Sunday, September 16, 2012

Of Brownies and Banners



John's birthday was in August, but when I prepared these boxes, I hadn't a blog yet. So, now, I get to relive birthday preparations! I'll post all of the birthday ideas I used by the end of this week. 

I sent three birthday boxes to John, mainly because I go overboard when I do almost anything. The first box, was a countdown box (see it here). The second box was a celebration box. No presents, just dessert, icing, candles, plates, and utensils. The third box... well, you'll just have to wait to see that one!

Originally, I wanted to send cake in a jar-- which I've been seeing flying around Pinterest quite a lot, and which one of my friends who has already gone through deployment swears by-- but my mom convinced me to bake brownies instead so John could share them with his coworkers. I baked the brownies in an 8x8 foil tin (which just happens to perfectly fit into the bottom of a medium Priority USPS box) and went heavy on the plastic wrap. John reported that the brownies made it intact and that they tasted fresh. Win, all the way around!

When I decorated the inside of the box, I rigged up a happy birthday banner to stretch across the box when John pulled the flaps open. The banner is made from scrapbook paper and ribbon. To create it, I just cut triangles, decorated them, bent the top of the triangle over the top of the ribbon and taped it into place. I glued the ribbon between the scrapbook paper and the cardboard box and used a binder clip to clamp it in place until it dried.

Then, I filled the rest of the box with balloons (nothing in them this time), taped it up with awesome Happy Birthday boxing tape from Michael's, and sent it on it's merry way to John!




-Jo

3 comments:

  1. I really want to send some brownies to my fiance' too. I am afraid they wouldn't taste good though so it's good to hear yours did. Did you just use mix out of the box? Or did you make them homemade? Just curious so I know which kind to try to maintain the best freshness.

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  2. I used a regular Betty Crocker box mix for an 8x8 pan. I wrapped it a ton of times (maybe 6-7) with plastic wrap and sqeezed as much of the air out as I could without smashing the brownies. I also used a liberal amount of Scotch tape to secure the rest of it. It only takes about 5 days for John to get the package... I can vouch that the brownies taste fresh after 5 days. I'd imagine that they'd taste great for a bit after since they're wrapped and the brownies are very moist, but I can't say for sure since I have no experience with anything longer than 5 days. Hope this helps!!!

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  3. These care packages are darling! Your love really comes through in your blog posts, as I'm sure they do in the packages themselves. All the best to you and John.

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Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with me! Keep in touch!

Best wishes always,
Jo