The month of December is the time of year when people begin to make all sorts of desserts, and one of the most widely made sweet treats is the humble cookie.

During this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, millions of cookies are baked and consumed, with many of these cookies formed into delightful shapes such as stars, candy canes, gingerbread people, bells, and snowmen.

Of course, people use cookie cutters to create these fantastic designs, and that’s why the first week in December is known as National Cookie Cutter Week. It’s the week when people are encouraged to pull out their cookie cutters and get started on making their holiday cookies.

The History of National Cookie Cutter Week

According to internet lore, this week was created by Paula Mullins during the 1990s. She lived in Kentucky and circulated a petition in 1996 for National Cookie Cutter Week. For every person who signed, she gave them a cookie cutter. Why did she create this holiday? Well, according to our sources, she created this week in support of the group she was in, the Cookie Cutters’ Club.

Cool Facts About Cookie Cutters

Okay, as we’re talking about National Cookie Cutter Week, we can take this article in one of two directions. We can either give our readers some facts about cookies or we can give them facts about cookie cutters. Since we’ve already researched the facts on cookies, we decided to research cookie cutters. The following facts are what we uncovered about these handy kitchen tools.

• Cookie cutters were first made in ancient Egypt in 2000 BC.
• Cutters for gingerbread people became popular during the 16th century in Germany.
• There are cookie cutters made with plastic, tin, stainless steel, aluminum, or copper.

Observing National Cookie Cutter Week

Everyone is encouraged to buy and use cookie cutters during this week. This is a good time to make shaped cookies for Mr. Claus, especially since it’s been estimated that Santa consumes about 336,150,380+ cookies a year — and that’s only if he takes two bites from each cookie baked for him! Once a shaped cookie has been made, people can take a picture of it and post it online using the hashtag #CookieCutterWeek.