The 5 Best Holiday Things to Buy from Costco Right Now

One of the best things about cruising the aisles at Costco this time of year is checking out the stacks of cellophane-wrapped gift baskets, massive tins of cookies, and giant boxes of truffles. They’re fancy and festive and pretty awesome deals, making it hard to resist stocking up for holiday parties and host gifts.

But, let’s be honest, not everything is a standout winner – and if you take a chance on something and don’t like it, then you’re stuck with a couple pounds of it. So we scoured the offerings and singled out five items only available around the holidays that are worth tucking into your cart.

These rectangular cookies are small, but there’s no way you can eat just one. Beneath the Belgian chocolate coating is an ultra-thin, superbly crisp “crepe” folded onto itself to make sort of an airy, toffee-flavored wafer. There’s nothing quite like these treats anywhere, making them that much more special. You’ll get four wrapped trays in the box, but if you have kids don’t be surprised when the biscuits all suddenly go missing.

Real egg nog is a cocktail, not a holiday treat in the dairy case, and Costco’s private-label version keeps with boozy tradition. At 14.75 percent alcohol by volume, it doesn’t skimp on the hard stuff. In fact, it’s spiked with three kinds of spirits — whiskey, spiced rum and brandy — making sure all your favorites are covered. Generously spiced and enriched with real cream, it’s a decadent party favorite, and a steal at about $10 for almost two liters. (Of course, it’s only available at warehouses in states that allow the store to sell hard liquor.)

There are those who like fruitcake and those who don’t. If you’re in the latter camp, just skip to the next item on this list (sorry). For those in the former camp, tuck one of these big boys in your cart on your next Costco run. It’s jam-packed with dried fruits and nuts, with just enough cake to hold it all together. That means it’s incredibly moist, will keep for weeks, and is ideal for drenching in brandy (all those fruits will soak it right up and make for the booziest cake ever).

Do you love Thin Mints? Of course you do. And that means you’ll really love these, because they’re just like the Girl Scouts cookie but bigger, shaped like squares, and far richer in flavor. They look similar to a chocolate-dipped graham cracker, but a mint-spiked chocolate cookie hides under the cloak of chocolate. When we asked a Costco employee to pick his favorite holiday treat at the warehouse, he steered us to these and said they’re “slap your grandma good.” This, according to Urban Dictionary, is a good thing. And he was right.

This kitchen workhorse is only around during the holidays, but that’s OK because you’ll likely not even go through one of the massive rolls before the next year ends. In fact, unless you’re running a commercial bakery or writing a cookbook on cooking en papillote, it’ll probably be a few years before you need to stock up again. When just a 45-square-foot roll is around $5 at the supermarket, this might just be Costco’s best bargain.