I thought I would finally share with you the details of my cookie exchange party that I hosted exactly a week ago from today

The party was such a great time and we already talked about how to top it next year, so it’s basically already established that this will be an annual event.  Next year we will have more space (in our new house) so I plan on extending it out to my female family members and maybe having some of the girls bring their moms along too!  I already can’t wait, if you can’t tell!

The Snacks

• spinach dip with whole wheat bread, celery, carrots
• pretzels and spicy mustard
• salsa, whole grain flax tortilla chips, triscuits
• my friend Tara’s homemade banana snack cake

The Meal

• crockpot vegetarian chili (recipe here)

The Games

• Christmas Right-Left Game
  • We played this game for our ornament exchange.  I had each of the girls bring a $5 ornament to exchange since we are all starting out with our ornament collection and don’t have too many “special” ones to put on our tree since our parents dont want to give ours up ha!

• Cookie Match-up
  • I made up a list for each of the girls with everyone’s name on it and distributed it.  Then I had each of the girls go around and say what cookie they made.  Then I explained the game to the girls (so it wouldnt be fresh in their mind!) and told them they had to write the cookie that each girl brought next to their name.  The girl with the most right won a prize (an ornament) that I had for them.  Kelly was the winner who had all of them right!

• Most Appealing Cookie
  • We basically voted on the cookie that we would be the most inclined to grab first.  The winner?  Megan’s Cocoa Peanut Butter Chip.  She won an ornament as a prize.
• Best Tasting Cookie
  • Pretty self explanatory, but we voted on the cookie that tasted the best!  We each took a little nibble of each of our cookies to base our vote on.  The winner?  Tara’s Cream Cheese Cookie.  She won an ornament as a prize.

The Cookies

I had all of the girls place their cookies on my kitchen table until everyone arrived.  Then, we each took Christmas-themed plastic bags and placed 12 cookies in each bag for everyone to have.  I think next year, to avoid the mess, I will have everyone bring their cookies wrapped individually already and keep a few extra out for tasting!

Here’s all of the cookies before packaging.  I personally like Amber’s cookies (wrapped in foil) which have “DO NOT EAT” written on them as a note to her fiance.  However, he crossed the NOT out!

The Cookie Details

Tara’s Cream Cheese Cookie

Kelly’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

Jill’s Rum Balls – super strong!  I gave these to my brother who is a college sophomore – enough said!

Lindsay’s (yes, me) Pecan Balls

Anna’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Megan’s Cocoa Peanut Butter Chip

Meghan’s Peanut Butter Caramel Blossoms

Danielle’s Pizzelles

So that everyone would have the recipes for these cookies, should they choose to make their own, I made up a recipe booklet for the girls that contained all of the recipes:

Our Christmas Decorations

Our Advent Calendar – I hope to get a nicer one next year but this did the job!  Basically, you can each “character” out of the pocket for the designated day and place it in the “scene”.  It’s been fun to create the scene thus far!

Our Christmas Tree

Closeup of some of my “fun” ornaments… like the baker?  I received that last year!  The Santa is from Jamaica on our honeymoon!

I loved this starfish which was a pew decoration from our wedding so I turned it into an ornament

In the middle of the night last night, I heard something fall and I panicked and woke Bill up and was saddened to find this:

Personally, I think Bill was in on it   Seems ironic considering last night he was making some not-so-nice comments about all the ballerinas on the tree!  I was a ballet dancer growing up so that is why i have  such a collection   However, Bill, not to worry, it’s nothing that superglue can’t fix!

Hope you enjoyed my little christmas cookie exchange party recap   If you want any of the recipes, feel free to email me at loveofoats@gmail.com!

I’ll leave you with our homemade christmas stockings that will soon be filled with gifts from “Santa“!