Since cookies are better hot, you'd be better off mailing her a gift certificate to a local grocery store and a recipe or cookbook.

That being said, I'm sure you can....if cookies are either well packed or non-brittle (to survive their ride), though expect them to be a week or two weeks older by the time they get there...POF, some types of cookies might mold on the trip.

Absolutely! I've shipped countless boxes of cookies, cheesestraws, brownies, bars, and candies. Use common sense about the time of year, of course. Pack the items securely with paper towels and parchment paper so that there is no shifting in the box. You may want to avoid things that are extra moist, like banana bread, unless you spring for one day shipping.

I'll bet you get lots of good advice on this thread.

Edited to remark on dbarron's comments.....cookies aren't better hot; they're better homemade!

Allisande, allow the baked treats to cool overnight, then pack them up!

I agree.....homemade cookies are the best. I have mailed cookies, but it has been quite awhile. I mailed a cookie called Pecan Meltaways....that is sort of like a sand tart but a little more fragile due to the cornstarch that takes the place of some of the flour. And a chocolate cookie with walnuts. I don't know how they arrived....I tried to pack them very carefully, as rhizo said. I got feedback that they were delicious but I don't know much more than that.

Part of the loving memories I have of my grandparents was the wonderful baking, and the cookies and cakes they made. My Grandfather was ordinarily quite the authoritarian (in a kind way, he loved us) but he and my Grandma managed to turn a blind eye to us sneaking into the cookie jar before dinner when my parents would fuss if they saw.

While my Dad was alive I'd bake and send the butter cookies with jelly tops from my Grandfather's recipe at Christmas, he loved them.

I think packages of home made cookies from Grandma is a wonderful way to build memories for all grandchildren whether close by or far away.

What a sweet idea. Biscotti works great in the mail. Edited to add that I usually just put it in a padded envelope and it arrives without breakage.

My address is....

I mailed an assortment of cookies (chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, etc.) at Christmas time from East Coast to West Coast. DS said they all arrived in tact. I actually plated the cookies on a plastic serving plate purchased from the Dollar Tree. I wrapped them up in plastic wrap and then in bubble wrap and placed in a heavy cardboard box.

Alisande: I've mailed cookies and other baked goods to loved ones for years. One tip: while I understand the 'wow' factor of a surprise package in the mail, you should give your granddaughter a heads up that a surprise is indeed on the way, and that it's perishable. That way, she'll be looking out for them. (I sent a surprise box of cookies out to my brother's family one year, and didn't realize they'd left town for a week.)

Styrofoam popcorns as the packng material keeps cookies and other baked goods in one piece.

Thanks so much, everyone! I have a nice stockpile of packing materials for selling on eBay, and that will come in handy. Good idea about alerting my granddaughter about the package; I wouldn't have thought of that. Nor did I think about biscotti. I've never made it, but I'd like to try. It's so good, and I'm sure she'd love it.

I won't be sending huge quantities at once, so the Dollartree plastic serving plate, etc., should work well.

This will be fun--thanks again!

I mailed homemade Chex Mix to DD when she was in college, and I doubled the nuts for good nutrition with the snack. I have mailed the family preferred birthday cake to my kids in college who were too far away to come home for the celebration. Now that DD has moved to Texas, her name will go back on the list. Our family does not like icing on the moist chocolate cake they all want for their birthday, so I wrap it well in Saran Wrap, put it in a plastic bag and then into a snug box with packing. I use an angel food cake pan or bundt pan, and it ships well.

Stove or air popped pop corn is also great for packing edibles. No butter. ;-)

This thread does bring back sweet memories of the incredible sugar/butter cookies that my own grandmother used to send all of her grandchildren over the years. Nothing, not one thing, could have been received with more excitement.

They were flat, cookie cutter delights, rich in the sweet butter from grandfather's dairies in Ohio. They were pretty fragile, as you can imagine.

She would pack them in a cookie tin (visit your favorite donation center, if you don't have any), with wax paper in between the layers and every little cranny. Then, the tin was packed into a box surrounded by newspaper, always the 'funny papers'.

Still a strong memory, though so long ago. It was because of that that I became the cookie maker for the family after I moved so far away. My three brothers always loved the boxes of cookies made from our mother's and grandmother's recipes.

Every time I've ever mailed anything I've used the priority flat rate boxes and envelopes.

My a friend of mine was in law school I mailed her a care package once every other month or so and I always had treats in it, cookies, toffee, etc.

I plated with saran wrap or bagged the treats and put them in the box. Ive never had something take a week or two to arrive like dbarron has. It is always received within 2-3 days but that may be b/c I was using priority.

Texas: I've got a handy, plentiful supply of USPS flat rate boxes (large and medium - USPS will send them to you for free!), and will use them when I ship cookies to the West Coast: always cheaper. However, mailing in-state, it's usually cheaper to mail First Class: I always plug information into the USPS online calculator and go the least expensive route. These days, it seems items will arrive between 2 and 4 days anyway, regardless of which option chosen.

I just sent banana bread and snickerdoodles to DD for her birthday. I put each in ziploc bags inside a small box. Was sending other items as well so they went into a bigger box. Arrived safe and sound.

I'm surprised to hear of flat-rate boxes being used for cookies. Flat-rate boxes are great if you're mailing something heavy. Otherwise, it usually costs less to ship via Priority Mail without the flat rate. Although since distance is a factor with Priority Mail, perhaps flat-rate is a bargain when shipping across the country. If the package is 12 oz. or under, the First Class Package rate is the most economical way to go.

When I lived abroad I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Man (baker of the very best) send me a batch for a holiday. The very fastest a small parcel would get to me was 10 days. CCCM didn't want to do it because his cookies are best same day (though not hot), and after three days go hard and decidedly substandard. Still, stale cookies are better than no cookies, and I enjoyed every last hard one of them.

Word of advice: As teens, a friend and I baked cookies for guys at camp, packed in plain (edible) popcorn as mentioned above. She always sent them scented letters. She put one in the box. The cookies arrived scented. :) So did the popcorn. They still ate them! Including the popcorn. But whatever packing materials you use, do make sure that they don't have a smell!

When I send cookies, it's never just a few. :) My two choc chip/oatmeal chip varieties easily weigh 1 lb per 1/2 dozen -- go big or go home! And, yes, the price break comes when shipping longer distances (halfway across the US).

I send Quaker's Oatmeal Raisin, and/or Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies, to several folks during the holidays.

I like crispy cookies so mine are made with butter. After they've cooled I wrap each cookie in thin aluminum foil, if I have it on hand, or Saran wrap.

I line a priority box with extra layers of corrugated cardboard and then line the cookies up in a box to fill the box as full as possible. I used more rolled and crushed foil and/or Saran wrap to fill in the little gaps.

The folks all say they love them and most arrive in good shape. I suggest they pop them in the microwave for a few seconds to get a whiff of that just-baked smell.

They could all purchase cookies; or bake their own, but for some reason it brings them joy to get a box in mail that is stuffed with my cookies.

After a joined the Air Force, a former neighbor, a forever friend, made and mail me cookies every year on my birthday. I loved them, even the ones that got hung up in customs and took their time reaching me overseas. I swear there was always a "sample cookie" missing. That made me smile, and grateful they only took one! Once I got back to the States I baked her a batch of cookies and mailed them to her. She was delighted.

I lost Freeda in December. She was 95; and far too young and vibrant to be gone.

I've sent cookies, banana bread and crusty bread to my daughter. I'm pretty lucky because if I do it right, the package will arrive the next day. The other day I sent her some crusty bread seasoned with garlic salt and black pepper and I didn't get the shipping right so it was in the box over the weekend but she said it was delicious.

OhMyGosh....think about the "tons" of cookies and breads and goodies that the Military family has sent to their loves ones serving in far off places. And, how loved every bite was....a real taste of home. Most of us have those "food saver" machines, and they help keep things freshest and less crushed. Been there...and continue to send to Grands doing their service to our country!

Alisande, Just so you won't be shocked, it cost me $20.00 to mail the cookies and the only other thing I had in the box was two Christmas dish towels.

Thanks, Georgysmom, but postage doesn't shock me anymore--which is not to say I like it! Shipping costs have gotten crazy.

Shipping costs ARE outrageous. I understood when gas was $4/gallon, it seems as if the drop in petroleum prices has not brought shipping costs down the way one might think.

When was the last time reality affected pricing ? :) Sad world..sad.

During the years my kids were away at university I mailed a lot of cookies and sweet breads. I tried various ways to pack them using whatever I happened to have around -cookie tins, popcorn, styrofoam peanuts, cut up styrofoam egg cartons, bubble wrap. A couple times I stacked the cookies, wrapped them in plastic wrap and then foil and placed them inside empty oatmeal boxes.

Then I bought a vacuum sealer which really helped to keep the baked goods fresh. But you had to be careful to stop the vacuum before it crushed the cookies. It also helps to mail them early in the week so that you don't have to worry about them sitting in a post office over a Sunday.

Even when they arrived in pieces it certainly never stopped the kids from happily devouring them. Your granddaughter will be thrilled.

The purchasing power of a first class stamp is pretty much the same as it has always been, give or take a penny. Package prices have changed more than mail, but many are less than they used to be, while others are more. It's labor that's the big price for sending packages, however, not gas or oil. A jump in oil prices can lead to a jump in shipping prices because they've usually absorbed small cost increases for this and that instead of changing the pricing structure for awhile, but can't afford the new oil prices on their current margins. It doesn't go back down again, because there are a lot of administrative costs associated with changing the pricing structure, and in the meantime, labor and other costs have gone up some more, claiming the savings that a subsequent drop in oil might have given. Plus, for a private company, they should be amassing a rainy day fund, if they have windfalls like a drop in oil, to draw upon when it goes up the next time, to try to keep their pricing stable. I don't think the P.O., which is not the government, but answers to congress, is allowed to do that, however.

I send presents to friends overseas yearly. I include the really ridiculous amount of postage in my budget. :) It goes international priority mail (there's very little savings for surface and they usually don't even allow it anymore. Gone are the days of sending books by sea mail) and they always say it takes 10-14 days, but in reality, by the time it clears customs and all of that, it takes a couple of months.

Sending goodies a couple of states away should be a lot easier! And equally worth it. Nothing says love like unexpected gifts of home.

We send Pfeffernüsse at Christmas, which is easy, because we make them quarter-size--they travel well and taste better as they age. When my son was in the military I sent chocolate crinkles, his favorite, and kept them chewy by including a piece of bread in the container. That works for chocolate chip, sugar cookies, and oatmeal cookies, too.

Hi, I think everyone has given you excellent advice, so I'm not going to repeat it. Just to encourage you, I have already mailed fresh, uncooked eggs to my Mom (we had our own chickens) and I just wanted to share with her the taste of fresh eggs. I wrapped each one individually in bubble wrap (and used a lot of other packing material) and they arrived unharmed! I used Priority Mail and it was in the winter and I was mailing from New York to Ohio. So it can be done!

I've sent and received baked goods for many years! I even shipped cakes to my son when he was in Iraq (in mason jars; it was pretty cool).

For cookies, my suggestion would be to put them in closeable sandwich bags to contain crumbs in case of breakage as well as prevent any "bad" things from getting to them; helps with freshness as well! Package the cookies rather tightly in a tin, using the excess bag as filler material (fold the bags around the cookies, stack and repeat). The tin can then go in the box and you can fill in the spaces with packing material. Since she's in the states, shipping shouldn't take too long but avoid cookies that may melt due to heat.

Cookies and the like will usually mail just fine. It's the staleness factor to be cautious about. Breakage and damage are part of the deal with shipping. But if they're compatible with it, I'd suggest bar cookies rather than individual. Normally they're easier to make, take less time to make, might have less damage and actually the centers will stay fresher longer for the types that go stale more quickly.

SEAL THAT BOX WELL! Allow no place for stuff to enter and make it obvious if someone has tampered with it. Then everyone can feel safer and savor the treats all the more.

I wouldn't ship eggs since they would not be fresh by the time they get there. 3-5 days in transit would equate to the freshness of store-bought eggs. America's Test Kitchen claims that each day eggs are unrefrigerated is the equivalent of 5 to 7 days refrigerated. So 3-4 days means they're about 2-3 week old eggs.