So one of the ladies in my office was given a cookie bouquet. It was from one of the major chains. I'm not sure if I can post the name of the place though. Anyhow, when he first delivered it, I was excited. I had never seen of these before. Only online. But I was very dissappointed in the quality of the product. The presentation of the packaging was very nice. However, the actual cookie looked like crap. It was litereally spread with RI(it looked like how Peanut butter on bread would look). THe piping was alright. But it wasn't anything I would pay hundreds of dollars for. Nor would I recommend that to anyone. I guess that just goes to show what we individuals ( owners and homebakers) can do when you put your time and heart into something. Not to say that chains don't put love into each order, but theya re probably more concerned on getting the orders out in a timely manner. Because they are so busy. Just wanted to share. This is only my opinion, though. BTW, it did taste really good.

I haven't ordered a bouquet, but have ordered cookies from various cookie places-just to see what the competition was like. Some I really liked, some weren't my cup of tea. To each their own I guess.

My son-in-law loves "that famous nat'l chain" cookie bouquets so my daughter gets one for him on his birthday. (yeah, he's still my favorite Son-in-law, though! She tells me it's 'coz I'm always busy. Ok..... we can go with that! )

Anyway ...... we agree. Everytime I see one of those, I'm a little amazed at the "butter knife spread" of the icing. The quality of the cookies I see just doesn't match up with the near-perfect cookie pics on their website and brochures.

FYI: When daughter gets this bouquet for him, she tells me that the store REQUIRES order-ahead. They have "some" in the store if you want to buy just one or two to eat while driving home, but advance notice is required for a bouquet. So when you get customers who think you pull these cookies out of thin air, send them to this chain ... where they will ALSO be told they have to order ahead of time!

I received one from the big national chain and that's what prompted me to try making and decorating my own cookies. I thought the presentation was nice and that the cookies looked OK but did not care for the taste too much. They were all sugar cookies. Still ate all the cookies though...

Hm, we have gotten one at the office before and it was decorated nicely and the cookies were actually pretty good (considering they have to be so thick for stability on the stick and all).

Of course now that I do cakes, I may be more critical, I haven't seen one in a long time. Now I see more people doing the decorated fruit baskets, those are starting to become more popular around here, but with Austin being so natural and hippie-ish, i'm not surprised.

Ugh, now I'm craving cookies!!

Yes!!! the cookies were actually really good. They had a good buttery vanilla flavor. My husband though felt that they were a bit dry. I stole one to take him. Since I can be too much a of a critic, he is the balancer.
But Melvin, you are so right. Austin is sucha natural city. I am seeing more of the fruit bouquet chains popping up.

Recently my granddaughter was hospitalized and recieved 7 cookie bouquets from the famous company. There were 6 different designed cookies, 2 bouquets were the same. I guess it all depends where you live and who's doing the decorating. I live in Illinois, because there were so many cookies, my daughter was giving them away to different family members, and there was not one complaint from anyone that ate one. In fact some came back for seconds. There was talk about what great cookies they were, that some family members that did'nt get one, were asking for one.
I was in seventh heaven when I seen them, they were very large cookies, excellent decorating, presentation, color scheme and very delicious. I ate about 3 myself. If I was'nt so old, I would try to get a job there and learn techniques.
Carleen

I received one when I had my first child. It was sent from my hubby's office. I thought they were cute and I agree that they were a little dry...But I think the same of my cookies...I cannot remember too much of how they were decorated...But then I didn't do cakes either so I was not as critical! But I have made a couple in the past and they are not hard...Just time consuming. In my opinion they were not as fresh as they could have been. But at the same time. It was the thought...that's what counts right!

I honestly think it really depends on the individual stores. There are a couple of the same chains in town and I know several people who will only order from location. This place produces some pretty amazing cookies bouquets! I had a cookie from a bouquet a month or so ago and it was pretty darn tasty and the decoration was immaculate!

I have been doing cookie baskets for years now just for family and friends. Because I have recieved the the big chain ones in the mail and didnt care for the frosting on the cookies. I make sure I use buttercream only which makes it a little harder to ship and so on. But i do feel the quality of home made from chains is just better.