Thanksgiving has turned into an outdoor affair, and Christmas is looking like an immediate-family-only celebration. But just because your plans are changing doesn’t mean COVID-19 should rob you of all of your traditions. Your annual holiday cookie exchange can be even more fun long-distance, as everyone chooses a cookie or two to bake, prepares them together via video chat one afternoon, and mails them out afterward to everyone who attended. Before you cry “blasphemy,” we’ll prove it: Group baking may be the one non-cringey Zoom group activity out there—and receiving tins of cookies in the mail gives you something to look forward to each day, like an advent calendar taken to the next level.
Plus, we’ve tapped Brenda Mortensen, certified food scientist and food product development manager at Cheryl’s Cookies, to give us her expert insights in shipping cookies so they don’t arrive in crumbles. With this guide, your mail-in cookie exchange could be the biggest hit of the holiday season, coronavirus be damned.