Have an Office Cookie Exchange for Holiday Fun!

Have an Office Cookie Exchange for Holiday Fun! If you and your family love having (or giving) a variety of home-baked cookies for the holidays, but you just don't have the time or energy this year, here's the solution: a holiday cookie exchange!

You can bake just one large batch of your favorite holiday cookies, take them to the cookie exchange, and come home with several different kinds of freshly baked cookies! You'll be the family hero, with minimum effort! Cookie exchanges can be done with friends and neighbors at home parties, or with co-workers at the office. Since the focus of this article is saving time and energy, we'll discuss the office version. Hey, you won't have to spend time cleaning up the house before and after the exchange! Here's how to have a cookie exchange at work: 1. Pick a date. Plan ahead so you can give people plenty of advance notice... at least two weeks. 2. Reserve a conference room or other area for the exchange. Book it for an hour. You're probably safest to plan it for the lunch hour, when your fellow employees will be free to have some non-work-related fun. 3. Invite people to participate. Be careful how you do this at work. Some companies frown on sending personal emails or using the copier for unofficial fliers. Do what's acceptable where you work. You'll want a minimum of six people to make the exchange worthwhile, but less than ten so the amount of baking everyone will have to do is manageable. Explain in your invitation that everyone will need to bake a dozen cookies per participant. So if eight people sign up for the exchange, everyone will need to bring at least eight dozen cookies (extras for sample tasting are encouraged!). Emphasize that family favorites or traditional cookie recipes are preferred, so there will be less chance of two or more people bringing the same type of cookies. Also ask them to bring copies of their cookie recipe for sharing. This is not only a great way for everyone to obtain new cookie recipes, it's a safety mechanism for people with food allergies. They can review the recipe before trying the cookies. 4. Ask everyone you invite to RSVP at least a week prior to the exchange and specify the type of cookie they'll bring. 5. Share the RSVP information with all participants, so everyone will know how many cookies to bake and bring (and how many copies of their cookie recipe). Ask everyone to bring their cookies already counted out, one dozen cookies per participant, packaged in sealable plastic bags (or other containers they don't mind giving away). If eight participants, they'll bring eight bags containing one dozen cookies each. 6. At the exchange (in a decorated room if you're ambitious), it'll be nice to provide coffee or water, and encourage people to sample the cookies. That way you can all rave about each others' culinary skills and have fun swapping stories about baking adventures, cookie recipe development, or the biggest nuts in the company. Relax for a while, have a good time, and take home some new and delicious goodies for the family! For some great cookie recipes for cookie exchanges, visit www.Cookie-Crazy.com. Have an Office Cookie Exchange for Holiday Fun!

Essential Cookie Recipes For Your Christmas Cookie Exchange Party

Essential Cookie Recipes For Your Christmas Cookie Exchange Party This Christmas, instead of making or buying cookies for Christmas, why not try having or attending a cookie exchange party? With this event, you and your friends each plan to make several batches of one type of cookie. Then each person brings several dozen to the party, enough for everyone to have a certain amount of each cookie that is made. This way, everyone goes home with a huge variety of homemade cookies! This is a great, fun way to save time and money around the holidays. Here's some of the essential types of cookies that are really must haves for your next cookie exchange party:

Sugar From fancy, decorated cutout cookies to simple sugar cookie drop cookies to slice and bake sugar cookies. You won't want to forget to make sure there's enough of these classic cookies at your party. They are probably the #1 essential! Other Classics There's a few recipes that are modern American Christmas classics, and are traditional for so many families. Cookies like Peanut Butter Blossoms, which are simple peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss pressed into the middle and also Snickerdoodles, so classic yet simple to make and tasty too. Bar These cookies are great for cookie exchange parties, since they are easy to make very quickly. There's less mess since they are usually made in one bowl and you can make a full batch all at once, in one pan. This makes bar cookies a very handy choice. There's many choices in this category that are sure to please the other cookie exchangers. Try brownies with different additions like candies or different types of chocolate chips and chunks. Also try blondies and shortbread bar cookies. Gingerbread Gingerbread men are one of the most traditional Christmas cookies you can make. They are like sugar cookies except sweetened with some molasses and flavored with spices like ginger, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. They have a very distinct flavor and, along with the sugar variety, are a popular cookie to set out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Shortbread Shortbread is quite underrated, they are quite easy to make, since often they use only a few ingredients and they have a rich, buttery taste that are a nice contrast to the super sweet treats you find around Christmas. So don't forget the shortbread! Ethnic Choices Christmas is celebrated in many countries and each country seems to have their own traditional Christmas recipes as well. In Mexico, they have a butter cookie that is flavored with anise and cinnamon called Biscochitos. Biscochitos are also sometimes dusted with a cinnamon sugar. In Italy, they have many varieties of Christmas cookies, but a popular choice is amaretti, which is a cookie made with almonds and egg whites. Ethnic cookies are a great choice to bring some variety to your party. Whatever the recipe choices for your party, don't forget to bring along enough containers to hold all the cookies you'll be going home with! Essential Cookie Recipes For Your Christmas Cookie Exchange Party

Cookie exchange Party

If you plan on hosting a holiday cookie exchange, why not throw the best bash in town? consequent these easy steps to creating the exquisite holiday extravaganza:

Invitations: If you know the email addresses for all your guests, you may pick to take benefit of the free e-cards ready at Evite.com. These come in numerous styles together with a gorgeous one designed for a cookie transfer - just look in the "Winter Holidays" category. You can even contain an online map to your home. Also, Evite will keep you updated as to who Rsvp's. If you'd prefer a more traditional method, you may think purchasing your invitations from Zazzle.com. They have fun or elegant designs, and many of their cards come with matching envelopes, which adds to their festivity. Go to their "Christmas Party Invitations" or "Holiday Invitations" categories.

Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Decorations: Remember there are a whole of holidays while this time of year, and you want all your guests to feel welcome. Silver and gold decorations are elegant and can make a room sparkle. OrientalTrading.com has snowflake hanging decals and confetti available, as well as cute snowman decorations. You can also order silver and gold table wear, together with plates, cups, silverware, and tablecloths from PartyCity.com. Lighting a holiday scented candle will additional add to the mood of your party.

Favors: In increasing to sending guests home with cookies, give each one a memorable holiday party favor. Snowflake bottle stoppers and corkscrews make exquisite and beneficial holiday gifts, and winter themed playing cards will be used throughout the season. Snow globe favors can also be fun, and they're ready with slots in them for guests to insert their beloved picture and then display them for all to see. And if you'd like to keep with a cookie theme - chocolate covered Oreos with sugared Christmas decorations will be a big hit.

Thank you notes: After your party, send thank you notes to each of your guests for the gift they made to your party's success. As these will likely go out around the New Year, silver and gold notes are exquisite again. They'll also serve to remind guests of the breathtaking time they had in your home. TinyPrints.com has a whole of cute, fun, or fancy notes that guests are sure to enjoy.

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Cookie exchange Party