When I was in Kindergarten - (which was a REALLY long time ago) - I had a teacher make us each ornaments at Christmas and they were made from some kind of dough that you can varnish and keep forever - I guess its the same thing all that fake food is made of - I'll search and see if I can find a recipe.
4 cups flour; 1 cup salt; 1 1/2 cup warm water.
Mix salt and flour first. Slowly add warm water. Roll dough to approx. 1/8 inch and use cookie cutters for shapes.
Bake at 325 degrees for one hour or until hard. Use paint to decorate and varnish to preserve. This recipe is great for making ornaments and things.
SWEET! I never thought about making cookie dummies - you are so smart!
I have made the salt dough for display and did not really find it all that successful. I think the salt made the royal on top wep. They didn't last long.
So I have some cookies on display in a shop that I have done over a year ago and put in cello bags. THey are fine and still in the shop. They do not alter at all. So I would just do normal cookies and decorate.
No, they didn't. I thought the same thing as you that they would go off etc and went and got recipes for salt dough etc.
I used and still use the same sugar dough and the cookies are fine. Of course you have to be careful with them like you would any cookie.
What I do now is as I get orders I make a few extra to keep for display.
As I said I have had some cookies on display for over a year.
The only ones that haven't lasted are the printed ones. The cookie is okay but the print has really faded.
i use the same cookies over again for my bridal shows. they are packaged and stored in a box. they all look the same after 2 years.
I've used real cookies for dummies that have lasted a couple of years. When they've outlived their usefulness give them to the squirrels! 
I just use real cookies. They are in induvidual bags and heat sealed so no moisture gets in. Kept out of the sun, the color holds really well. I have had some for at least a year and I know that my mother-in-law has some on a shelf even longer. Now, if I could just get her to EAT the cookies, not display them! 
I would just do a real cookie for the dummy.
I save any leftover dough and (after giving the customer a few extra) make sample cookies for any new cutters I've gotten. I also throw leftover dough in the freezer for this purpose. No one is going to eat it, so I don't mind freezing it.
If you look in my pix, the mittens cookies I made were dummies that I used for a couple of years (until the royal icing fell off one day in transit!) 
I have some cookies on display in a shop that I have done over a year ago and put in cello bags. THey are fine and still in the shop. They do not alter at all. So I would just do normal cookies and decorate.
I agree! 
I usually save an extra cookie from any new design I do, pack them in cellophane bags with ribbon just like the others and I keep them on display in my studio for years. I have some that are 7 years old!
The only thing I've noticed is that if you're not careful to store them out of direct sunlight (oops! 
) any pure white icing does get splotchy after a few years, it turns ivory and a bit speckled....but other than that, the rest are totally fine.
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