Post your Cookie Exchange Experiences

[blessed4life]

Dec 9, 2008 14:55:07 GMT -5 vickieb said:

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!

Hi there,

Can you post your Purse Hunt Game, please?

Thanks bunches!

[cbomba]

I just finished my 1st Annual Cookie Exchange Party today and it was a hit! I had 16 in attendance and I incorporated many of the ideas on this site. Everyone emailed their recipes to me and I created a small recipe book with a small holiday cookie cutter hanging from it for everyone to take home. The afternoon started with appetizers, punch and socializing. We continued playing a multiple choice trivia game that was found on this site and I had prizes under the Christmas tree I purchased from the dollar store. We played "Scavanger Hunt" finding items out of one's own purse. My mom brought her gentleman friend and when he found out about the "Scavanger Hunt", he borrowed a purse from my mom and stuffed it full of stuff the day before hoping to win. He won 2nd prize at that game...we were all laughing. The last game before the official exchange was creating as many words as possible from "Cookie Exchange". That was a lot of fun. Lastly, we exchanged cookies and everyone introduced the cookie they baked and any history or story behind it. I took pictures and I will do my best to post to the Cookie Exchange site soon. I plan on doing this next year as everyone had a lot of fun and wanted to be invited again next year.

[Rachael]

So glad I found this message board! This year will mark our 24th Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange!!! Now, I'm only 29...but my Aunt started it 24 years ago (I remember the first one!..because of all the cookies my Mom brought home!). The first cookie exchange involved only 6 women..my Aunt being the hostess (boss!), my mom, and four other women. I believe they only brought 2 dozen cookies. The first few years they had it, they swapped the location of the party between them, in the meanwhile, the group grew each year. Now, I'm proud to say that at least 80 women are invited with at least 40-50 showing up each year. I couldn't wait till I was old enough to attend. Old enough...well, it is the first Christmas after you graduate from high school. Usually it is just the daughters of those who are already in the group. Each year more people are added though, as we all make new friends! Our town is extremely small, so something like this is something that is looked forward to each and every Christmas. Every year, someone volunteers to host the cookie exchange...usually it is decided at the previous years party. We bring 4 dozen of the same cookie, a snack, a wrapped ornament or decoration for the home, and extra containers. The host provides the beverages (yes, we have all kinds for all tastes!) and there home for our enjoyment. The host also will have a sign in sheet where people sign in and leave their contact information, that way the next year is easy to get the invitations out. At the start of each cookie exchange, my Aunt tells the story behind our cookie exchange...how it got started, the original people, etc. It is one that we never tire of. She also has kept a book which holds all of the invitations through the years...we want to make a book for the 25th year. After we have all eaten, we start the chinese christmas with the ornaments/decorative stuff! Now, this is a BATTLE! We have so much fun with this. After the chinese christmas is over, we then start the cookie exchange. Usually we just go around once and then get to get a few of any kind we want (since we usually have close to 48). Then it is over...the hubbies know when it is cookie party time that they have the kiddos, cause the women are going to have some fun! This is a great tradition we have, one started among friends, that has now grown to a second generation. Ours is next week, Dec. 22nd. It is a time for us to dress up (since we don't really have formal Christmas parties in our neck of the woods), have fun, and be MERRY!

[Maggi]

First time visiting this site...

I just held my 7th annual cookie exchange on the 14th. For me, the cookie exchange gets better and better each year! On year 4, we had to move the cookie exchange "off site". My house just doesn't have enough large open space for tables so that all can swap the cookies. In my house, we all gathered around me large table and found out that nobody could MOVE! That's when I decided to move the cookie exchange to a local community center. This helped immensely because: (1) I didn't have to have my house absolutely perfect the day of the exchange (I now have a toddler and it's difficult this year) (2) There is more than enough space for all of the friends who want to come (and the list grows each year!) The $100 I spend to rent the community center is totally worth it, for my sanity.

My friends all know the drill - they RSVP ahead of time and get me the recipe so i can publish the cookbook. Those that are attending for the first time get the message from the friend who told them about the cookie exchange. So far, we have not had any trouble. Although, we're not quite as particular about what can and cannot be considered a cookie...

It's all about getting together with the folks you love and have some fun. Even if the same person brings peanut butter blossoms year after year...

[menellojr]

thanks for keeping in touch even in the summer months!! - yes believe it or not i am planning for my 8th cookie exchange this year - getting ready now by preparing favors - collecting empty toilet paper rolls to put ornaments and candies in them, will wrap them in holiday paper. last year i made victorian cones out of holiday paper, on sale in summer months, and put peppermints and an ornament in them - was a nice favor and easy. the only problem i seem to have with my parties is when it comes time to exchange the cookies - when i have had the ladies fill their own plates they take to many cookies and don't leave enough for others - yes i give directions...so last year i had one person put cookies onto plates, but believe it or not others complained that they did not get this cookie or that cookie - i find this just a bit petty i know we are here for a cookie exchange but i love the fellowship more - any suggestions??

[mamaof5]

I had my first cookie exchange last year. I am looking forward to another this year. My teen daughter and I did one together last year with moms and daughters. We purchased boxes from a local box store and bought stamps and ink pads, tissue paper, ribbon, stickers, paint pens, glitter, etc... and decorated the boxes at the party. After eating snack foods, we all gathered around a long conference table and decorated our boxes. It was fun to listen to the girls sing Christmas carols, they did that on their own!. After, we all went around the table taking cookies, using tissue paper as padding, the filled boxes looked awesome! It was a great way to bring in the season. This year we will have prizes. Last year was an evening party, but this year I think we will do it in the afternoon. Many people are too busy in the evenings. Anyone know whether you have more turn out on Sat. or Sun.?

[christieinwi]

First off, new to the site, but not Robin's newsletter which has helped me a great deal with past cookie exchange's - thank you Robin! I will be having my 5th cookie exchange this year and looking forward to it. Just made my invite list and will get out the invites next week - the party will be on the 13th of Dec. I always give plenty of notice, and usually invite 20 to 25 and usually have a few no shows. Only rules are 5 to 6 dozen homemade cookies and bring the recipe to share - which I then e-mail out to everyone after the party. I like having the party on Sunday's about 1:00. No kids unless they are girls and not toddlers (I know that sounds kinda mean - but I kick out my hubbie and 4 year old son too) I supply the appetizers, drinks and I usually make about 4 different kinda of cookies, 3 of the kind everyone expects from me and one new recipe each year. I also supply a container to take the cookies home (a disposable turkey roasting tin) and I will buy ornaments each year after the holidays on sale and give them out as favors. I have a game or 2 and give out little prizes as well. The thing to remember is, someone is always going to break a rule, bring some burnt cookies or BAD cookie, cancel at the last minute, take more of one cookies than they should, forget their recipe, etc. - the key is to not stress about it! I think that everyone looks forward to my party each year (I hope anyway LOL!) and I really do enjoy and look forward to it each year - it is a LOT of work though. But it is only once a year. If you are having your first party I would start small and only invite people you think would enjoy coming.

[Anne Turner]

Well, I just hosted my 5th Annual Cookie Exchange and it was the best. I have to thank EVERYONE on this website for sharing all their ideas. The reindeer antleer game was the best! It had the ladies laughing and laughing. The few men folks around wondered what was going on! We had tons of great cookies and bakers. Everyone loved getting the ribbons awarded by Santa (Michaels is selling ribbons this year!). just sorting through the pictures now.

[Sarah]

I just discovered this site and I have found tons of helpful information. I thought that I would share one hint that I have found. I have started using the forms that I found on www.signupgenius.com/christmas to invite my guests. It has a rsvp form where everyone responds and says what kind of cookies they are going to bring. That really saves me alot of time and energy making sure that no one is bringing duplicates. The program also sends automated reminders before my party. It worked great for me last year, and I plan to use it again this year. It is a little untraditional, but it does save me some stress. Please let me know what you think.

[jeannemello]

I went to my FIRST cookie exchange yesterday. Roberta W. in Galt Ca. was the hostess; it was her second annual exchange and it was a blast! We played "unwrap the gift" wearing Santa gloves and hat, which was very animated, everyone was cheering, laughing and hollering. The cookies were great, everyone had someting different. There was a prize for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place; we all got a cd with the recipes on it. It was a wonderful time, I am looking forward to next years party. Great job Roberta, and Thanks Robin for having the page to find a cookie exchange!

[Robin]

Hi Jeanne,
You're the first to report back that you found a party! Yeah for Jeanne and and big thanks to Roberta for opening her home. I'm so glad it worked out. Jeanne, favor: please repost this in the "Looking for a CE party" thread... so other seekers will see a success story!
Thanks,
Robin

[pookie]

I had my first CE yesterday. The weather was iffy - it started out as freezing rain, but it was warming up. Some folks did not make it - iced in, others showed up really late. But all in all it was a great party. There was a total of 6 of us out of 9 that showed up. We ate a great lunch (lasagna roll ups, salad, bread, fruit salsa, lil smokes in bacon, veggies and dip, candies, cookies) and nibbled on the extra cookies and candies. We played the right left game - which I have to say was a hoot! I gave each person a small gift bag with an ornament inside and said no peeking. We were all hooting and laughing so hard as I read the story and the girls tried to keep up and remember which was their right and which way was left. I did a christmas story trivia game that was ok, they did not get too may right - I will have to change that up next year. Then we did the panty hose balloon reindeer horns game. What a hoot. That was fun. Everyone loved the house and all the trees (even had a tree in the bathroom), and decorations. It was a great time and they all asked if I would do it again next year. I think that was the biggest testament to the success of the party. ) Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate better and I can get a better turn out.

[betz70]

I finally hosted my first Cookie Exchange this year and it was a hit! I loved everything about it! Can't wait till next year! Oh, and all those yummy cookies! And ofcourse tons of left over ones also! I can hear us gaining weight!

[Michele]

I had my 6th cookie party exchange last weekend.I sent my e-mail Save the Date right after Labor Day. I keep my cookie party rather small- 12 invited, 10 were able to attend, 1 did the swap but could not come to the actual party and 1 had previous plans.
Honestly, I do not expand my party invites very often and keep the list to a small group of close friends and family. This helps me with the "no one showed up" issue that some people have had in the past. I have had requests to expand the invite list and I shy away from it. I like a manageable party and some of my friends are not bakers so an increase in the number of cookies is a bit stressful for some.
I had beautiful invites created for me by a very close friend.
Sadly I am not very good at taking photos during my party since I am hosting. I need to make that priority next year!
I made Paula Deen's Monster Cookies this year- very yummy cookie.
I always have a very limited rules cookie party. I allow bars, candy, no bake cookies. I do not allow already made dough or cookie mix recipes. Each person brings 5 cookies, packaged, per guest. And honestly, our packages are 1/2 the fun.
My party is always 2-4pm, no children allowed. I served the following:
spinach artichoke dip
cheese/crackers
Martha Stewart's Maple Bacon Quiche (AMAZING!!)
Taco dip (a request)
Brownies
Chips/Dip (cannot have a party without onion dip
Veggies
Angle Food Cake with snickerdoodle icing (from Williams Sonoma)
Monte Crisco Sandwhiches (a huge suprise hit)

My favors: lotto tickets
I do not do awards. Everyone is a winner at my party

[Lida]

Hi All,

I had my first cookie exchange on Dec. 19th. Just wanted to let you how it went, since we did some things differently than most people who post on this page.

Basics: Co-hosted with my neighbor. Saturday night from 7-9:30 pm. Appetizers and selection of beverages. Southern California allowed me to branch out onto the back patio and we even cleaned/decorated the garage and put the cookies out there. Candles & 100 white light strands went a long way in easy/cheap decorating. I think it was more of your classic Christmas party with the exchange as the main activity.

1st - Invites were geared to getting to know our neighbors as well as friends and some family were included. We sent out approximately 50 invites to the neighbors and ended up with 5 "Yes" The party ended up with ~25 people; the rest made up of our friends.

2nd - My house is too small to have lots of kids running around - we tried to make it more adult by having it late in the evening. On the invitations we used "Children Discouraged" if someone couldn't get a babysitter we didn't want them NOT to come. I bought some Christmas kids movies and set up a TV in the spare bedroom - just in case. Didn't end up needing them.

3rd - Did not limit it to women. This was great. Mostly couples. The single guys were given the option of bringing beer or making cookies. Most did both! Otherwise having the guys around made for a great party.

4th - 6 dozen was WAY too many. Maybe because we are military - there were guys around - or most of the people who came didn't have many children. I ended up with half the cookies! Which worked out well when traveling to family over the holidays. But next year I am definitely going to say 3 dozen. Would have been plenty!

OK those are the lessons learned, otherwise we followed Robyn's website to pull it together and it went awesome! If anyone is interested I have included the invitation wording, rules, and menu I used below.

Happy Holidays!
Lida



Neighbor Invites (we modified one of the poems someone posted on here):

'Tis a month before Christmas when on our fair street,
There are still many neighbors whom we've still yet to meet.

With our weekends so full, we're hoping you're available
To bring some festive cookies to set at our table.

Just add a few decorations to your favorite cookie batter.
(If you don't celebrate 'Christmas,' shoot....that doesn't matter)

We'll end the winter day with a little fun and some treats.
Then you'll swap cookies with others and take plenty home to eat.

Friends and Family version:

Take a break from the holiday rush and share the Christmas spirit with old and new friends. Come and enjoy appetizers and cocktails with us!


Rules (we just printed this on the back of the invites to save paper):

1. All cookies must be homemade, baked. No chocolate chip cookies - unless they are really different!
2. Please bring 6 dozen total cookies. Preferably made a few days before.
3. Bring a large container to carry away your cookies and a copy of your recipe.
4. RSVP as soon as you can and let me know what type of cookies you are brining. This will prevent duplications!
5. If you don't have time to bake, or have burnt your cookies, but still want to attend, you must go to a real bakery and buy 6 dozen yummy cookies.

Food Menu:

Heavy lifters - we made sure to have plenty of these in case people showed up who we weren't expecting. I think its easier to have these as leftovers than the others:
Assorted cheese platter with roasted/salted almonds, red/white grapes and Pepperidge Farm crackers.
Fruit/veggie platters

Made one batch of each of these:
Sausage balls
Feta, prosciutto, & basil pinwheels
Honey-BBQ ribs
Mexican shrimp cocktail w/Tostitos

Drink Menu:
Water, Coke, Dt Coke in a cooler on the patio
Hot mulled cider (Trade Joe's is very good)
Red/White wine
Assorted beer
Signature cocktail: Caramel Apple Martini (theknot.com)

[Janie]

I have a question that I haven't seen anyone talk about. I was wondering what is done or said about cookie size. If someone makes & decorates several dozen cut-out cookies (or any larger cookie) & someone else makes little spritz cookies, it would seem like maybe there should be twice as many.
I was thinking about allowing candy & bars (since they are as tasty or maybe more, than cookies), but is that a reason why most people don't want them included. I know fudge & different ball-type treats tend to be small. It doesn't seem fair cost and work-wise.
Any thoughts on this?

[Janie]

After I wrote this, I did see several posts on this topic. Sorry.
I literally just spent all afternoon looking at this site. haha There is a LOT of info here! Thanks!

[Tiffany]

I am so excited to have found this site! I am preparing for my 4th annual Christmas Cookie Exchange. My first year I had only 7 ladies in attendance. It has grown to 40 or more and I have been told that it is the party of the year.
This year I am forced to rent a large room at our local community center because my house has simply become too small. I can't wait for this years' party!
There are a couple of things that I do to make my party extra special. (If I'm repeating someone else, I apologize. I haven't taken the time to read the entire site.)
1. Choose a new theme each year. It gives the guests something to look forward too and keeps the party from becoming monotonous. This year our theme is "Candy Land". In the past we've done "Winter Wonderland" and "A Country Christmas". The theme is simply for the decorations.
2. I buy really nice prizes. My cookie exchange is my gift from my husband. Every year I ask him for money for my party instead of a gift to open Christmas morning. I guarantee you that I enjoy shopping for prizes, food, and decorations way more than I would enjoy opening a gift on Christmas. And, the really nice prizes encourage everyone to go all out with their cookies, outfits, etc. Because EVERYONE wants to win!
3. I try to come up with really unique games. A lady can only stand so many clothespins-on-the-shirt games.
4. I always encourage moms to bring their daughters. One of the greatest gifts we can give our daughters is to teach them how to bake.

I look SO forward to doing a bunch of reading on this site and getting some new ideas and reading everyone's stories!

Tiff

[shabus]

I hosted my 2nd annual cookie exchange this past weekend... Turned out really well! When I sent out my "Evite" I included the rules of the party.... One new optional rule was to attempt to make a "green" cookie, not the colour but the type. Whether it was the ingredients in the cookie itself, or the packaging you brought your cookies in... THe theme ran throughout the party, I used recyled paper plates, napkins... I bought all the prizes from a 2nd hand store (you would be amazed what people give away, much of the stuff I found still had price tags on it), I gave away my cookies in recycled cookie tins... SO interesting to see what the guests came up with. One person had a "100 mile" cookie, only used ingredients that came from within a 100 mile radious of where she lived, someone else did a completely vegan cookie, another used only organic and another did a "no bake" cookie (fudge), another used paper bags to package her cookies in. The prize for the "greenest" cookie was a amarilysis bulb that I had planted in a recylced Christmas tin. Just thought I would share, as I found my guests really enjoyed this extra challenge.

[Emily cady]

Yesterday December 4th 2010....I hosted my very first cookie exchange party with my best friend Sierra.... and it went surprisingly well! :-) I think everyone really had a great time with exchanging cookies, mingling and eating a breakfast brunch we had prepared. The party began at 9:30a.m and went till noon which was a perfect amount of time for people to socialize and then exchange. My friend and I each invited friends and family of ours so, there were some people that didn't know one another but it worked out great. People got to meet new faces and it seemed to be just fine! :-) I really enjoyed hosting and hope to do this again next year.

Thank you Robin for inspiring me to start this tradition with my friends and family! :-)