How to Do a Cookie Swap

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While holiday traditions change over time, there are some through lines that many of us like to revisit year after year. The traditional Cookie Swap (or Cookie Exchange) is one of those evergreen traditions, a terrific way to share sweetness and celebrate community (and lighten our holiday baking loads!).

The premise is simple: Each guest is tasked with showing up with a few dozen home-baked cookies. At the party itself, everyone gets to sample and share. And then, towards the end, each guest assembles a container of assorted cookies from all of the bakers present. The result? A whole lot of different cookies for the price (and time) of baking a double batch from one recipe!

How to Host a Cookie Swap
Prepare Ahead of Time
15 Cookie Swap Recipes

Best Soft Chewy Sugar Cookies on a plate. — Best Soft Chewy Sugar Cookies

How to Do a Cookie Swap: Before the holidays, gather some friends to bake and exchange cookies for nibbling and gifting! Fun and time saving!
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Here are some ideas to put together a cookie exchange for your friends, work colleagues, neighbors, school community, and more.

1. Invite your guests

A good ballpark for this type of cookie exchange is 8 to 12 people. This keeps the size of the gathering manageable but still allows everyone to look forward to a wide variety of baked goods.

You can send invitations via email (or use a platform like PlanHero, Evite, or SignUp Genius), or if you have time, mail a paper invite. Specify the details of the event: date, time, location, etc. During this very busy time of year, give people as much notice as you can, and try to pick a time that slots well into the hubbub of the season. A Sunday afternoon might be a good choice, or perhaps even early on a weeknight evening.

Be clear on what people are expected to bring. Specify a minimum number of cookies (2 or 3 dozen is a good baseline), and let people know that cookie selections are based on a first-to-call-it system (e.g., the first person to claim gingerbread people gets gingerbread people!).

Four Gingerbread Cookies set on a red plate. — Gingerbread Cookies

2. Create Variety

Websites like SignUp Genius and PlanHero are very handy for this. You can send invitations, reminders, and notifications about any changes in plans and keep the cookie list public, all on one site. Again, ask your guests to make sure they are not duplicating a previous sign-up, so you have a lot of variety. (You may need to gently tell a guest that Nut-Free Snowball Cookies have already been spoken for and ask them to pick something else.) Give people a deadline for signing up so that everyone can lock in their recipe and shop for ingredients without a mad scramble.

3. Set rules regarding common allergies and allergens

If you are not going to vet recipes for common allergens, like nuts, gluten, and dairy, then mention that upfront so guests can decide if this is the right event for them. If you are going to layer on dietary parameters, such as no nut products, be very clear. Ask people to bring a printed-out version of their recipe for reference. And ask people to bake in a clean environment.

Note that all of the recipes on themom100.com are tree nut-free! I have tree nut allergies myself, so never bake with tree nuts, though I do cook and bake with peanuts. So, if tree nut allergies are an issue, this is a good place to start!

Nut-Free Snowball Cookies and Buckeyes on a yellow platter. — Nut-Free Snowball Cookies

4. Think about Serving Platters and To-Go Containers

Let people know if they should bring their own serving platters and/or takeaway containers or if you will be providing them. Even if you tell people to bring them, you’ll want to have extra containers on hand in case people forget or you are blessed with an overabundance of baked goods. Also, it’s nice for everyone to have the same-sized containers to collect their treats.

You may choose to put out some of each person’s cookie offering for sampling and keep the rest for the second part of the party, where guests assemble their takeaway containers. This way, you can be sure to have enough for the swap part!

You can keep the cookie buffet simple and just use the containers people brought their treats in. Or, if you want to get fancier, put out the treats on plates, platters, or maybe tiered stands. Think about creating labels for each cookie offering. You can ask guests to submit their cookie name and ingredient list ahead of time and create the labels yourself (folding card stock labels are nice), or tell each person to bring a card with the name and ingredients clearly written out. Again, this helps with allergy concerns. Have some extra blank labels available either way.

5. Offer Snacks and Drinks

Make sure to offer some other food or snacks. It could be anything from a real dinner, such as a lasagna and salad, to more finger food types of options. Think about lots of veggies and chips and dips, small sandwiches, or maybe a beautiful cheese/charcuterie or graze board.

Remember, most people are looking to nibble on something beyond sweets if this is a holiday gathering (even at a cookie exchange!). Two, you don’t want to run through too many of those cookies! The goal is to lay in a supply of cookies for each home for the holidays — and maybe have some for gifting as well.

Cheeses and charcuterie on a Graze Board. — Graze Board

Create a simple bar as well. Perhaps wine and beer, some non-alcoholic drinks, plus sparkling water. This might be a good occasion to whip up a batch of eggnog or Coquito! Think about a warm beverage, such as mulled cider, mulled wine, hot cocoa, or even tea and coffee. Set things up so that guests can serve themselves.

6. Share Recipes

Think about asking guests to share their recipes electronically; you can set up a shared Google doc, FB group, or other community portal so people can easily find the recipes from the other bakers. On many of the invite apps, there are options for sharing recipes there as well.

Prepare Ahead of Time

And as with any party, do as much as you can ahead of time! Set up the bar, put the platters on the table, set out plates, utensils, napkins, glasses, and so on. You may want to bake and freeze your own cookies ahead of time, which will allow you to focus on the gathering itself, without over committing your time. Keep things as simple as possible – the pleasure of this particular type of get-together is that it’s a chance to celebrate with friends and walk away feeling like you’re a step ahead of the holidays. And that’s truly a best-of-both-worlds party.