It’s hard to think about the holidays and NOT think about all of the delicious seasonal cookies and treats. When you scour Pinterest alone you see tons of Christmas cookie recipes….but who has time to bake all of them? This is where a Christmas Cookie Exchange with a wine pairing (cookie and wine pairing…who knew?) came to life!
I have been to a couple of different cookie swaps, but it has been a VERY long time ago. The decision was made to host my own holiday cookie exchange, but I wanted to make it a little different. Holding the party at the beginning of December was important to me as I wanted to plan a casual night for my friends before heading into the hectic season. This allowed for some great girl time and hopefully some ideas for each of them of cookies they may want to recreate throughout the month.
What is a Cookie Exchange/Swap? ~
Getting technical, cookie swaps date back to the 17th Century. Alexandra Simon wrote an interesting article, The History of Christmas Cookie Swaps Explained for Grunge.com. It’s a pretty short but fun read all about Cookie Swaps…even down to the “official date” being December 22, according to National Today.
Basically, you ask all of your guests to make a designated number of cookies to bring to the party. Everyone then takes a certain number of each person’s cookies and creates their own variety of treats to take home and enjoy with their friends and family. You can ask them to bring their own plate/platter to transport their cookies home or you can provide a “to go” box for them. I found fun little tins with holiday themed lids.
