Who doesn't love frosted sugar cookies?

It’s cookie season again! My friend Becky goes to a [tag]cookie party[/tag] every year and it sounds like so much fun. It’s like a holiday shower where everyone is celebrated, there are fun games, and there are cookies galore to eat and take home. What an inexpensive way to celebrate the season with friends and family!

Invite your friends early and plan the party for a Saturday or Sunday in the afternoon so everyone is relaxed and ready to join in the midst of a bustling holiday season. Explain to your guests how the party will work ahead of time – everyone puts their cookies on a table, then each person selects their allotted amount from each plate. Each person or family must bring enough copies of the recipe to share, so at the end of the party you have a nice assortment of new holiday recipes.

One idea I discovered someone did was to assign ingredients to people in the invitations. Each person had to bring a small description or history of that ingredient and other uses for it.

My friend brings a wrapped homemade ornament to her parties.  Guests sit in a circle and everyone picks up a wrapped ornament.  With a song or a holiday story, one word is chosen. Every time the word is read, you pass the gift to the right.  When the story is finished, you open the gift/ornament in your hands and get to keep it!  We also draw a name and somebody gets a doorprize, already determined by the host(s).

It sounds like a lot of effort, but I think once the guests and date determined, the rest is a lot of fun, especially if you have someone to do the baking with ahead of time to add to the merriment!