I'm a dork. I just took an order for 36 cookies in a bouquet. Thank goodness it's for a friend of the family. I have to call her anyway later tonight to confirm delivery details, so I will have to explain that the size of the basket for 36 cookies would be huge and probably won't look as nice, and that the best thing to do is to make a bouquet with a dozen or so cookies and then have it sit in the middle of a tray with the other cookies on the tray. Does that sound good? What was the largest number of cookies you put in a bouquet?

I put 24 cookies in a medium sized basket, but there was room for more. I did do 36 cookies, but they wanted them in 2 seperate containers. If you want to put a dozen in a basket and the rest on trays I think it would look good--they only get eaten anyway!

How much are you charging for that?? Just curious...

I am doing one this week with 30 cookies. I bought a few large graduated sized discs of styrofoam and hot glued them together in a stack. I then sprayed adhesive glue all over them and stuck the paper shreds to them. It ended up looking like a mound of the shreds. That way when I stick the cookies in them they will be graduated from tall down to shorter on the sides. It would easily hold a lot more cookies so I am going to fill it with some colored cellophane picks like in my other bouquets.

The bottom disc is about 18" in diameter. I am at work right now (hee hee hee) so I don't have them in front of me). I guess the next size is about 12" or so. Then the top one is about 8" or so. It is not going to go into any thing - it stands alone. I am putting it all together tonight so I can post a picture. As for the cellophane, I just wrap a square around a skewer and tape it on.

bonnebouche- Thanks so much for the explanation. Now get back to work! LOL! Please post a pic when you get a chance. I'm very nervous about this (order is for Friday night). I might just let her know that I have never done a bouquet this large before (largest was 7 cookies) and that I might do part on a tray, just so she knows I have a back-up plan and only want it to look the best. This is for the grand opening of a business and a lot of people will see it. I don't want it took look messy.

Ok, you should be able to see a picture by tomorrow. Relax, you'll do fine. I looked at some of your pictures and they are beautiful. Hey, by the way, how did you make the bubbles in the pot of gold in your St. Patrick's Day cookies?

I think I iced the smooth yellow and then after it dried, went back and just did dots of yellow. I've seen others on here do pieces of fondant and that looked even more like gold coins.

Believe it or not, there were 45 cookies tamped into this basket! A Taco Bell Regional Manager called to order a large cookie basket for my local Taco Bell for hitting some kind of inspection goal! These were done about a year ago when I still iced them in buttercream....I use rolled buttercream now!
Cammie

Wow!! That's a lotta cookies! You made it look good too. The bad thing is, I said I could paint a pot to look like a bongo drum and so I can't use a big basket. I'll have to see how it goes. If the pot doesn't work, then I will just have to use a big basket. Lesson learned.

Another idea....you could make a pot "wrap" out of construction paper to look like a bongo drum instead of painting one....that way you could use a basket and just place the paper sleeve around it! Sounds like it's going to be a cute arrangement!

This bouquet is about 3 dozen or so...some were large cookies too. I used a basket (large square) I found at the Xmas Tree Shop for about $6

I didn't forget about you. I just couldn't post my pictures this morning because my internet service at home was down. Hopefully when I get home this evening, I can retreive my pictures and attach them. The styrofoam base worked out perfectly. It was actually 14" or so inches in diameter. I could easily have fit 60 cookies on it.

Can't wait to see it!

Wow, you guys really pack 'em in there! I have to package mine on Friday evening. If you see a desperate plea for help from me on CC, please come to my rescue. LOL!

ok - here it is. It was a big hit. It was so over-the-top girly. I am enclosing a picture of the back so you can see how much room there was left for more cookies.

How do people secure their styrofoam into odd-shaped containers (like baskets) ... is it a lot of hot glue? Then does this make the basket unusable afterwards?

LOVE the tiered styrofoam technique ... thanks for sharing that idea & pictures.

Bonnebouche: That's a gorgeous arrangement. I just love how it looks with the cellophane picks. And the idea of the base it's just incredible. Thanks so much for sharing.

MichelleM- I am doing a really large cookie bouquet for an upcoming graduation. The mom wants "Congratulations Rachel" one letter per cookie on a shamrock shaped cookie, with little shamrocks all around with her school letters and year. I decided that I am going to purchase a small flower box from home depot, line it, styrofoam it, and anchor my cookies. This will be by far the largest Ive made so far!! I love the ideas of the other CCers who posted their pics as well. Some of those baskets are really impressive. I will post mine later this month when the order is due. It should be quite large, since each letter will have to be spelled out clearly, and wont be able to ovelap much of the cookies! Keep us posted on your projects!

I decorated last night, actually this morning (until 2 am) and still have to paint the container to look like a bongo drum. I'm having concerns though. I use cookie sticks and they take up more space than skewers. I can't use skewers because they cookie sticks already bend under the weight of the cookie and put the stick in there as far as I can to the top of the cookie! If it doesn't work, then I will stick as many as I can in the container and put the rest nicely on a platter. Heck, CBD only goes up to 12 cookies and then they do their BouTray for more cookies. I don't know why I thought I could do 36! LOL!

Painting container later today and will package either tonight or tomorrow a.m. Thanks guys for all of your suggestions and confidence in me. LOL!

Okay. All went well, but I could only get 33 cookies in the bouquet. I really packed them in there! I'm not happy with how my container came out, but the customer and son knew what it was, so I guess that's all that matters. I will be adding a maximum size bouquet disclaimer to my site soon. LOL! Pic is in my photos.

This is a great thread! I've really enjoyed the pics and the stories! You all are impressive and creative!

bonnebouche, I love your cellophane pic, where do you get them?

You have some great work that you guys have done. These baskets look great.

Thank you. I make my own picks. I buy the rolls of cellophane from Michael's and cut it into squares. I bunch the square up from the middle, wrap it around a skewer and just fasten it with tape. Very easy to do and you can adjust the height of the pick easilly by cutting the skewer if needed.