DIY Serving Platter and Labels

I love to bake for others: Holiday family parties, a group of friends, and especially for an event. This past spring, I volunteered to help make cookies for my alumni's Intervarsity Christian Fellowship coffee house event. I was only asked to make a few dozen, so this was a small bake compared to my yearly Christmas cookie escapade. I chose the classic Chocolate Chip, and also some unique but tasty flavors, Cereal Snaps and Cranberry White Chocolate. Baking the cookies was not my obstacle this time. Instead, I struggled with how to display these cookies when I take them to the event.

My husband and I are not huge entertainers, so we did not register for any type of serving platters or trays when we got married. Not much has changed, and it is physically impossible to host more than a few people at our place, so I have never been concerned with buying trays. For this, I needed something bigger than a plate, but nicer than a baking sheet to display these cookies.

Every Christmas, my grandmother used a simple solution to her displays. She had many serving trays, but to eliminate dishes yet add some decoration, she placed Christmas-themed napkins on the trays. I do have some plain napkins, but napkins would not hide the sides of a worn baking sheet. Something I do have is tissue paper. Lots and lots of tissue paper.

Materials: Baking sheet, tissue paper, tape

Most of this tissue paper I have came from our wedding gifts. It's the signature swirl of Bed Bath & Beyond wedding tissue paper that I saved, thinking I could re-use it for future weddings. Well, 3 years later, and I still have tons of tissue paper. I briefly thought about using this paper, because it is not clearly a wedding-theme unless you recognize it. And let's be honest, as a college student, I had no idea it was wedding paper until I received tons of it for my wedding. But I did some more digging and found an odd color that I most likely would never use. 

I wrapped the baking sheet just like a present, starting with it upside down. I stuck my fingers underneath the baking sheet before I taped each time to press the paper against the inside edge and taped it loosely. Otherwise, the tissue paper would be so tight, it would elevate the cookies off the baking sheet. I didn't worry about the bottom, because it would not be seen. 

The baking sheet only held 2 of my 3 types of cookies, so I needed something smaller than another baking sheet. I chose to use a large plate, but wanted the plate to match the baking sheet. I attempted to wrap the circular plate as a present as well. Anyone who attempts to wrap something circular for Christmas knows how hard it is. But remember, it doesn't have to be perfect! Keeping some sharp edges is okay for this. Trust me, people aren't looking that close at what the food is on...they're looking at the food! 

To transport, I wrapped the trays in saran wrap. 
Something to think about when preparing your trays: If you put the cookies (or any food) on the tray too far ahead of time, be aware there may be a small oil stain by the time you eat. I put my cookies on  about 10 hours ahead of time, and when the cookies were gone, there was an oil stain the size of a quarter or larger. So just be aware that the tissue paper is going to absorb food oils. 

I couldn't even get a quick picture before they started disappearing!

One other touch I always add when displaying more than one type of food is labels. I find that people are more willing to try a non-typical cookie if they know what it really is! All you need is a toothpick, marker, and any type of scrap or colored paper. I am glad I did this because one of the first people that saw my cookies before I had the labels up asked if my Cereal Crisps were peanut butter. (FYI: Cereal Snaps don't have any peanut butter). Imagine the number of people that might have thought that as well, thus not trying it. Save the confusion, label it!

I felt confident taking my cookies to the event on these DIY trays, and the cookies were a hit! 

Update: You can use these platters for almost any type of dessert or snack. For my sister-in-law's bridal shower, I used it for cheese and crackers! I bought a small amount of colored tissue paper that matched her theme and....viola! No dishes to wash, and it looks great! 

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