Post your Cookie Exchange Experiences

[adnerb]

Robin, thanks so much for the positive reply. I did call a few folks, asked if invites were received ok, so forth. 3 people did show up, but it is just amazing how people do not RSVP. Perhaps they don't know what that means. But one lady did e-mail in her regrets, 6 hours after the party was over! The party was ok, but I think next year (this party was number 3 for me) I'm going to have a co-hostess. See how that works. Thanks again.

[Lorie Balman]

I have hosted several exchanges in the past, but last year my husband wanted to invite the husbands to make it a couples event. I reminded hm that meant that he would have to BAKE! He agreed -- a year ago. Three weeks before this year's event he tried to explain that it was not about the cookies. I think he was just stressing about having to bake! Honestly, the experience of watching my husband bake cookies (for the first time) was PRICELESS!! Before our guests left, someone asked about next year, and MY HUSBAND was the first to say, "Absolutely!" I was stunned! He has already commented that he did okay for his first time, but next year will be better! Oh, the stories I could tell about my husband in the kitchen... GREAT STORIES!!

[Katy]

It's the 1/2 way point of the year and I have already started to plan my 2nd annual cookie exchange! My 1st one last year was a blast! I had 10 guests and each made a 1/2 dozen cookies per guest to take home. Just enough for a taste of every cookie but not too much too scare anyone with too much baking/grocery expense. I had a door prize and a prize for the person wearing the most Christmas attire and accessories. The prizes I gave were 2 Christmas "idea" books that I purchased from crafterschoice.com. I also made everyone hand painted wooden gingerbread men ornaments and I bought everyone little Bath and Bodyworks holiday 3 in 1 shower gels. Even though I had 10 guests I had everyone bring an extra 1/2 dozen cookies and I took them to our local homeless shelter and the people staying there were very excited and thankful! Thank you so much for your ideas and enthusiasm...it's contagious!

[mom2one]

;DThis is my first cookie exchange and I am sooooo excited! My girlfriend however is trying to boss me around and I don't like it!

I want to be able to plan it my way without her putting in her 2 cents about how I should do it or telling me I shouldn't do it potluck style. I am unemployed and so far I have spent big $$ on the gifts and games. I am tempted not to invite her!

[KarenMeridth]

This year will be our second cookie exchange. My sister & I planned it last year, 1st weekend in December, we had 23 attendees and we had a blast as well as our guests. We intend on up'ing things a bit this year as we feel a lot more comfortable. More & better appetizers & dips and games and prizes.
.....just want to add.... my sister & I found great invitation paper in the dollar bin at Michael's Craft store, 12 sheets of paper for $1 !! we can't beat that and its in stores NOW !!
Looking forward to another great party and many more !!


----as for the gal and her friend being a bit to pushy, just be sure to plan the party together, plan details together, my sister and I would plan over drinks at the coffee shop and we shopped together too, she had her opinion & I had mine but we always would come to an agreement.....but most importantly......have fun!! and good luck!

[techiemom]

This will be my 3rd cookie exchange. I sent out a "pick the date" evite to get a consenus on which day worked best for most & we're holding it the 1st Sunday in Dec.

I'm also a knitter, so I'm going to knit tiny christmas stockings as favors for my guests. I thought about doing felted Gingerbread people but not sure I'll have enough time. The stockings I can crank out in between cookie batches.

I'm looking for clever invitation ideas. I like evite for its simplicity and low cost, but the crafty girl in me gets all excited about creating paper invites. What to do?!

tammy

[Darcy]

I have been hosting our neighborhood exchange for about 3 years - we each bring a wrapped tree ornament to exchange also. The first person to gather cookies is picked differently each year - who arrived first, who has a birthday coming up, who just had a birthday, or we pick a random # --- when you're picked to collect cookies you also choose an ornament - this determines who goes next - if your ornament is chosen then you get to pick out your cookies next.
It is such a fun afternoon!

[debs]

Our FIRST "goodie" exchange was done last year at work!
I was afraid of getting people to commit to coming to my house so I decided to have a sign up sheet at work. 18 people responded!!!
I made the rules simple:
1. Make 6 dozen Christmas cookies/bars/treats
in return you will receive an assortment of 4 each of 18
different treats
2. Supply your recipe by the Friday before the exchange for a
very primitive cookbook
3. Bring your own empty container for your take home treats

Each brought 6 dozen "goodies" to share. My office was in charge of distribution, so after all the treats were brought to our office we started going around a large table putting 4 of each different kind in containers or on trays that everyone brought.
Of course doing this on our break time
Each person received 4 of 18 different cookies/bars/treats.
I can say some people went WAY out with colorful pin wheel cookies and others just dipped a pretzel rod in almond bark and sprinkled with it with colored sugar. We didn't have any duplicates!
The 2nd Annual "Goodie Exchange" is set for December 22nd.

[greenzoesmom]

This year will mark our 15th cookie swap. My mom, 2 sisters, and myself all play hostess and invite our own people and then divide out the duties. I am in charge of invitations. Some years are better than most as far as invitations but a few stand out. My favorite was a spin off of the children's book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". A favorite among guests is a simple recipe card style. This year's is entitled "Baking Spirits Bright". We invite 50 people and usually 35-40 attend. We have everyone bring 3 1/2 dozen cookies. We have always provided containers. In the early years they were "baskets" made out of large brown paper sacks and decorated with holiday cut outs. The past few years we have been using large pizza boxes that can be bought at restaurant supply stores and warehouse stores. They come plain white and make a great surface for decorating and also the cookies can all be laid out flat with minimal stacking. We've always had our helper elves (pre-teen girls) who work in the back dividing out the cookies while the guests enjoy a light lunch. We clear the furniture out of the great room of my mom's home and set up several round tables (borrowed from church). We use table cloths and folding chairs and in the center of each table is a plate stacker (like used in teas). The top plate holds my sister's famous empanadas, the middle holds a second finger sandwich type option and the bottom holds my other sister's famous lemon bars. Once guests arrive and are greeted, they go into the kitchen and move through our soup line. We offer 3 different kinds and serve them in collected Christmas themed mugs. Then they pick out their table and eat off of the stackers. The hostesses "work" the room and visit and replenish the stackers as needed. Beverages are soft drinks, iced tea, and coffee. We set out a scrapbook with photos from each years swap along with the invitation so that allows for some reminiscing along with some motivation to have pictures taken of you this year if you aren't represented in the album. As folks get ready to leave, they stop off at the back room and collect their cookie package.

[mclaughlin66]

Hi...new to this site. Love it. Invited to my first exchange and I am nervous. These ladies are very serious. Need ideas for very creative containers to put the cookies in. Thank you for your help!!!!!

[nathansmom]

greenzoesmom - I'd love to hear about your "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" invitation

[mamasherry]

My daughter and I have hosted a large cookie exchange for several years. Our only problem is that everyone in town wants to come and we have limited space in her bigger house! Folks seem to love it. We send out invites about this time, as Dec. is a very busy month. We also have it on a Sunday afternoon, which is not as busy as a Saturday night, or even Friday night. We each bring 3 dozen cookies, with a recipe that others can copy (I provide the recipe cards), we put them all out on the large dining room table and it overflows! We provide drinks and a light meal, buffet style from the kitchen countertops, with wine and punch. Then we vote on the best Holiday outfit and a prize is given. (Game prizes are little things we buy on sale during the year, usually just $1 to $3 gifts. We pass a jar of M&M's around, to guess count. Also another jar of small candies, to guess count. Prizes are awarded for those winners. Then the fun part comes.............everyone was asked to bring a White Elephant gift and we do that exchange, it's hilarious. We do have a few young daughters, so we can't get too risque'. But light hints are fun! We play a couple of games and award prizes for those also. Next, each gal gave us a story on what cookie they brought. Then the Circle of Choice begins. We have told everyone to bring a large box to take cookies home in. Last year we had at least 20 gals there. We started out smaller years ago, but hard to keep it down. Bringing 3 dozen each, we circle the table at least 3 times, or until the last cookie is gone. There are stacks to take home. It is the hit of the season, so many say. My only problem after all these years is finding new games to play. I search and search on here. We have done so many, and all that pertain to Christmas also. This whole thing is just a little costly, but we keep expenses down as much as possible. And several of the guests bring us two hostesses nice little gifts. Which is not expected but I also do that when invited to someone's house, as a little thank-you. This year's exchange is Dec. 14 and already everyone is excited and calling! And I don't even have invites out yet!

[jennifers399]

Something that I have added to my exchange is a 'Hideous Holiday Earring/Jewelry' contest! It's a hoot. I go to Claire's and buy the cheapie earrings (you know the ones, the blinkie ones and the wreaths, etc). People like that and it is fun to try to outdo each other.

As far as games go, I'm going to have the Ice Breaker 'guess who' game that I have every year. I choose Christmas characters (pop culture and traditional) that most people know about. Of course, my BIL didn't know who the Grinch was! LOL!!!!!

I am interested in any new ideas, too! Please share!

[Ann]

This is our 4th year co-hosting our holiday cookie exchange. The few things we have done to simplify are:

- guest must prepackage cookies by the dozen. The cuter the packaging, the quicker it is picked
- Numbers are drawn as guest arrive (20+).
- cookies are selected by the dozen using the number system - we make sure everyone has a chance to be near the top pick.
- there is no "I need to leave early, so I have to pick early", you must get a friend to pick for you.
- we provide a large brown shopping bag complete with preprinted names for everyone to take their haul home in.
- we also select names for 3 door prizes and give everyone a cooking themed party favor (crocheted pot holders, oven mits, aprons, etc.)

People are dying to get invitations to the exchange, but the size is not limitless.

[Meme]

Hi! Just an idea for all of you church ladies out there!
We are a small church but we have about 30 ladies who come together at the beginning of the Christmas season to have our cookie exchange with a twist. Everyone brings 4 dozen cookies. We all share 2 dozen and vote on the "looks to0 good to eat" and the "best tasting" (we have trophies which ups the ante) but with the remaining 2 dozen we make up baskets for our members and friends who are in nursing homes or hospitals. This way we have a great time together but we are still able to spread a little cheer and love to those who are often forgotten or left out.

[kaandhmom]

I held my very 1st Cookie Exchange yesterday, Dec. 6, 2008 at 1:30 and it was a lot of fun! I invited 13, 8 were able to come. I told them kids were welcome too and had bought cookie themed crafts for them to do while we adults were doing "our thing" so we also had a total of 8 children in attendance. The girls all went into my youngest daughter's room and played the whole time and the 3 boys went downstairs and played on the Playstation. It was great! LOL!! The crafts were never even opened. I had each bring 1/2 dozen, homemade cookies/bar cookies or candy for each adult attending, pre-packaged, and an extra dozen for tasting. Everyone did great with that, most were in cute bags. I served meatballs, spinach dip w/crackers, cheeseball (also cheese cubes for the kids), nuts, veggies w/ dip, chips and tortilla roll-ups w/ salsa. We had punch and iced tea to drink. We played a Christmas trivia game (I gave a set of Christmas kitchen towels as the prize), and everyone brought a $10 gift and we did the Left/Right game for that. In the invite that I sent I told them to dress in their most festive and/or silly holiday attire and that there would be a prize for the best. The winner came dressed as an elf! She was hilarious! ;D For the prize I gave her a kit that I found at Walmart that had giant gingerbread men in it with all the decorations/icing, etc with it and a silly jingle bells necklace. The goodies that were brought were Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cowboy Cookies, Oatmeal Molasses Crisps, Old Fashioned Gingerbread Men, Snowflake Butter Cookies, No Bake Chocolate Cookies, Lemon Sandwich Cookies, Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies and Peanut Butter Fudge. I will definitely do it again next year and will invite more ladies! Thanks for all the great ideas Robin and everyone!

[vickieb]

I've hosted my first cookie exchange! What fun! I am still enjoying thinking about it and what to do and not do next year. We had eight ladies attend and each brought 6 dozen cookies, delicious! We played the scavenger hunt in purses and the left/right game as well as having a candy cane necklace that had to be surrendered if the "C" word was said by mistake! Prizes were awarded for the most candy canes won, the best purse scavenger and the best cookie. We offered coffee, hot chocolate and apple cider to drink. I was able to "build" a vegetable Christmas tree and a fruit Christmas tree which was the hit of the party. We had a crockpot full of the ever popular li'l smokies and a snowman cheesball and spinach/herb tortilla rollups in the shape of a wreath finished off our holiday appetizers. It was fun to prepare and everyone had a great time. Looking forward to next year!

[jennifers399]

Ugh, I just had my 7th annual exchange (I started in 2002) and I think I'm going to take a couple years off. People are just not getting the exchange part! Half my guests did not bring cookies! The ones that did bring cookies did NOT bring holiday cookies. We have one person who brings the same thing every year, and she wins every year. She bring MAGIC COOKIES or 7-layer dream bars every year. Someone brought a cake to exchange--it was no fun cutting a sloppy cake, either.


So many people did not respond to the invitation and those that did, were not respectful enough to follow the rules. Sure, people had a good time (the party started at 1 and people didn't leave until 7) but it's not what I wanted.

[Robin]

Dec 9, 2008 15:41:00 GMT -5 jennifers399 said:

Ugh, I just had my 7th annual exchange (I started in 2002) and I think I'm going to take a couple years off. People are just not getting the exchange part! Half my guests did not bring cookies! The ones that did bring cookies did NOT bring holiday cookies. We have one person who brings the same thing every year, and she wins every year. She bring MAGIC COOKIES or 7-layer dream bars every year. Someone brought a cake to exchange--it was no fun cutting a sloppy cake, either.


So many people did not respond to the invitation and those that did, were not respectful enough to follow the rules. Sure, people had a good time (the party started at 1 and people didn't leave until 7) but it's not what I wanted.

Hi Jennifer,
I've been working on an article to help gals like you kick start their parties. Sometimes it's hard to get the party where you want it to be. Unfortunately, I don't have time this week to finish it because my cookie party is this Sunday.

However, it's top on my list to address problems like yours. I'll at least share this with you --You're not alone. I hear from many with exactly the same concerns and it's one of the main reasons that I wrote the "How to Host a Cookie Exchange Handbook" (available at Amazon).

You'll need to be signed up for my newsletters to see this article after I write it.

www.cookie-exchange.com/sign_up_newsletter.html


Do me a favor and write to me privately so I can ask you some specific questions about your party... Thanks!
[e-mail]

[camezqui]

This year I'm participating in 3 cookies exchanges. Two are now done and my 4th Annual Mother/Daughter is this Sunday (Dec 14th).

My first one was on Dec 1st an office one that went great. 12 people participated including one man. Most had never done a cookie exchange so I had lots of question on how it all worked. Some were not real bakers so I said the only rule is they had to BAKE it at home. One woman baked toll house cookies from the grocery freezer. To keep it easy everyone only had to bake 2 doz cookies. We were able to get it done in 1/2 hr and that included time for everyone to tell their cookie story. This is a keeper I will do next year. Just one week later.

The second one was hosted by a friend through my daughter’s school. This was her 3rd year but my first attending. I guess in the past it was ladies only. But when she heard I did a combo mother/daughter party she opened it up to kids. But….my party is focused around both mother/daughter with all the games inclusive. This one had one small activity for the kids and the rest of the two hours they were running around like crazy. They were not allowed in the party area. It actually took away from the experience for me. I choose not to take my daughter and I’m really glad I didn’t.

I’m really looking forward to our party this Sunday. We have 18 moms and 15 kids attending. I’m trying an experiment this year and allowing little boys to attend. I have many friends that only have boys and I have excluded them in the past but the friendships are getting stronger and I wanted them to attend. My 7-yr old daughter helps with much of the planning so I did not want to switch to a Mom’s only party after 3 years of a Mother/Daughter version. Next week, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Cheryl