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Hosting a Christmas Cookie Exchange party is the perfect fun way to get a group of friends together during the busy holiday season.
It’s more low-key than the other holiday parties on your calendar, and you don’t have to worry about finding the perfect gift or holiday dress.
Plus, it’s a great excuse to get baking and sample festive cookies. It’s the perfect kind of party in my mind!
I’ve included tons of tips, advice, and inspiration in this post for you to host your own cookie swap. If you do host a Cookie Exchange, be sure to take some photos and tag me in them using #handletheheat on Instagram so I can see!
Free Party Printables for the BEST Christmas Cookie Exchange Party
To download all my adorable recipe labels, invitations, favor tags, recipe cards, and more to use for your own Cookie Exchange party – all completely FREE, simply click here.
How to Host a Cookie Exchange Party
Planning & Invitations
- Figure out the details. How many people do you want to invite? How much room do you have? Who would be interested?
- Set a date & send invitations far enough in advance. This is a busy season so you want to be sure your friends and family can make it!
- How many cookies should each guest bring? Remember, the party is about tasting and sampling the cookies – but each guest should bring some home to enjoy with the rest of their family later. 2 dozen per guest is a good minimum so everyone has a few to bring home. 6 dozen is a good maximum if everyone wants lots of cookies to take home.
- Ask ahead for any allergies among your guests so you can make accommodations.
- Rules? Do you want to ask everyone to make something from scratch, instead of using a mix or buying from a bakery? Dress code? Is Christmas attire encouraged? Don’t leave your guests confused and wondering!
- Prizes! Do you want to give out some awards? Maybe award prizes to the bakers who bring the best cookies in a few categories during your Cookie Exchange! Mention this in your invitations, to get everyone even more excited.
Cookie Recipes
I have over 100+ delicious cookie (and cookie bar) recipes in my Cookie Recipes library here!
Also, be sure to check out my Ultimate Cookie Handbook here – it’s filled with delicious recipes and has a whole chapter dedicated to the simple science of cookie baking! This would also make the perfect prize to give out to the bakers who bring the best cookies of the Cookie Exchange 😉
Decorating
I love to buy festive decorations at Hobby Lobby when they’re 40% off, or at Michael’s when they’re on sale or offering coupons. Garland, lights, and a few cute Christmassy ornaments or trinkets are perfect. The adorable glittery “Bakery” gingerbread house in the photo below is from Hobby Lobby!
Use the labels in my free kit so everyone knows what each cookie is, along with the baker’s name, so everyone knows who brought what!
Additional Hosting Ideas
- Don’t forget about drinks! Cold milk, eggnog, hot cocoa, coffee, and tea are all great ideas. Maybe even wine or spiked eggnog, if it’s that kind of group!
- Savory appetizers: You might consider offering a few savory appetizers and a vegetable platter to keep things balanced. A cheese and charcuterie board, or some chips and dip, work just fine here.
- Music: Make a fun Spotify or iTunes playlist to play throughout the party, to add to the festivities.
The Cookie Exchange Competition
Give your guests ballots so they can select their favorite cookies. Consider fun categories such as ‘Most Creative Cookies’, ‘Best Decorated’, and ‘People’s Choice Cookie’.
Be sure to have prizes for the winners. The prizes can be small like a cute Christmas ornament, or a more thematic, like a cookie cookbook, baking equipment, oven mitts, etc.
Charity
Really capture the reason for the season and ask guests to bring gently used winter clothes or non-perishable food items to donate to a shelter or food bank.
Packaging
- You can ask your guests to bring their own take away containers, or supply cute bakery boxes yourself.
- Set up a station so guests can box up their favorite cookies. Encourage people to bring printouts of the recipe they baked, or write them out on recipe cards for anyone who wants to recreate them at home.
Party Favors
Party favors are always appreciated! I love to tie together a festive cookie cutter and spatula with a sweet note. You can find these at Target, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Home Goods, etc – or find some in my Cookie Exchange kit here.
I hope this Cookie Exchange party becomes an annual tradition with your extended family or group of friends!
I love everything about this post. I am hosting a cookie exchange and this post inspired it! I googled cookie exchange and this was the first website that came up. So thank you for the inspiration! I want to copy your crate idea. What size crate is that and where did you purchase? Thank you!
My party is this coming Sunday (Dec. 3) – I do mine as more of a “cookie sampling and recipe exchange.” I have guests bring 3 dozen cookies plus 12 copies of their recipes. (I will up these numbers if my number of guests goes beyond 12.) We sample all the cookies, play a few fun little games, give away some prizes, and then everyone takes home a packet of all the recipes PLUS we go around the table each with a container and take home the rest of the cookies. I’ve hosted this party twice, both times in early December – early enough so guests still have time to bake their favorite recipes in time for Christmas!
never mind. just received the email. thank you.
These are so cute. I have received the conformation email and the free hosting a party download, but not one that contains the printable items.
When is the best time to have a Christmas cookie exchange? Earlier in the month of December so it’s not crunch time or a few days before Christmas so things are still “fresh” and not requiring freezing to save until Christmas? Or do people just eat cookies all throughout the month? 😛
I have hosted a cookie swap party for the last 3 yrs. I’ve had up to 20 people and as few as 9 or 10. My guests usually pack up 6 cookies per pkg with one pkg per guests. Then we have extras for sampling.
It is a fun Mom’s Night Out. Most of us have kids that are of similar age. I usually make some finger food apps and homemade sangria. Friends bring wine or other hoodies to share.
I found holiday themed bags that the guests bring each year. They put one pkg if cookies in each themed bag and take it home at the end if the night. Then they have an assortment of cookies for their family or to bring to other holiday gatherings.
I love everything in your blog Tessa! More power!
Thanks! Still no email on my end in any folder but I’ll keep checking.
Hi Tessa!
I love your set up for the cookie exchange party and am trying to get your free printable for an exchange I am hosting next week. I have put in my email twice and haven’t received any confirmation yet. Any help you could give me would be much appreciated!
Thanks.
Hi Angie, from my end I can see the confirmation email was delivered, but not opened. It probably got lost in spam or the promotions tab, so I’d definitely check there!
How do you divide up the cookies amongst the guests?
I usually let guests pick up a box and select the cookies they want to bring home, whichever were their favorites! If you have everyone bring enough, there shouldn’t be any problems with guests fighting over who gets what 😉
very nice dear
An optional idea: a cookie baking/ exchange party. I attended one with kids involved. The hostess supplied basic ingredients: butter flour, sugar, eggs. Guests brought cookie sheets, a favorite recipe & any special ingredients. It was a lot of fun & guests took home a variety of fresh baked cookies.
Sounds like so much fun! I wish my kitchen / house was big enough for something like that. And oh how I dream of a double oven 😉