Although introduced last year—along with a version for Halloween—this winter’s kit offers new features. One of the prominent additions is an angled peak, or gable, on the 9½ x 11’’ x 3¾’’ box. Before, the top had been flat. The peak is more than ornamental: It contains die-cut holes to ease carrying the nearly 3-½-lb (net-weight) box. Inside, a clear one-piece thermoform that encases nearly all the kit components displays the contents through the box’s die-cut front. That’s the other change, says General Mills’ spokesperson Pam Becker: “The window is now larger so consumers can better see the contents, and with a little more impact.” The Holiday Cookie Kit shown here was purchased for $5.99 at a Chicago-area Target store. It contains two sugar cookie mix pouches, a plastic jar of frosting, candy cane and tree-shaped cookie cutters, a tube of red decorating gel, and a bottle of sugar sprinkles. This kit’s thermoform is ingeniously molded in one piece with flaps that fold up and secure the components into place with button locks. The thermoform fits snugly inside the box. We speculate that the microflute corrugated box is E-flute printed in what appears to be at least five colors. The main graphic on this box is a Christmas tree, complete with a window die cut in the shape of a tree. Other boxes highlight a cupcake kit with snowman’s face with die-cut mouth, or a cozy house with die-cut windows. General Mills states that the design work was done in-house and with the help of an external firm it declines to identify. (RL)
