Coals to Newcastle...erm, packages to China

As someone who has been receiving Christmas cookies from her own mother for the last 20 years or so (15 in Asia), I can attest that store bought is not the same. I don’t even care when they turn out just to be a tin of full of crumbs (I use a spoon, they work well over ice cream in that form as well by the way).

Based on my mother’s experience, I would go with US mail, insured, air mail. See your options at http://www.usps.com/international/sendpackages.htm This will be more expensive than ground/surface, but freshness is important. The insurance is just so it gets better attention. For customs just declare what is in the package. Gift: cookies.

According the US postal service website, a package mailed to China can’t include meat or “perishable infectious biological substances”. By this I am fairly confident they mean plant material, like fresh herbs. See http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/ce_009.htm#ep1400280. I live in China, but not the mainland, so can’t speak with particularity about cookies into the PRC proper, but can say I have encountered no issues with Hong Kong. Or with Singapore (which has pretty strict rules), or with Switzerland.

You could use FedEx but that will be pretty expensive. But certainly possible. See their websites or DHL, etc.

For wrapping, you might try layers of tissue paper or thin cardboard. I also have boxes Girl Scout cookies mailed successfully to me every year by nieces and children of friends. But they are not sent in any special wrapping I have to say, just a padded envelope for the box. (The thin mints do sometimes get melted together but that is the chocolate.) So tightly packed may actually be the way to go. Less room for movement.