Famous Death Row Last Meals
Food Fights: The Biggest Culinary Scandals Of 2011
Photo: Steve Adams
While cookie swaps are synonymous with Christmas time, they are easy-to-plan parties year-round. The traditional cookie swap is a specialized form of potluck, where guests share in the baking and cost burden by bringing their favorite cookies to the party (they're made ahead of time). The hostess provides the space, sends out the invitations, sets up the cookies and provides the beverages. Guests bring two or three batches of their favorite recipe (5-6 dozen) and then they are swapped with other guests cookies. The advantage of a cookie swap? Multiple cookie varieties without the prep time and mess.
More recently, people have started to participate in baking exchanges, where guests bring their ingredients to the hostess's home and they bake together. With more interaction at this type of party, it's great for people less savvy in the kitchen. This concept is also a great way to get kids into the kitchen by encouraging them to help in prepping and decorating stages. Kids can get their hands dirty while learning how to cook and take pride in what they make.
The Rules of Cookie Swapping and Party Planning Tips after the jump.
