Why Hosting a Cookie Swap is the Ultimate Holiday Party

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What goes hand in hand with the holidays? Cookies. Growing up in my neighborhood, all of the families would exchange gifts with each others. Each family always stuck to the same gifts to give and it always worked out because there would be no duplicates. My mom always went the cozy route and got throw blankets, cute mugs, and hot cocoa for the neighbors. As amazing as my mom’s neighbor gifts were, the absolute best was from my neighbors down the block. Every year they would make the most amazing Christmas Cookies and deliver them on the most aesthetically pleasing tray. My sister and I would fight over our favorite cookies, every year.

I don’t know if you ever had a neighbor who makes the best Christmas Cookies or maybe you are the Christmas Cookie Neighbor, but what goes without saying is the home made cookies and the holidays are like two peas in a pod.

If you are hosting a holiday party or holiday get together with friends or family this year, not only should plan a unique activity, but you should absolutely host a cookie swap!

What is a Cookie Swap?

A Cookie Swap is the ultimate way to get all the cookies you’ve ever dreamed of. So how does it work? Invite all your friends over for a holiday party and instruct each to make 2 dozen (or any suitable amount for the people attending) of their absolute favorite cookies. They can be bought, but it makes it so much better is every brings their own home-made holiday cookies. The night of the party everyone brings their cookies and sits them all on a table. Each guest will take a turn going through the cookies table and creating their own holiday cookie platter! Essentially you are bringing a lot one one cookie, and leaving with a bunch of amazing cookies including a few of your own!

4 Reasons Why You Should Host a Cookie Swap

1. It is so much FUN!

Hosting a cookie swap is one of the most fun events you could host. Plus think of how amazing your house will smell with all the incredible cookies in one room! Hosting a holiday party in general is fun because of the decorating, the good vibes, the holiday cheer, and of course having all the ones you love under your roof at the same time. What also makes a cookie swap the most fun holiday party is that the fun starts long before the party even begins. Half of the fun for the guests is making holiday cookie classics or researching on Pinterest or Instagram to find a new creative recipe to try.

2. Guests leave with a tray full of cookies!

Guests have a beautiful tray of cookies at the end of the day. As a host, you should provides tons of material for wrapping the tray like cellophane and ribbon. After each guests makes their own holiday cookie tray, they can wrap it however they like. They will also be able to do whatever they would like with this awesome gift. Guests can use the holiday cookie tray as a dessert for Chirstmas dinner. They can use it as a gift to give someone. They can bring it home and immediately have a Christmas Movie night and eat all the amazing cookies with their family.

3. It’s a great excuse to get your Betty Crocker on!

Making time to these days seems like a very daunting task. Work, friends, family, commitments, and everything in between seem to take up all the time that we were once able to spend on ourselves. Hosting a Cookie Swap means you and all your guests have to schedule in some me-time to your hectic schedules to bake. While baking can come naturally to some and is an acquired skill for others, it is still fun to throw on your apron and channel your inner Betty Crocker. No matter your baking skill or level, it is enjoyable to get creative and bake some delicious cookies from time to time.

4. It’s an amazing tradition!

Cookie Swaps are something to look forward. After hosting a cookie swap, your guests will be waiting for year 2 the moment they leave. I know people who plan their cookies out months in advance and even try different recipes months before the actual cookie swap date. It really is a great tradition with friends and family.

7 Unique Holiday Party Activity Ideas

So you’re looking to liven up your holiday party… You can be with family or friends, but the key to having a great holiday party and not just a good holiday party is what you have planned as the host! You don’t want your holiday party to get looped into the classic boring nothing special…

by theteenafey

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7 Unique Holiday Party Activity Ideas

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So you’re looking to liven up your holiday party… You can be with family or friends, but the key to having a great holiday party and not just a good holiday party is what you have planned as the host! You don’t want your holiday party to get looped into the classic boring nothing special category of holiday parties, so you have to come up with unique ways to entertain your guests.

With holiday party season in full swing, nows the time to make sure you are fully prepared to remembered as best holiday party of the year. Here at 7 Unique holiday party activities that are bound the leave your guests with amazing memories!

Christmas Charades

Charades is the ultimate party game – running though three rounds 1. Describe the Word 2. Act the Word with no Speaking 3. Only allowed to use 1 word. Complete this classic party game by instructed guests that they can only fill in Christmas-themed ideas. Some great ones can be – Buddy the Elf, Ginger Bread Man, Snow Storm, Christmas Tree, Die Hard. This is sure to get laughs and get everyone involved!

Spontaneous Secret Santa

Ambush your guests with a Spontaneous Secret Santa, Ask guests to come over at a specific time, have all the names already loaded into a bowl ( or Santa hat) for them to choose from. Upon picking, guests will have 1 hour to go out and pick up a $20 (or any value, but it’s more fun with less money because you get some funny gifts!). This means guests have to race around town to find a unique gift. Have a “wrapping station” already set up with bags, tissue paper, wrapping paper, and bows so when guests return from the mad dash, they get right to wrapping! Plan to open the gifts right before the meal is to be served for a seamless transition and endless conversation.

Christmas Cooke Decorating Contest

Have some homemade dough pre-made and have guests cut the dough into shapes with cookie cutters or make their own cookies to cook. Half the fun is seeing how the cookies shape out after being in the oven. After dinner when the cookies cool, invite the guests to decorate their creation with icing, sprinkles, candies, anything you want! Host an anonymous ranking of the cookies ( 1 – 10, or how ever many guests their are without counting your own cookie in the rankings, then average the selections and announce your winner!). Add a bit of fun and have a small grand prize or funny trophy for the winner!

Ping Pong Ball Challenge

Use a spare table and attached red solo cups to one end, just hanging off the edge. Assign each cup with a prize, it can be a gag gift, money, lotto tickets, or even coal! Have guests stand on the far end from the table away from the cups to take turns rolling the ping pong balls. You can pick the order how ever you’d like – drawing numbers, youngest to oldest, etc. Have each person Roll 3 ping pong balls across the table and try to land them in one of the red solo cups. Don’t let the players see what each cup’s prize is! Some ping pong balls won’t make it to the cup, others will fall off the table. To add complexity, give each player a straw and they much blow the ping pong ball to the other side of table! Regardless of the way you set up the game, this is bound to give endless laughs and hysterical memories for years to come.

Fluffy Snowman

A take on the age old classic “Fluffy Bunny.” Prepare for this game by purchasing all the bags of marshmallows that your grocery store has in stock, kidding but also not really kidding. The purpose of the game is to put as many marshmallows in your mouth as possible. One at a time guests have to place one marshmallow at a time in their mouth, after each additional marshmallow the player must say “I’m a Fluffy Snowman.” The count continues until the player can no longer clearly state “I’m a Fluffy Snowman.” This game is not only hysterical, but all aged guests can play from kid to adult making this great for family holiday parties. You can add a twist to this by adding a betting feature – having guests place wagers on who will win, or over/under on the what the amount of max marshmallows will be.

Adult TikTok Challenge

This one is specifically for family holiday parties with kids or friend-based holiday parties with kids. Kids now a days know what seems to be hundreds of TikTok dances by heart. At the start of your party, separate the kids names on sheets on paper in one bowl and the adult names in the other. Select groups (however you need to divide, 1 kid to 2 adults, 1 kid to 3 adults, etc.) by pulling names out of the bowls. The groups will have 20 minutes to learn a TikTok dance of the child’s choosing, the kids must teach the adults and plan out the best performance. After 20 minutes the groups will take turns performing their dances for the entire group, while being filmed. After each performance, only one take!, the videos will be posted to TikTok of the child’s account. The group with the most likes by the time dessert starts or the designated time chosen, will win! have a small prize or trophy ready for the winning dance group.

Christmas Carole Competition

For the creatives out there, this is for your holiday party. Have each guest write down their favorite song or a song they can’t get out of their head, have them place all the songs into a bowl. Break Up the guests into small teams of 2 or 3, or however many makes sense. Have each group pick one song from the bowl, yes their will be more songs in the bowl than the amount chosen. This helps keep the song that each group picks as surprise to the other players. With the selected song, the group much re-write the lyrics to be a Christmas of holiday themed song. Give each team a hour or so to brainstorm a new title, chorus, and refrain for the song. Each group should be ready to preform at the time deadline and get ready to spread that holiday cheer!

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