Hi all! I'm trying to figure out pricing for decorated cookies and I'm unsure of how much goes into making them. I've done them for myself for fun, but not a lot for customers. I am doing a wedding cake and groom's cake for this couple, and they've asked me about doing sugar cookies as wedding favors. (Monogrammed Sugar Cookies, approximately 200)

How do you price something like this? Obviously they would have to be individually packaged, with a decorative ribbon or other embellishment, so there is packaging time and cost to be added in as well. Has anyone done this before? Can you tell me anything about the time involved and/or your cost, what you charged, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you!

There is a cookie pricing matrix on the "cookies" thread . Should be first thing that you see.

cheers!

I'll tell you that A LOT of time goes into decorating cookies & if you are decorating exclusively w/ royal icing they will need to dry about 48 hours before packaging. Until the end of the year my prices are $.85/inch of cutter (a 1" cutter would be a $.85 cookie) & I charge an extra $.35 per cookie for packaging. You'll be surprised how long it takes to cut ribbon, bag & tie those babies. Since you'd be doing 200 (of the same design I assume) I would offer a small discount b/c you'll be able to do them in an assembly line & won't have to change colors/designs. By the time you get to the end they should be set enough to go back & start the details. At least this is a start for you. I'm sure there are others who have sold numerous quantities.

Since you'll be doing the wedding cake and groom's cake, you'll be spending a ton of time on this client if you do cookies, too! I would price the cookies fairly high because they are incredibly time-consuming. If you charge a cut-rate price, you'll be kicing yourself half way thru the decorating process! I would go with no less than $1 per inch, and I like the $.35 additional for the packaging that dandelion56602 mentioned. If the client balks at the price, she can decide not to do them. These are individual works of art....have her check what "Cookies by Design" get for just one cookie. And one more piece of advice: bake and freeze the cookies ahead of time. Depending on the icing you use, you could freeze them fully decorated. This wouldn't work with the icing I use, but there are others that tolerate freezing very well. Good luck!

200 monogrammed cookies a large amount. I would suggest (if you have time) to do a trial run of a dozen or so to see how much time will go into them. (My family always loves the practice cookies). That will also give you a chance to really nail down the design and get a rhythm figured out. Then you can try GeminiRJ's idea and pop them in the freezer to see how they do. Heads up though, as mentioned they are very time consuming, so whatever you do, don't underprice yourself.

I price cookies at $4 and up depending on packaging and ribbon. I don't get a lot of orders for them, but that is OK as they do take a lot of time.

One client emailed me and asked for the wedding cake one (the one we've all seen from Wilton) decorated pink w/ her monogram in chocolate. So I quoted her a price......a couple of hundred dollars or something. Anyway...she emailed me back and was like "oh that is too much, can you go down a bit?" I told her sorry, that price is what it is and she would find them the same price or higher as online, plus she would have to add shipping. The thing with online was that they weren't customized to her colors. I was still very new but I had done the cookies before and new it was a huge project.
Anyway.....a day later she booked the order.

People really don't understand how much time goes into making decorated sugar cookies. "But they're just cookies!" No, they aren't! They are time-consuming, individualized & personalized treats. I'm making 24 Christmas 3D cookies for my boss, and I've already spent 6 hours decorating the little buggers. I have about two hours yet to go. If you want something unique, special, and pretty, you have to be willing to pay for it. If not, there's always grocery store cookies.

I agree that you need to stick to your pricing you choose and make sure to make it worth your time. CakeForte had an excellent point - they can be the same price or more expensive online and if they want them, they will order.

GeminiRJ ... what kind of icing do you use for your cookies?
I like the flat finish to them!

Cheers,
Ally

Yes, these are very time consuming cookies. For pricing I go online and look at the other cookie websites to see what their cookies go for. Usually around $3.50-$4.00 per cookie.

Since you are doing the wedding cake and groom's cake I suggest making the cookies in advance and freezing them if you're using RI. When I freeze I go ahead and place them in the packaging and then I place several in ziplock bags. The day before the reception take them out and place in the frig. to let them defrost. You could freeze them up to a month in advance.

I recently made 75 cookies for an engagement party. It was extremely time consuming. Definitely bake ahead of time and freeze. I use Antonia's RI recipe and let them dry for a couple of days and added a fondant flower. I also hand painted the initials. The customer bought the ribbon, but I did everything else. Since I work with this person I only charged $2 per cookie. She knew she was getting a bargain. Don't go any less than $3 per cookie. Just the packaging took me a couple of hours.
I attached a picture of the cookies.

Thank you so much! I am going to give it a try!

Cheers,
ally

I just had an experience of someone not knowing how long they take. I've just finished decorating 2 doz baby shower cookies (like Nancy's Fancy's cookies baby + shower) and I spent almost 2 hours decorating. That's not mixing the dough, rbc, coloring the rbc & ri, rolling cookies/baking, etc. And the main hostess asked for all the other hostesses to contribute $10. Hello, I'm "donating" $50 worth of cookies & everyone else was asked to bring fruit dip, fruit, crackers, etc. Uh, I think $50 in cookies is plenty. Off my soap box now. Another thing. make sure your ri is thin enough. I killed my hands piping the "shower water".

To answer your question on what kind of time it takes .....

A lot depends on the type of cookie. I did the Hello Kitty cookies ... 50 of them took 5 hours just in decorating time. I was ticked because I thought I'd be able to just pump these out ... they ended up being a bigger cookie than I thought.

But I had a wedding where the cookie was a 2-3" dog bone shape (they were dog lovers). I decorated these (1 color) 100 cookies in just a couple of hours .... the bag-n-tagging took about 1.5 hours.

Big difference in decorating time because of the cookie style.

The dog-bone bride had a special card she wanted attached. I told her I would attach it when I bagged them, but she had to deliver the cards already hole-punched.

I always tell my brides a price for "bulk packed", meaning they get the cookies bulk packed in a box and THEY can bag-n-tag 'em; and a price for the bagged-n-tagged version. The choice is theirs. But figure AT LEAST 2 hours of your time for 200 cookies. (and the Advil for your aching back! or maybe that's because I'm just old!)