Cookie Swappin'

Tonight I attended my first Cookie Swap in our new hometown!  I had such a great time with the ladies of my small group!  I decided that the cookies I wanted to bring were my favorite cookie from my childhood!  My mom used to make these cookies EVERY year, and they were always my favorite!  They are called Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies!  I have a hard time cutting myself off from eating too many of these cookies! 

There were 7 of us total, and we snacked, told all kinds of stories, and of course swapped cookies!  The rules for the exchange were established by our host, Jessie (and a fabulous host she was!!).  They were as follows...

• All cookies should be homemade, baked, and the main ingredient should be flour.
• No plain chocolate chip cookies or cookie mixes.  
• Once you have decided what type of cookie you would like to bring, email me, to 
• make sure we don't have duplicates.
• Please bring 6 dozen total cookies.
• Arrange cookies in a basket or platter and be creative!  Bring a large container to carry away your cookies.
• Email a copy of your recipe before the party (if you would like to share).

Well, if you know me... you know that I am about 10 weeks away from my due date... and the exhaustion and fatigue is starting to kick in!  I had absolutely no intention of "getting creative"!  6 dozen homemade cookies was going to be enough work!  However, my WONDERFUL husband offered to back the cookies, and Thursday evening at our small group... someone told me "I cant wait to see what crafty display you come up with"!  That felt like a challenge, and I had to rise to the occasion!  So, you all know that my crafty sense kicked into overdrive!  Now that I didnt have to make the cookies... I had plenty of time to get creative! 

I went back and forth on how I wanted to display the cookies, but I finally landed on an idea!  I have 2 plastic 12x12 containers with attached lids that I file scrapbooking paper in!  I cleaned one out, lined it with Christmas tissue paper, and put down a cloth napkin, so that the cookies would not stick to the tissue paper!  The lid to the box doesn't come off, and I wanted to have something cute to put there!  I had recieved in an email "Santa's Christmas Prayer" and I loved it!  So, I typed it up, and printed it out on cardstock.  Then I mounted that to Christmas scrapbook paper, and taped it to the lid. 

I put a contrasting piece of Christmas scrapbook paper on the back side, so that when the 

lid was closed... it still looked pretty!  I printed out a label with the type of cookie I had 

made and stuck it on the outside of the lid as well! 

We stacked the cookies in 6 rows of 12, so that they fit in the box every so beautifully!

I also created a cut way to display my recipes!  

I clearly didn't read the rules well enough to learn that I should email the recipe!! 

So, I took a wine bottle and wrapped it in Christmas paper.  I found this gold "spray" at Target that people usually stick in their Christmas trees for a couple bucks and stuck it down into the empty bottle!  I used some of the same paper to make an "apron pocket"!  It was pretty simple, and of course I got the idea from pinterest!  I printed out my recipes and put them in the pocket!  Then I hung the apron on the spray!

It seemed to be a hit, even though I am the only one who brought recipes!!  

Everyone else must have read the rules!!

There were lots of delicious cookies at the exchange, and it was fun to here why everyone decided to make them, as well as the stories of disasters in the kitchen while making them!

SO YUMMY!!  Looking forward to my next cookie swap!

-Jessica