This was the trademark tin of Denmark’s Royal Dansk company. One of the world’s largest producers of butter cookies, the company bakes more than 25,000 tons of the treats every year.

Discover the royal family's festive traditions, including the perfect time to pull a Christmas cracker and don a party hat, as revealed by a former royal butler.

The Royal Dansk cookie tin, often used to hold sewing supplies, is just one of many store-bought food containers people love to save and apply to other purposes. Jessica Pons for The New York Times ...