A Holiday Cookie Exchange

Ok, so after countless days of painting my kitchen cabinets, my body was screaming for a day off.  But, a day without painting, doesn’t mean that it was a day wasted.

For the past several years, I have co-hosted a cookie exchange at my house, and I’m putting the wheels in motion to get the word out on this year’s party.  Since everyone gets uber-busy during the holidays, I wanted to get my invites out in advance, so that people can save the date. 

With the clock ticking, I found a wonderfully creative invite that I could make myself, ala Brooklyn Limestone.  The moment I saw it, I knew it had to shamelessly copy do it.  Don’t judge – Mrs. Limestone encourages the copying of this adorable idea.  Why wouldn’t she?  I would, if I came up with it!

Is that not the cutest invite you’ve ever seen?

So, I went to work and created my version of this amazingly creative idea.  Yes, I used her verbiage and everything.  Shameless, indeed:

I loved the metal spatula idea, and that was my original plan.  But when I got to the Dollar Store, I spotted the red rubber spatulas, and thought they would be a fun, festive idea also.  So, I bought a bit of both.

As you can see, the first card lists the date of the Cookie Exchange.  The second card has my address and rsvp info, and the third card has the cookie exchange “instructions”. 

But did you notice that something is missing?  Um, yeah, that would be the time.  Obviously, I haven’t been ventilating my house enough during the cabinet painting project, and have been taking in too many fumes.

Curses!!

So, I redid the first card and added the time to it.  Thankfully, I had only hand-delivered to the women in my office and hadn’t sent them out to everyone yet.

As for the rules for the exchange – I keep them really simple, since I never know how many people are going to attend.  I tell everyone to bring six dozen cookies, and when we do the exchange, I take six dozen (72) and divide it by the number of attendees.  Then, everyone takes that number of cookies from the trays that everyone brings.  So, if you had 20 people attend, it comes to 3.6.  So, you round it out and each person takes 3-4 cookies from each tray.  Basically, you are going to leave with the number of cookies you brought. 

It just makes it a lot easier, so you don’t have to worry about bagging the cookies you bake into groups of six or something like that.  I’m all about keeping it simple.  And not doing any unnecessary math.

Now I just have to finish wrapping these babies up and send them out!

Linking up to:
Just a Girl – Show and Share Day
The CSI Project – Cookie Exchange Party Ideas and Tips
Visit thecsiproject.com

12 Comments

  • Reply
    Colleen
    November 11, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    I am hosting one for the first time this year. I can't wait! Love your invitations. You are nuts girl for planning this with your kitchen reno going on!!!

  • Reply
    Laurie
    November 11, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    The invitations are adorable! I have hosted a cookie exchange for the past 8 years. It is always a blast! Have fun at yours 🙂

  • Reply
    Lisa @ Shine Your Light
    November 11, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    How cute are those invites?? Love the spatula idea too – you are so creative!

  • Reply
    Lauren
    November 13, 2011 at 2:17 am

    SUCH a cute idea!!

  • Reply
    Sue
    November 13, 2011 at 8:58 am

    Jenny, I really like the idea of attaching the spatulas to the invites! A little hard to mail, however! LOL Makes it all the more fun to deliver in person. 🙂 Looking forward to seeing your cabinetry when it's done. I'm contemplating using chalk paint on mine. AFTER the holidays….

  • Reply
    Andrea
    November 14, 2011 at 12:02 pm

    What a great idea for the invites. They are adorable. Hey, I'm all for copying a good idea (no need to reinvent the wheel)!

  • Reply
    Mrs. Limestone
    November 23, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    You did a great job! Thanks for the mention.

  • Reply
    Rustown Mom
    December 22, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    Love those invites – I am going to plan something like this next year!

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    November 3, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    We are having 30th Annual Christmas cookie party, I like the idea of the spatula, but we mail the invitation and get a prize for biggest, best, everyone gets a prize, So going to look for the spatula. However We ask everyone to bring 3 dozen cookies, and everyone takes home 3 dozen different cookies. I usually make several dozen cookies and always have extra cookies that we take to the firestation one year and police dept the next. I started this with my first granddaughter for us to do at Christmas, she is now a mom and my other granddaughter is junior in highschool. Think I'm going to try and do a cookbook again this year. Just ask everyone to bring their recipe and copy them. That's how I know how long we have been doing this. One of our best ever Christmas traditions. The guys love it too.

  • Reply
    Milissa
    November 18, 2017 at 8:10 am

    How do i download the labels?

  • Reply
    Chris
    October 22, 2019 at 7:57 am

    Hi do you have a template for the tags?? I’m hosting our 26th annual cookie exchange and love this idea a favor for my guests. I’m not nearly as crafty as you so need any help I can get.

    • Reply
      Jenny
      October 24, 2019 at 8:01 pm

      Unfortunately I don’t. But I know that Avery labels has some templates that you can probably make use of for this purpose.

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