I turned another year older last week. I’m not going to mention how old I am. You can do the math if you go back to my previous years’ birthday post.

With Illinois being in Phase 4 of the reopening (well, maybe Chicago is back at Phase 3), I will consider this a pandemic birthday. We didn’t have any friends over for the birthday celebration nor did we go out to eat. It was pretty low key. We ordered take out from Bavette’s…which somehow forgot to include my dish in the take out bag. But I wasn’t mad about it. I ate some of Charlie’s steak. I guess when you’re a mom you’re used to things like this happening. Besides, I didn’t have any high expectations for the day.

But I did treat myself on my birthday. No, it wasn’t a Chanel handbag (although that would’ve been nice, too). I custom ordered birthday cookies from @LittleFlourShop. I mean…are birthday cookies better than a birthday cake? They might be. In this case and for this year, birthday cookies were my choice over a birthday cake. Why – because my birthday cookies were pieces of artwork. Baked and hand drawn by Emelyn!

I first met Emeyln (the baker and artist behind the cookie and bakery account) at my Madewell shopping event a few years ago. In addition to being a store manager at Madewell, Emeyln is also one of the head bakers at Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits and bakes custom cookies on the side. Can we say talented?

A few weeks before my birthday, I placed an order for a dozen cookies with a Parisian theme….since I’m such a Francophile. I wasn’t sure to expect except that I knew I would love eating all the cookies.

When I received the cookies, I was totally blown away by how pretty and intricate the cookies were. It seemed like Emelyn knew exactly what I liked about Paris. There was a Chanel No. 5 cookie, a Paris metro one, a bike, macaron, fleur de lis and so much more. The cookies were so pretty I didn’t want to eat them. So what did I do? I took as many pictures of them as possible.

Although the cookies from LittleFloursShop were sweet treats for myself, I think I’m going to start gifting birthday cookies to my friends as well. It’s a unique gift (and edible). Maybe a gift to give someone who has everything on their birthday. And maybe that person will share the cookies with you. I did end up sharing my cookies with my boys and froze the rest so I can admire and enjoy for later.