How to Host a Holiday Cookie Exchange Serve simple appetizers and beverages. To complement the sweet, serve savory appetizers that you can prepare ahead of time, like cheese and crackers, mixed nuts, dips, chips and fresh veggies. Beverages might include apple cider, soda, wine, iced tea, sparkling wines, beer, coffee or hot chocolate. Share stories. Go around in a circle and ask each of your guests to share a story about the treat that they brought. Listening to my friends recount their family traditions, baking disasters and childhood memories spent rolling out dough in their grandmother's kitchens made us laugh, empathize and wax nostalgic. We grew closer hearing these stories and the treats took on a life of their own. Give prizes. While this step is optional, it can add extra cheer to the festivities. Ask your guests to vote: Which cookie was the most unusual? Who shared an unforgettable story associated with their treat? Who had the most creative packaging? Whose cookie was almost too beautiful to eat? Hand out simple prizes like plastic tiaras, tin holiday cookie cutters, a box of tea, a holiday mug, or ornaments. Spread the joy. Offer your friends the option of preparing extra cookies that you can box up and deliver to a local nursing home, police or fire station or women's shelter. Ó
Freelance journalist Christa Melnyk Hines is the author of Confidently Connected: A Mom's Guide to a Satisfying Social Life. Christa resides with her husband and their two sons, who eagerly anticipate when she arrives home from a cookie exchange.
Additional resources
• Cookies and Cocktails: Inspire Your Own Holiday Cookie Party by Sherrie Wilkolaski • Cookie Exchange: Hosting the Perfect Party by Melissa Harvey • Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year by Julia M. Usher • The Great Christmas Cookie Swap Cookbook by Good Housekeeping • The Cookie Party Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Cookie Exchange by Robin L. Olson
Ideas for compiling recipes
• Print recipes on 4x6 holiday paper and clip • Retype recipes in different fonts and print with a loose-leaf metal ring. on half sheets of paper. Make a decorative cover out of cardoff stoc k and staple or clip together. • Decorate a cardboard recipe box and plac e recipes inside. • Paste recipes into a small spiral notebook and decorate the cover. • Slide recipes into a miniature soft-cover pho to album. • Ask each guest to bring extra copies of her recip next to their cookie platter for friends to take e to put . • Have each guest include a copy of her recip e in each of her giveaway containers.
DreamWeaver Dance Theatre
let your holidays be bright
PRESENTS
Handel’s
Messiah &
The Giving Show Saturday December 9th
Give the gift of a brighter, more radiant smile
1:00 & 6:00 PM • David Marr Theatre 2200 Eureka Way, Redding
ONLY $299*
Join our dancers in giving to a wonderful cause. Donations for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will be accepted at both events.
2440 sonoma street • redding • 246-7626 1010 jefferson street • red bluff • 527-7800
$12; ages 4 and under free, available at the door or by calling (530) 247-1010
mooreandpascarella.com
*Price valid until 1/1/2018. Limited Time Offer. $126 savings, regularly $425. Please say you saw it in North State Parent magazine. This helps us grow!
Thanks for your continued support, Merry Christmas! www.northstateparent.com • December 2017
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