Joy-N-Jesus: Kids Cookie Exchange

So it's almost February, and I have not documented our fun New Years for 2013. Living so far from family and friends has been hard as many of you who read the blog know, but God is always faithful to provide family in Christ. We have met some wonderful friends and were blessed to have a fun new years at our house.

The last two years I have been so blessed, and always look forward to, a cookie exchange with my dear friends Mrs. Kollene and the Hays (Johnson) girls. I just love it! I was sad to miss it this year, but they inspired me to have my own this year. Although with nursing a baby every two and a half hours hosting a ladies only cookie party was out of the question for me. BUT.....

Hosting a Kids Cookie Exchange as a New Year Party was not only doable, but the whole family could participate. So... That is what we did! This idea of a cookie exchange would be fun for a family gathering, neighbor get together, sports team, class party, or a fun party for a holiday like Valentines (coming up) or anytime of the year really! ?But we had ours for New Years and may make it a tradition!

Details... Details....Details....

The Invite:
Send a invitation that invites your friends to a Kids (or adult) Cookie Exchange. In the invitation ask them to bring the number of cookies you are requesting. For example we asked each family to bring 2 dozen cookies. That way each child could take home six cookies and we could also send a family box (pictured below) home as well. Set the time and any other details you may want to include. You can do a prize for the most decorated, most unique, biggest or no prizes at all. Up to you.

Set up:
I picked up some plastic Christmas cups and used Christmas gift labels to write each person's name on the cup who would be attending the exchange. Adult cups are the big ones in the back and kids cups are in the front. This worked well and everyone can take home their cup at the end of the night as a little fun party favor.

When I saw these cute little bins at the dollar store I grabbed a few and wrote each child's name that would be coming on the bins.
?Set up a table were each family can come and place their cookies on the table. Here is a picture of the beginning of our cookie exchange.

Decorate:

Once the kids all arrived we had a table set up with a basket of Christmas stickers (can pick your theme) for each child to decorate their cookie bin. The girls went first to decorate and it was so cute to watch their little personalities as they enjoyed the fun.?

?Then the boys went. They ?had a blast, but finished a lot quicker then the girls :) THey wanted to get to those cookies :)
?Exchange:?
Then each child got to go around the table and pick 6 cookies of their choice to take home. No more then two or three of each kind, so that everyone would have a chance to get a taste of all of them :) You can make the rules however you want. But this worked pretty well. If I could do it again I might say you can pick one of each kind or two of each kind if there is enough. Either way they had a blast picking their own cookies out and placing them in their little bins. And they even got enjoy some with some cookies and milk! ah! Just look at these faces...

?Game time:?
The adults and a few kids also played some board games and enjoyed some cookies and chai while we waited for the clock to strike 12! Sweet times :)
?Party Favor:
At the end of the night each family (parents) got to fill a box of their own to take home for the family.
While the cookie exchange was not what I had experienced before this was a fun way to allow the whole family to enjoy the joy and fun. Hope it inspires you to have some family fun! I would love to hear about your cookie exchange and how you made it fun! Blessings to you all!

Source: http://joy-n-jesus.blogspot.com/2013/01/kids-cookie-exchange.html

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