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Post by carrie on Dec 4, 2005 10:37:58 GMT -5
I am hosting my second cookie exchange next Sunday. Last year I had a woman not exchange and still come to the party. There were some left over cookies and she took them home. I feel if you are not exchanging don't come. I prepared a nice lunch for all the woman that took their time out to bake. I feel if you didn't do anything why should she have the lunch and take cookies home, to me it's not fair. I am having the same problem this year. How should I tell the people who are not exchanging but still want to come to the party "no because you are not exchanging" with out sounding too harsh.
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Post by Robin on Dec 4, 2005 11:29:04 GMT -5
Be firm, but nice. "This party is for women exchanging cookies"... If they are too busy or not inclined to bake, they are welcomed to go to a very nice bakery and bring the amount of cookies designated on your invite. What they lack in time and effort spent baking, they will make up for in expense. If they refuse to do that, tell them they can't come, it's that simple! It's really not fair to the people who did take a day to buy ingredients and bake cookies to have --dare I say this? ---have FREELOADERS --take a part of their bounty. When dealing with crowds, setting guidelines is a must. There will always be some who "break the rules".
Good Luck.
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Post by carrie on Dec 5, 2005 10:08:22 GMT -5
Thank you so much!! ;D
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Post by Sharon on Dec 5, 2005 12:22:22 GMT -5
robin has a great idea. i have others i would like to add. curiosly does the person know how to bake or is she suffering from a hardship making the event unaffordable? you could offer for her to either imho a one time pardon to come but not swap, plus ask her to bring an expensive potluck dish to share to make it "fair" in time and effort. and she can also come very early to help out. or you could volunteer to see if you could pair her up with a patient kind baking partner/mentor to help bake her cookies along with her. or maybe you know someone who could use the extra holiday cash and see if they would not mind baking for her (ingredients plus time paid for) another idea is she could also bring each person attending a great gift or a very nice container to hold thier cookies as way of contributing. a pound of good cookies is what $8 a pound? if she is just trying to get a good thing with no work. just repeat robin's advice.
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Post by carrie on Dec 5, 2005 15:20:31 GMT -5
I did mention in my invite if you are not inclined to bake you could go to a bakery. Honesty I really dont know the reason why she is not exchanging because she did last year. She told me "it is too crazy". Well I work 40-45 hours a week, plus I have a child, plus I am making the lunch and preparing, setting up, decorating, and I still have all my christmas shopping to do. She doesn't work and she has two kids, one is 18 months and the other is 12, which her 12 year old could help. Her husband is the type to not spend money on things like this. He sees it as "stupid" and those were his words. So I say don't come to my stupid party.
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Post by Robin on Dec 5, 2005 15:52:22 GMT -5
Hmmm, I wonder what the husband was thinking about when he was eating the ill gotten cookies brought home by his wife? Apparently she has no back bone to stand up to him and just bake a batch of cookies without his permission. But you should stand your ground... Your first concern should be to the women who did the hard work, and spent the time and money!
Forget her and her silly husband!
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