Christmas Goodie Swap
By Jan McCracken

Ever been to an old-fashioned Christmas "cookie swap?" Fasten your apron ties and hang onto your Santa hat cause you and your friends are in for some jolly Christmas fun and dandy taste bud treats!

A "Christmas Goodie Swap" is the perfect way to begin your holiday festivities. Make it "special" from the start and create a free email invitation at www.evite.com or make personal phone calls.

Don't know about the indulgence and relaxation and fun of a Goodie Swap and how it's done? No worries, it's simple. Each guest brings one kind of Christmas goodies (cookies, bars, candy - hey, it's your party, you make up the list)! Just having to bring one kind of goodie makes it easy on the guest (don't forget to include yourself in the guest count so you get goodies too). Everyone only has to prepare one kind of goodie and it saves money for everyone because only the ingredients for one recipe have to be purchased. It's a yummy holiday win/win for all!

Ask each guest to bring nine and a half dozen of their favorite Christmas goodies with recipe cards of the recipe. Here's how the Goodie Formula works: 9 guests = 9 dozen goodies, plus add an extra dozen for 9 dozen goodies. Why the extra half dozen? So everyone can sample the goodies at the party! Each person will have a dozen of each kind of goodie to take home from the Goodie Swap.

Please note: If you're going to have a large group then, of course, the number of cookies that each guest will need to bring will increase. Also, if you and your friends want to have more cookies to take home, then everyone needs to bring more, still making a big variety of homemade Christmas cookies easy on all!

It's great if the goodies freeze well so they don't get wasted or so we don't eat them all at once when we get home. Be sure to ask each guest to bring printed recipes for their goodies. When they RSVP ask what kind of "goodie" that they are bringing to contribute so you won't end up with duplicates! Variety is the spice!

Why not request the goodie recipes be printed on a 4" x 6" card. Then use a fancy hand punch (like a star), some pretty red ribbon and tie all the goodie recipes together to form a little booklet for each guest to take home. You could print out some special Christmas quotes on a 4" x 6" card with the date and "First Annual Goodie Swap" on it for a cover. What a nice memento of a fun-filled time with special friends and recipes for merry, merry future baking!

Have a simple and festive centerpiece -- a small, live, Christmas tree (the smell is so awesome) and decorate with miniature cookie cutters. (You can find the cookie cutters at a lot of dollar stores in a package!) Make special tent cards to write the name of each type of goodie and place the tent cards in front of each plate of goodies (these would be the goodies your guests bring to "swap"). Have a large platter or festive plates for "goodie sampling that each guest can contribute to as they arrive. Your table will look like the North Pole Bakery!

You, the hostess, can prepare something festive and easy like a kettle of hot soup with some cheese and crackers (see recipe posted on the recipe page of my website). This will give everyone some "real food" before embarking on the goodies. Prepare a special coffee drink with a dollop of whipped cream and start tasting. Remember to set out a couple pitchers of water with lemon slices and small glasses.

Place Christmas candles everywhere... even in the bathroom... crank up those Christmas tunes and you have a party. Have each guest tell about the creation they have brought to contribute. Maybe the first batch flopped... maybe they were trying to convert a very old recipe... there might be some giggles here... maybe it's just a favorite that they wanted to share.

Ask each guest to bring a large container to tote their goodies home at the end of a fun-filled and sharing time!

Merry, Merry Christmas!

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