Colossal Christmas Countdown: 82 Days Until Christmas!

Who doesn't love to begin their day with a smile?  I'm lucky because every morning when I wake up, one of the first things I see is my daughter's bright and beaming face!  But then, it's time to drink my coffee and eat some breakfast.  Eat'n Park, a family restaurant chain with locations scattered throughout the country, has a wonderful way to jump start my mornings with their famous Smiley Cookie and coffee gift basket! Now, my daughter's smiling face doesn't have to be the only smile I see.  I can also be greeted with a Smiley Cookie iced sugar cookie.  Smiley is Eat'n Park's official mascot and they've found a clever way to bring them into everyone's home whether you live near an Eat'n Park eatery or not.  I was fortunate enough to review the Miles of Smiles Gift Basket with Regular Coffee from Smiley Cookie.

Smiley Cookie offers a wide variety of gift baskets for any occasion and they all feature their token smiley-faced iced sugar cookies.  Even the smiley cookies themselves come in a few different patterns, for some are shaped like flowers, hearts or stars.  These cookies also come in plenty of different colors to suit any purpose.

Since I have a great love of coffee and I don't happen to live near Austin (which is where the only Eat'n Park in Texas is located), I really wanted to review the Miles of Smiles Gift Basket.  This basket included one travel mug with a mosaic of Smiley Cookies on it, a decorative balloon box, a dozen original Smiley Cookies and a regular Eat'n Park coffee.

When it arrived, I thought it looked very festive and immediately made me smile.  Everything was packaged attractively and nothing was crushed or damaged.  I couldn't wait until the next morning when I could brew my cup of Eat'n Park coffee and begin my day with a smile (other than my daughter's)!

You can see in the picture above, just how happy the Miles of Smiles Gift Basket made my husband!  I also wanted to show you just how big these cookies are!  If they almost covered up Michael's entire face, they are a pretty big size!  The coffee smelled wonderful and tasted great!  I really enjoyed drinking this coffee and thought that it had a nice full-bodied flavor that I really enjoyed.  As for the cookies, they tasted good, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed for they tasted old and were quite hard when we first tried them.

The directions state that after a few days when the cookies start to harden, to simply pop them in the microwave for about 10 seconds and they will be soft again.  I tried 10, 20 and even 30 seconds to try and soften these cookies up, but it was no use.  They were still hard.  They tasted very good, but I wish they would have been a lot fresher.

I hate to judge every gift basket on one batch of cookies though and so I'm still giving the Miles of Smiles Gift Basket 4 out of 5 stars.  I thought that for the price, you received a lot of items (which usually isn't the case with most gift baskets) and I thought the presentation was great and the coffee tasted wonderful.  If you are looking to brighten someone's day for any occasion, then let Smiley Cookies bring a smile to their face!

Disclosure:  I received the Miles of Smiles Gift Basket with Regular Coffee from Smiley Cookie in order to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received. This product review is based on my own personal experiences with this item and is completely honest and objective.