Has Anyone Done a "Cookie Exchange"???

Hi S.,
Cookie exchanges can be a lot of fun as long as you keep it simple.what my group does(usually)12 people is everybody bakes 13 dozen cookies .each person only baking 1 type of cookie.12 dozen are exchanged and 1 dozen to "sample"we all bring an appetizer and we take turns each year at a different persons home.the "host" is responsible for the beverages.we also encourage each person to write the recipes for the cookies and appetizers on index cards to exchange.whoever organizes the party should find out who is baking what type of cookies and be sure no 2 people are baking the same type.you should also be very specific on how the cookies are to be wrapped.we have had skimpy paper plates to beautiful tins .just be sure eveyone is on the same page.let us know how it turns out.Enjoy

We do it every year. There are usually 8-10 of us. We keep a list so there are no doubles. We do a dozen for each person, individually wrap them (some ziplocs, some containers..what ever you have) and put each persons name on them so that we are sure everyone leaves with each kind of cookie. We have it a someones house and usually do a breakfasty kind of thing (donuts and coffee). We started that because it started to get harder to find an evening close to Christmas that people weren't busy or stressed. We all like it better that way. We try to do no kids, but that doesn't always work.
It is alot of fun and cuts down on your baking 99%.
We have had someone do a bread loaf for each person, and chocolate covered pretzels, a bunch of different stuff, and that was nice too. It added to the cookie tray....
Have fun, Merry Christmas!

Have everyone prepackage their dozens on plates or in baggies. Also have everyone bring an extra 6-10 cookies (depending on the number of people) for you all to sample. Make tea or coffee, sit and sample, and chat. Recipes attached to each exchange plate or bag are perfect too!

I love it. I only invite a few for the amount you need to make can be overwhelming for some. I have a spread of appetizers to munch on. The guests bring a container to take cookies home in too. Make sure they bring the recipe to share. I also do some fun games. 1 is each guest brings a wrapped ornament. They pick numbers and that person picks from a pile in the middle. After the 1st one goes they can keep the one they have or trade it from the ones before them. Set a limit on how many trades there can be. Also, I have done it where you judge the cookies on different things. Creativity, presentation, etc. again that can scare some away. I have also done a game where you wrap a gift a few times and you have each one unwrap the gift and the last one to have to unwrap gets it. Could be a gag or a gift. Hope this helps. IT is a fun way to start the holidays.

Hi S., I have done a few cookie exchanges and they are alot of fun. I have had up to 8 girls, with that many they all bring 1/2 dozen for each person and 1/2 dozen for that night to put out. You usually make a dozen for each person but that just gets crazy for everyone. We also do a fun gift exchange too. Everyone brings a gift no more than $10.00 you wrap it and when they come you put a number on the gift and a number in a box. During the night everyone picks a number and matches it with the gift. So you go home with a full belly, yummy cookies and a gift!! Also we write out the reciepe and make enough for everyone so they can take them home with them. Have a great night and enjoy yourself.
R. C.

I had one that was a big hit last year. I told everyone to RSVP by a certain date with the type of cookie they were baking - about a week before the exchange - then I called everyone back after I had the final count of participants to let them know how many dozen to bring (a dozen for each person in separate ziplock bags. This way if you have a huge number of people you can cut it in half (example 16 people coming bring 8 dozen) Everyone leaves with the same amount of dozens of cookies, they are just different kinds. Good Luck!

I've done it a couple times and I feel like we've only had about half a dozen people each time. I think we might have made a dozen per person the one time, but maybe only half a dozen per person another time. I can't really remember. It was a lot of fun though. And don't forget to have everyone include a copy of the recipe!

Also, we signed up with what we were going to bring so if the later people wanted something that someone else was doing you just had to let them know they need to pick something else.

Hi S.,
I've never had a cookie exchange but I went to one last year. There were probably about 10 people and I believe each person brought about 2 dozen cookies so each person could take more than one. I would think the amount of cookies needed by each person would depend on how many people you were having. And I don't know why a large group would be a pain, it just gives more of a selection of cookies. We've done some at work with a large group and it worked out fine.

Good luck!

We have done this with our women's group at church. Everyone brings around 4 doz. cookies, or whatever the batch makes. They are placed on plates around a table. You bring a second container to collect your cookies in and start a line circling the table. Everyone takes one of each cookie and you keep going around till all the cookies are gone. You wind up with a nice assortment of cookies, and only had to make one kind.
This was always the plate I let my family eat before Christmas.

That is a different form of a cookie exchange then what my husband has. They have one at work, but it is imported beer and there are at 24-25 people involved. You could do 12 people and have them make at least 2 dozen cookies so that there are enough to sample and take with them along with the exchange. let me know how it turns out.

S. W the usual rule of thumb is a dozen cookies for each person who is attending the exchange. Everyone ziplocks each dozen and we put them on the center of the table (my 10 dozen in one pile yours in another pile and so forth) then we walk around the table and take a bag of cookies from each pile. You can invite as many as you would like or have room for or do more then one exchange. The organizer usually has everyone tell what kind of cookies they are making so that there are no repeats. Good Luck and have fun. Happy Holidays.

I forgot about the recipe card with each package of cookies.

Hi, We do it every year. It is probably a good idea not to go over 10-12 people. We each make 2 kinds, a dozen of each kind. We wrap the cookies up in individual dozens to make exchanging easier. I host the party, so I keep track of what everyone is making that way we don't have doubles. I also try to make it party like, so I will serve some snacky foods and maybe a soup. We play a few games and just have fun hanging out together. I hope this helps and have a good time.

I have done cookie exchanges in the past and to make it easier if a lot of people are involved we've done a 1/2 dozen per person rather than a full dozen.

So love cookie exchanges! I miss them. I am hoping to have one this year. You already have received the same or similar responses as others, so I will not repeat -however, instead of a dozen per person, we did half a dozen. The more the merrier! Have appetizers (every one brings one) so you save the cookies for your family. Have fun!

Love the cookie exchange. We do it at work every year. But because we have such a big group (about 30 participants). We ask that everyone make either 2 or 3 dozen cookies and bring their recipe copied for everyone to take one. We place the cookies around the table on trays and then the circling begins. Everyone lines up and we circle until the last cookie is gone. Some people bring more cookies than others. We do insist that if somone wants to participate, the cookies must be homemade or bakery bought. No cheap packaged cookies. What's nice about going until the last cookie is taken is that alot of people will only go around a couple of times which means more cookies for the people that stick it out. Nice to have an assortment for Christmas. We usually do ours the week before Christmas. I put mine in the freezer. Helps keep little hands out of my cookies. I would suggest that you have gloves available if you do it the way we do it at work.

Hi S.,

Cookie Exchanges are fun! We used to do one annually with my co-workers, but we've since all left that job...

Anyway there were about 6 - 8 of us and we all made our cookies together. I helps to bring enough copies of the recipe to share with everyone. We would double the recipes and lay out the take-home plates in a row. Once the cookies cooled, we'd divide equally among the plates. You'd have different amounts of some cookies, but that's okay, right?

The host would provide all the basics: sugar, butter, flour and utensils. Guests would bring recipe-specific ingredients and a cookie sheet.

Have fun!

I went to one a couple of years ago.....I think we had about 8 gals there.....and of course there children. i thought that that was a good number...I only known 2 of the gals but made new friends before long.
Good luck it is a wonderful idea!

Hi! My family has done this for the past few years and it's always fun. We do it as a ladies night and include my grandmother/aunts/adult cousins...no boys/men allowed. We do a pot luck dinner and have some drinks. It's a nice way to relax with the girls before the holidays. For the acutal cookie exchange we get a head count of how many are attending and make a dozen cookies per person. Last year I had so many cookies and all day morning sickness so I gave a lot away. Altogether I guess there were 10-15 of us. If you are doing it i recommend an easy to prep recipe and hit walmart or a dollar store for festive packaging! Happy baking!!!

I have participated in many cookie exchanges and each person makes a dozen cookies per person participating. The most people in the cookie exhcange that I have participated in is 15, anymore than that and it becomes difficult to find enough different types of cookies.

Hi S.,
The place I used to work at did this. It was so much fun! It would rotate between houses each year. There were usually 15-20 of us that would do this. We made enough cookies so that each person got 1(if they were big cookies) or 2-3 if they were small and made a lot in a batch. Usually there was no need to do more than 1, maybe 2 batches at most. We would have a light lunch and finger type foods. Mostly we mingled an caught up since we all were working and didn't have much time to do personal talking. The person's whose house it was at was responsible for compiling all the recipes and having them there for each of the attending. SO there is a little bit of planning so that everyone gets you their recipe in advance.

Have fun!
A.

When I have done them in the past, we did not have the cookies prepackaged. Either you can just put them back in the container that you came with, or we have put them on paper plates and covered them with saran wrap that way you aren't going home with a whole lot of packages. It is nice to get a variety of cookies and only have to bake one. I've done some where there are reqirements on what kind of cookie you can bake. For example no chocolate chip since they are kinda simple. But you can make up any rules you like. Have fun.

HI. cookie exchanges are lots of fun, U r right if you have 2 many people it can b a pain. I Would have no more than 6 friends and u should have enough for everyone 2 have 6 cookies of each kind. U can also have everyone bring the recipe along to share. ITS a fun way to gather with friends. GOOD LUCK.

My Mommy group is doing one in a few weeks. (We do it every year) There are about 8 to 10 people who come each year. We send around a list of who is making what so there aree no duplicates. Each person makes 10 doz. Then everyone has a nice tray to take home. Each person brings their cookies on a large plater for display. You bring a large container and several sheets of wax paper for layering. Then you go around the table and collect your amount of cookies. 10 to 12 of each kind depending on how many people participated and how many you each made.

Have fun!!
R.

S.,

I did one years ago. We had 10 people and everyone had to make 10 dozen cookies - you give each participant 1 dozen of the cookies you make, plus one dozen for yourself.

Now, I will say that making 10 dozen cookies is a LOT of work, and honestly, I find it easier just to do my own baking.

I can also tell you that of the 10 dozen cookies I got, only two varieties were any good - some were burnt, some just weren't very good tasting. So if you are going to do a cookie exchange, it would help if you knew that each person you invite has at least one specialty cookie that they do well.

Also, have everyone enter their cookie type before hand, so you don't end up with 9 dozen chocolate chip and one dozen peanut butter.

Some other thoughts:

You could open it up beyond cookies. My mom and I make a great coffee cake in loaf form, so if someone you know makes something similar, why not invite them in.

I wouldn't do any less than 8 or more than 12 participants.

We also had a contest for prettiest cookie and best tasting cookie (judges were not part of the group to prevent bias). But that requires baking some additional cookies for the judges. :-)

Our organizer also collected all the recipes and made a little booklet up for all of us, so those two types of cookies I really liked I now make myself.

I wouldn't let my experience talk you out of doing this - my aunt does one every year and gets amazing treats, including fudge, brownies, and my aunt herself makes truffles.

Good luck!

C.

Hi S.,

We are also doing it this year. There is usually about 5-6 of us and we basically do a dozen for each of us to take. When all is said and done, I usually have about 6 dozen cookies to then give away.
My best advice is to know who is making what before hand, so you have no doubles.

Have fun!

It's fun and it will really cut down on your baking time and increase the variety of cookies! I'd plan on a dozen cookies for each person. So if you invite 6 people, you need to make six dozen of the same cookie.
Should be fairly painless if everyone has their cookies all packaged up and ready to distribute!

Hi S.,

I have done this once and enjoyed it. You bake a dozen for each one coming (all the same kind) and they give you a dozen of each of the kinds they make. So if you go there with 10 dozen of the same kind of cookie, you walk out of there with 10 dozen of different kinds of cookies. Plus you get to socialize (normally w/o the kids).

L.

We do a cookie exchange in our neighborhood each Christmas. We have everyone who wants to exchange bake a batch of cookies, about 2 dozen cookies. Divide them up into bags with 3 cookies in each. Then for the party I usually buy small gift bags - enough for everyone exchanging. Then we make sure everyone takes home the same number of bags of cookies. Not everyone will get every cookie type if you have a large group. Some people like to include the receipes.
We always have a few people who come to socialize and not exchange cookies, which means we get to see more of the neighbors. We also encourage everyone to bring something to eat to share with the group.
Enjoy.

I have done a cookie exchange for the last 8 years with my sisters, my mom (until she died), my best friend and her mom. We would all gather at someones home to cook and decorate holiday cookies. It began when my best friend's daughter was about 3 and my nephew was about 3.

What worked for us. We had no more than 7 adults plus children. We all pre-mixed a double batch of cookies at our own home prior to gathering. Everyone brought tins or containers to bring their cookies home. We baked at a home that had a double oven with ample counter space and a large dining or kitchen table for decorating and laying out the different batches of cookies.

Be sure to have savory snackes and veggies as the snacking on cookies soon becomes too much. We often played festive holiday music and invited our spouses for a dinner together of pizza, crock-pot meal, etc. after the baking was done. For us it often was a whole day event but that isn't necessary for you.

To simplify, you can also have everyone mix, bake and decorate a double batch at home and then gather to chat and exchage and snack for a few hours.

It is work but it is fun and it often got us in the holiday mood. Honestly, since my mother died, even though my friends mom stepped right in and offered her home, it is not the same for me and I have not set aside the time to do it. The memories of past cookie baking still make me smile and the dinner afterwards was always such fun!

Good Luck!
A.

We do this every year! the number of people for us really depends on how big your house is! We usually keep it around 12 or so. then you get a real good variety of cookies! The person hosting sends out the invites and collects the RSVP's. Everyone must make a different cookie and they must be a "Holiday" cookie and homemade. No store boughts allowed! We make 8 dozen each and put them on one big serving platter or container. We have little contests like who dressed up the best, etc. Everyone also brings a small ornament to exchange so everyone brings home a gift too. Everyone brings their own container for cookies they will take home so then we all walk around the table and grab 6 at a time of each cookie until their all gone. It's alot of fun and a good way to get lots of different cookies! We vote on best cookie too and also everyone brings copies of their recipes for everyone else to take home. Have fun!