Butterfly sugar cookie on a stick

It has been nearly a year since I started making sugar cookies. Last Thanksgiving, I made my first attempt at making and decorating sugar cookies. I didn't have the proper supplies so it was awkward to decorate and I was embarrassed by the way they looked :( Since then I have been making sugar cookies for pretty much every holiday or birthday I could think of! That's probably once every one or two months :)

When my nephew turned 4, I made him a Lightning McQueen cookie puzzle. This past weekend, my niece turned 7. I thought about making her a cookie puzzle too but in the end I wanted to try something new and surprise her. I had this great idea to make a bouquet of flower cookies but then thought how those would be better suited for a lady friend or even my mom. For a little girl, butterflies would be more appropriate :) I remembered seeing the butterfly cookie post from Annie and loved the way they looked. After all, Annie is like the cookie and cupcake queen!

I made about a dozen big and thick butterfly cookies. I have never made my sugar cookies this thick before but the size of the cookie stick demanded it! Cookies don't rise much when baked and I didn't want to risk them falling off. I chose seven of the best looking cookies and placed them aside for my niece. Yup, one cookie for every year :) I let them dry overnight before even attempting to package them. Again, I didn't want to risk ruining them and I sort of needed more time to brainstorm packaging ideas.

The next morning and the day of her birthday party, I came up with a nice packaging idea. I had to work with what we had at home so I took a large bubble tea disposable cup with a lid and filled it with mini marshmallows. We had bubble tea recently and ended up washing and keeping the cups since they were in such great condition. They also didn't have any designs or logos on them so in our minds they were perfect for reuse. Yeah, we're nuts in that way :) It really was perfect because the cups were tall, somewhat transparent, and worked great in supporting the long cookie sticks. I knew I had to fill it with something to weigh the cup down and further support the cookies. Something sweet would be great and I immediately thought about M&M candies but I didn't have enough of them :( Boo. Then I remembered I recently bought two bags of mini marshmallows to try fondant. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. A cloud of marshmallows with butterfly cookies hovering above :) Not that people would get it but it was enough convincing for me!

I must admit after decorating the cookies, I was scared about the packaging. I really didn't want them to break. I had no idea how to get them to my niece. I didn't even have a box long enough for them. I also hated the thought of having to lie them on top of each other. In the end, I found a way and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. All this brainstorming brings me back to my applied technology class in Junior High. When I was 14 or 15. A gazillion moons ago! You know the class where you were given a limited supply of specific goods and then told to build a building? Yeah, that course!