Each year, my sister and I take turns hosting a festive holiday cookie exchange—and it’s become one of our favorite Christmas traditions! If you’re thinking of planning your own sweet celebration, here are some fun and helpful ideas to get you started.
Invite all your friends to join the fun! I usually take the easy route and send invites through Facebook, but you can also mail traditional invitations or use an online service like Evite or Paperless Post to add a special touch.
Purchase Tins / Cellophane Bags
I always stock up on festive tins and treat bags—not just for myself, but extras for guests to use as well. Over the years, I’ve collected a fun assortment of styles and sizes. Be sure to line the tins with parchment paper to help cushion the cookies and prevent them from shifting or breaking, especially if you’re planning to ship them!
Purchase Prizes
I love adding a little friendly competition to our cookie exchange by creating prize categories—it definitely inspires more extravagant (and delicious!) cookie creations. I usually include categories like Best All Around, Most Creative, Best Tasting, and Prettiest. For prizes, I try to match them to the theme—like giving a set of cookie cutters to the winner of Prettiest Cookie. Over the years, I’ve had prizes like aprons, pot holders, cookie cutters, recipe books, cookie scoops, cookie stamps, hand towels, decorative dishes, and cupcake or cookie carriers. The custom gifts I make with my Cricut or 3D print are the most meaningful.
If you’re working with a tighter budget, you can simplify by offering just a single prize for Best Overall Cookie or hand out festive ribbons to keep the spirit fun and light.
Check out more of the pictures of prizes from our Blues Stanley Cup themed cookie exchange on our Bluesmas blog.
Provide Platters
I love setting out extra pretty platters for guests to use during the swap—it makes the cookie display look absolutely gorgeous and festive! Plus, it lets everyone load up their cookies without crowding their own containers until it’s time to take them home.
Create Cookie Placecards
We’ve had fun trying different themes over the years, and one thing I’ve learned is that numbering the place cards makes voting much easier. It keeps everything organized and helps guests match their favorites to the right cookie. Here are a few templates you can use:
We’ve mixed up the scoring methods over the years to keep things fun and fresh. Sometimes, we’ve rated each cookie on a scale of 1–5 in every category, which takes a little longer to tally but gives the most well-rounded results. Other years, we’ve kept it simple by just voting for our favorite cookie in each category. Lately, we’ve gone even more modern by using a QR code that links to a Google Sheets form—making digital voting easy and automating the counting process. If you prefer a more classic approach, here are some templates you can use for hand voting:
I usually wrap all the prizes so each winner gets to unwrap a surprise when their category is announced. Of course, we always save the grand prize—the Best Overall Cookie—for the final reveal to end on a high note!
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