a birthday cookie cube, part 2 of 2

(This post is the second half of a two part series. To read the first post, click here.)

Joy came to town for her New York City book party and we were lucky enough to snag some time with her for a meal. She'd never been to Shake Shack (whaaat???) and wanted to try their burger. Well, looky looky, Shake Shack happens to sell a cute little onesie, which so happens to fit inside a 3-D cookie cube. Score!

Not wanting the onesie to get buttery, I put it inside a clear plastic box, with the wrapping paper on the inside of the plastic box too. Placed inside, I could now seal up the cookie and wrap it for gifting.

Now that the cube was complete, it needed to be carefully packed for gifting. Since the 7-inch square gift box would hold the cookie maybe a bit too snuggly to be removed with ease, I needed to do a little cardboard surgery. I cut most of the sides down and scored a line across each face so the box panels would fold cleanly. With a layer of bubble wrap on the bottom, some cute waxed paper to cover each side, I placed the cookie cube inside and topped it with another layer of bubble wrap. 

I didn't want Joy to flip the box over to unwrap it so I cut two long strips of wrapping paper that acted more like belly bands. Then using three different ribbons, I tied them around the part of the box that was cut, hoping that when she untied the bows, the box would relax and open a bit - showing her how to open it. 

Joy sent me a clip of her opening the cookie - kind of carefully sticking her thumbs through one of the panels. I didn't know if she'd go all Hulk, Smash! on it (kinda hoping she would) but I didn't say whether or not the contents were fragile. My mistake. Maybe for Ruby's birthday #2, I'll give her a plastic hammer but chances are, I'll come up with something else to make. I do have a year to plan...

This gift has me thinking about cookies, boxes and well - Christmas, which is only two months away! I don't think I'll be making 6-inch cubes for everyone but the general concept will be reappearing. So for those of you family members that read this: Surprise and Merry Christmas! Get your reindeer hammers ready!

(Plastic box from NY Cake & Baking Distributor, 7-inch gift box and wrapping paper from The Container Store)