never know exactly what is going to happen to your cookies after you drop them off to be mailed, so you want to prepare your cookies well for the journey ahead.
- Many people swear by freezing their cookies. It keeps moisture from building up on them, and if you ship them frozen, you’ll slow down their aging process just a little bit. You can flash freeze them first ( pop the whole cookie sheet in the freezer after baking them). After that, put them in a freezer-safe container or freezer bags.
- If you need to separate layers of cookies within the bag or freezer-safe container so they don’t stick together, use parchment paper. Another idea is to wrap two cookies together, bottom sides touching, before putting them in the freezer bag.
- Make sure to separate different cookies into respective bags. No one wants their cinnamon oatmeal cookie flavor rubbing off on their lemon cookie.
- Before shipping, put your frozen cookies into a mailable box. (USPS flat rates boxes are often a good idea.)
Make sure your freezer bag or container isn’t rattling around in its shipping box. Use bubble wrap to cushion it. You can even fill in any extra spaces with candies for your missionary. - Write “fragile” on the box.
- Ship as quickly as possible (try 1-2 day express).
- Try to time your shipping so that it doesn’t involve a weekend (when deliveries can slow down).
- If you can’t ship your cookies quickly (or don’t want to spend the money on accelerated shipping), consider some alternatives like caramels, fudge, bark, date balls, etc., that can stay fresh for longer.
To Bake or to Buy?
We’re going to be honest here. Even if you love baking, creating cookie packages for delivery from home is kind of a hassle. First, the cookie you bake in your oven will probably taste a bit—shall we say, mature—by the time it arrives at its destination. Professional bakeries can often engineer their cookies for extended freshness, but that’s hard to do at home.
The shipping process is tricky. Once you’ve baked the cookies and let them cool (or flash frozen them), you’ll need to pack them to keep out air (the enemy!). Then, you’ll need to deal with the shipping materials, box, and, heaven forbid, those winding post office lines.
Remember that snail mail can back up, especially around the holidays, so you might have to deal with your package being delayed and your cookies losing another day or two of freshness.
If this all sounds like a little much, you can send cookies to missionaries via a professional bakery. You might be quick to dismiss a professional cookie company as too pricey, but by the time you pay for your own shipping, the differential may not be too significant. Many family members find that having the professionals send cookies to missionaries isn’t a whole lot more money than sending them on their own (especially when you figure in the hassle).
Choosing the Best Missionary Cookie Delivery Service
If you’ve decided to have a professional bakery make and deliver your cookies, you have lots of options. But be aware that there are significant variations in quality and service. Your missionary deserves the best cookie care package, so here are some questions to ask as you narrow down your choice of cookie companies.
- What ingredients do you use? The farther a bakery gets from its “homemade” roots, the more it tends to swap out good ingredients for cheap ones. It’s a way to cut down on production costs. Ask companies about their ingredient list, and make sure that they’re using real butter (not oil) and real sugar (not cheap-o syrups). If you put half-baked stuff in (see what we did there), you’re going to get an inferior product.
- What types of cookies do you offer? Does your missionary love chocolate chip cookies? Or snickerdoodles? Or sugar cookies? Or peanut butter? Or all of the above? Look for a company that offers a wide variety of cookies to suit every taste and options to send assortments (vs. just one flavor).
- How do you bake your cookies? Get right down to business and find out about their oven. Do they use an all-purpose oven or one engineered just for cookies? Did you know that cookies-only ovens exist? The best bakeries are relying on these state-of-the-art ovens to churn out crisp-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside cookies every time. If the bakery you’re considering uses a regular ol’ oven, you may get average results.
- How do you ship your cookies? Ask about packaging. How does the bakery keep the air from drying out the cookies? Do they use airtight bags? How quickly can they ship your cookies? Can your missionary cookie care package contain a personalized card? Do cookies arrive in a box or tin? You want your cookies to arrive looking great and tasting like they’re fresh out of the oven.
Other Considerations for Sending Cookies to Missionaries
Does your missionary have allergies?
Food allergies are on the rise. Maybe your missionary has them, or maybe their companion does. If so, choose carefully. If your missionary’s comp has a raging peanut allergy, stay away from peanut butter chip. If they can’t tolerate eggs or milk, talk to the bakery of your choice about cookies that don’t contain these ingredients.
What season is it?
Cold weather will work in your favor with cookie deliveries, but warm temperatures can cause cookies with chocolate chips to get melty and messy. Even if you want to send chocolate chip cookies to your missionary, consider waiting until things cool down. Thankfully, there are a lot of other options like peanut butter, lemon, oatmeal, sugar, and more.
Can your missionary receive packages?
Make sure that your missionary can get packages, especially if they are living in an apartment or other multi-family dwelling. What if the package goes to the apartment office on Friday, and your missionary can’t pick it up until Monday? That’s a couple of days for cookies to get old and hard. Plan your timing well to avoid scenarios like this.
Where is your missionary serving?
Most companies will offer missionary cookie delivery to any stateside location, but fewer are able to ship to international locations. Check with the cookie delivery service about their limitations.
Why Choose Chocolate Shipped Cookies?
We have a special heart for missionaries. Our founder, Matt Cutler, served a mission himself, and he recently sent a son on a mission. We use the very recipes that Matt’s mom used to make cookies that made her a local celebrity in Utah. We’ve fine-tuned those recipes for long-lasting freshness and invested in state-of-the-art ovens that bake every cookie to golden perfection.
We know that real ingredients are non-negotiable, and we never defile our mom’s recipes by using any items that aren’t the “real deal.” We’ve mastered our shipping and packaging so that our cookies stay in the fresh zone for days. That means the first bite will transport your missionary to the comfort of home-baked cookies.
We offer chocolate chip cookies for missionaries and so much more! Our flavors include snickerdoodles, brownie marshmallow, brownie mint, lemon meltaways, classic glazed sugar, white chocolate pecan, double-frosted peanut butter, and more.
We love hearing about how our missionary cookie boxes brighten the days of those laboring in the field. We’d love to make your missionary’s day, too, whether it be an elder, a sister, a senior missionary couple, or a service missionary.