Here's Why People Started Storing Sewing Kits Inside Those Blue Danish Cookie Tins
Turns out, it's not just an Asian thing.
By Tamara Jayne
It was there sitting on the table or in the cupboard – taunting us. The Danish biscuit container that somehow gave us hope, yet let us down the second we opened it to reveal... our mother's sewing kit.
No cookies. No crumbs. Just a blue tin of very practical items. WHY.
For years, I'd fall for it. And still have hope that one day... one day, there will be butter cookies inside.
I used to think that it was just my own mother who did this.
Until I recently discovered that mothers and grandmothers all over the world shared this common trait of repurposing Danish cookie tins into containers for other items.
Turns out, it doesn't just occur among Asians
According to a Reddit thread in 2018, women from Poland and the Czech Republic right up to Costa Rica and Argentina do this as well.
And although other cookie tins have since been used, the most popular one is the iconic blue Royal Dansk.
But why is this a thing?
Although there's no definite answer, the Internet has uncovered multiple theories.
In a 2015 article, a BuzzFeed community user cited her mother, explaining that during the war, people were encouraged to reuse items.
Biscuits were often sold loose in paper bags back then and tins were not very common – until 1966 when the Royal Dansk made their 'high-quality' tins to keep cookies fresh.
"It was resealable and reusable for storing in general, and some people used it simply as a bowl to serve from," as its website states.
After eating the biscuits up, my mum put a sewing kit into the tin and gifted it to me as a joke. Ha-ha, mum. Ha-ha.
Image via Tamara Jayne/SAYSA Quora user, Colin Lu, suggests that Danish cookie tins are the most appropriate storage containers because of its "functional lids" and "size" for a typical set of sewing equipment.
"Very few packaging containers possess these properties. Most food packaging is either flimsy, difficult to seal conveniently, too small, possess some kind of bottleneck, or lack the appropriate dimensions for storing sewing equipment."
"Even most cookies aren't sold in tins - it's mostly Danish butter cookies."
Aside from its functionality and sturdiness, the tins were also considered pretty and too valuable to be thrown out
There was a certain value to the Royal Dansk biscuits, which were considered among the 'fancier' brands back then.
A 23-year-old from Russia shared with Vice that her family used to buy Royal Dansk as gifts during New Year. Despite not liking the biscuits, her grandmother was happy to receive them because of its value.
"These cookies were quite expensive, so we rarely bought them casually," she said.
Over the years, the tins have become a subject for memes created by children all over the world who have experienced the same 'trauma'
