Holiday Cookie Swap

It's a last minute idea for this year, but if you don't have it in your budget to do a full blown holiday party this year, why not hold an event that's fun and helpful to your residents?

I'm one of those weird people who likes to bake during the holiday season.  I don't think of it as a habit, but, rather, as more of a holiday survival skill.  In fact, one year my flight - 302 very cranky people - managed to get snowed in at SEATAC on our attempted holiday trek home to Kansas City, and after the shops and restaurants had all closed in the airport, it was my 3 carry on bags full of cookies and candies and other treats that everyone munched on.  I just set them up, buffet style, there in the terminal.  The 28 different kinds of cookies I'd made didn't make it home that year, but I like to think they served a higher purpose.

If you're not insane, odds are you don't make 28 different treats in the days leading up to the unwrapping of your presents, so perhaps your cookie plates are lacking in variety right now.

Enter a great resident activity: The Holiday Cookie Swap!  I'm throwing one at my home this year, and I'll share with you the instructions that I've given to those invited.   The only modification I would suggest is putting a firm dozen suggestion, like 10 dozen cookies or 5 dozen cookies that people are responsible for, otherwise it can get slightly overwhelming.

Enjoy - and from my kitchen to yours, Happy Holidays!

"If there's one thing that I love about the holidays, it's homemade cookies and candies! The only trouble is trying to make all the different kinds of cookies and candies so that I'll have a good variety for my own family over the break. Enter the Cookie Swap!

Here's how it works:

Every attendee will make one or two types of cookies/candies that they enjoy. I will let everyone know the headcount for the event, so they will know how many dozen cookies to make. "

We will all bring our cookies together on Wednesday evening. I will provide wine, spiced cider, and other delicious liquid treats. Each person, along with their cookies, will bring printouts of their recipes to swap.

We will go around and talk about the cookie that we brought, why we chose that one, and if there are any special tricks in making them taste just right.

During the afore mentioned activities, we'll also be sampling the cookies and candies that are in front of us, so if you have to save your weight watchers points, this is your heads up :)

I'll have little ballots made up and we'll vote on different categories, and there will be prizes for the winners.

Then, using the container you brought, you shall pack up and return home with an assortment of everyone else's cookies and delectable little treats!

Are you in? You know you want to :)

RSVP back to me by Saturday at Noon if you can attend, so that we can get the headcount correct for everyone to make their cookies. And, to hedge bets about there being variety, if you could take a second and post the kind of cookies that you're making on the page, that would be helpful, too.

By the way, if you feel so inclined, you're welcome to bring more than one or two types of cookies/candies. I just know that we're all super busy people, so I didn't want to make the burden of the cookie too high :)"