Christmas Market 2024

Okay let's talk about all things Christmas Market! So on Saturday Nov. 16th I attended my neighborhood's first holiday market. The event coordinator reached out to me to see if I was interested because she always shops my cookie porch pop up. (I've been doing pop ups on and off for about a year now and my neighbors love it!)

I began prepping a few weeks in advance. Buying cute cookie packaging when I saw it, hunting down the dollar tree snow globes, ordering an excessive amount of ribbon from amazon, you know the usual stuff. Then I prepped for the cookies in two parts. I made 8 batches of dough and 3 batches of icing and baked what I could from that. Then over 24-48 hours I bagged all those cookies and packaged them in freezer bags. I froze about 6 or 7 gallon size freezer bags full of cookies from the first round of cookies. Then a few days later, I did the same again. Cutting, baking, decorating and heat sealing all in 48 hours again. Except this time it was only the day before the market so there was no need to freeze.

I pulled what I had frozen out of the freezer the day before to thaw. They were all perfect! No breaking no bleeding. Freezing cookies for me is a lifesaver. I wouldn't be able to do pop ups or markets without freezing. If you haven't ever tried it, I highly recommend it! 

I loaded my old cookie stand and all the cookies into my car that night (let's be honest it was 1:00 in the morning) so market was only 8 hours away! I loaded everything and got up the next morning and only had to get myself ready - I was so thankful I did all the prep the night before. I always think I'm going to have more time than I actually do. 

I got the space set up (of course I didn't take a picture) and we were ready to sell by 9:00 that morning. When I say things TOOK off.. they really took off. I had people at my booth left and right. It was great. It made the time go by so fast and next thing I knew, I had tons of cookies already gone. So I restocked a few items I could but as the day went on, my booth and cookie stand looked more and more pitiful. But that's just part of it. It's good and bad. I feel like things don't sell as well when the area looks ransacked and picked over so I kept trying to move things around to make it look more full. But at the end of the day, I sold sooo many cookies, made way more than I expected to from this market, and felt accomplished.

It was my very first market where I was totally alone. Brett was at home watching the kids. So I did everything on my own. From handling the money, loading/unloading my car, packaging, decorating, baking, planning and buying. Not to mention every little detail in between - I did it on my own and after the day was over, it felt really good. 

Okay so now to the details you came here for. What was the best sellers, where I got my packaging and what is in those amazing cookie jar cookies. Well here it is..

Monster Cookie Jars

I wanted something my customers could buy that was "giftable" and these came to mind. They were so easy to make - but.. you have to add in the ingredients in a certain order. What worked best for me was: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt combined and put in first. Then mini chocolate chips, red & green m&ms, brown sugar, granulated sugar, Christmas jimmies (from Hobby Lobby), and topped with oats.

Once you bake the cookies, they look like this. I ate 3 so I'd say they're pretty good. I baked for 6 min, slightly smashed with a spatula and bake for 3-4 more minutes.

I used 32 oz mason jars.

Here are the dry ingredients that go in the jar:

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

-whisk those together for the first layer

• 3/4 cup of mix ins (this can be anything you want) I did 1/2 c mini chocolate chips and 1/4 c m&ms
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup sprinkles
• 1 cup old fashioned oats - not instant!

*To be honest with you I could only fit about 3/4 cup of oats so I smooshed the brown sugar layer as much as I could and then smooshed the oats on top of the jar with the back of the measuring cup until I could close the lid. You want the fit to be tight so the layers won't move around so packing in the oats is crucial! 

This recipe still needs a few things that can't be added just yet. Let the customer know they need to add the following:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes and that's it!

I made the tag and have added that to the Cut It Out Cutters Patreon (1st tier). On it, it tells them what to add to the mixture and what temp to bake on, and for how long. I also 3d printed a cutter in red - just to make it festive - you don't need a cutter for this recipe. Also I topped it with red and white striped ribbon from amazon.

Hot Cocoa Candy Canes

These were so fun and will be perfect for teacher gifts and stocking stuffers. This was another "giftable" item I offered at the Christmas Market other than cookies. 

In a bowl whisk together:

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder - I used ghirardelli dutch process cocoa powder
• 3 cups powdered milk
• 1 package cook and serve chocolate jello pudding - not instant

This is the perfect mix. It's so chocolately and delicious. Every time I make my own cocoa mix it doesn't seem chocolately enough so I end up adding so much mix. For this recipe, you only add in 1/4 cup of dry mix to 8 oz steamed milk or water. Then obviously top with a million marshmallows.

I bought the candy cane containers from Amazon. It was a 24 pack and this whole recipe mix made 20 candy canes. I used a small funnel to add in 1/4 cup of cocoa mix to the base of the candy cane and then added a few fluffy marshmallows as a "stopper" so the mix didn't fly around in the tube. Then I topped the rest of the tube with crunchy marshmallows. (you know the tiny dehydrated ones - those are the best!) I got mine from Walmart but sometimes I can find them, sometimes I can't - when in doubt, I linked an Amazon listing for you.

Next part in crucial! You need to seal the candy canes! This makes it look so professional and clean but also prevents the top from popping off and mix spilling everywhere! I used tiny shrink wrap sleeves for sealing the containers. These fit PERFECTLY and I used my heat gun to quickly shrink the sleeve over the opening.

Then tied on the same striped ribbon from the jars, and added a tag that I made. (also listed to Patreon)

Best Sellers/Worst Sellers

 4" Tree Cakes sold out first! I was so mad at myself for not making more of these. They were so easy! I will for sure be making more of these for my Christmas Pop Up. Tree Cake Cutter is linked here. I used the green preppy bows from my shop. 

 These babies went quick. I for sure did not make enough of these either. I made up my own set for cutters - all 2.5" Holly Jolly 2 cutter, No Hair Santa cutter, Stocking, Snow Globe and Gingerbread House cutters from Cozy Christmas Minis. Each cookie is individually heat sealed and put on top of this adorable iridescent shred from Uline. I am obsessed with it! It's not too busy and resembles snow. These 5"x 7" boxes are also from Uline. They don't break down so they do take up a lot of space. But I love them so much - I don't have to assemble anything! Red 16" stretch loops from my shop.

 Next up: PYOs. I don't know why I don't alwayssss include Paint Your Own cookies for every single pop up. Are they fun to decorate? Absolutely not. But the kids love them. I did all 3.5 inch of the new PYO Blue and Orange Pups: Blue Pup as Elf, Blue Pup in Lights, Orange Pup as Reindeer, Orange Pup in Sleigh. I like to do my PYOs with white or very light gray - I did white this time because I was not about to make another color you know what I mean? I put these in separate bags: cookie in one bag, paint palette (we are sold out of Christmas but Brights would work perfect with the blue and orange) and brush in another - heat sealed together and topped with a PYO bag topper attached with double sided tape.

 Oh Santa in Jammies. He's a cutie for sure. Detailed and intense to decorate but cute. And sold out pretty quickly! I used the 5" Santa in Jammies cutter and topped with a red preppy bow.

 Mr. Grump also sold out! These were pretty simple to decorate - I could have added more detail but I was so done by this point. Mentally and physically haha. I used the 4" Mr. Grump with Hat cutter and topped with a green preppy bow.

 These snow globes did not sell out - but I sold a ton. But I made a ton.. So I'm freezing the rest of them for the Christmas pop up! I used the 2" Snow Globe Stuffers cutter set. I did two versions. Pink and Red. The snow globes are from dollar tree. I have linked them but I didn't order them I grabbed them in store. I think if I had added a tag and a bow or something like that, I could have charged more but again, I was over it and I think they're so cute like this!

These sold well but didn't sell out totally! Super simple and easy. I picked up the cups from TJ Maxx so I can't link them but they always have cute cups like this. I used the 2" Frosted Christmas cutter set but didn't use the mitten. I just did 5 cookies in this with the iridescent shred at the bottom. The straw (also in green) held on the lid of the cup and I added a velvet bow! I love this option for teacher gifts.

 Another option that didn't sell out but only because I made like five thousand. This is another option that I will freeze and use in the Christmas pop up. These are a cheaper option that customers can stock up on. I had a few people come back and buy 8-10 each. I used a 2.5" classic ornament cutter and the grump hand cards are sold out. I heat sealed the cookie and then attached it to the card with double sided tape and then sealed the cookie and card again.

This option did okayyy. Sold about half. I will put them on my pop up stand the night before the elf arrives in case some parents need a last minute elf arrival option. I have a few more packs of mini boxes (just plain - no stickers have been added). I have added the pngs for the stickers to Cut It Out Cutters Patreon to download. I printed them on sticker paper, cut them and stuck them to the top! 

Any links to Amazon will be an affiliate link to my Amazon storefront.