This post represents the third of three on the topic of starting up your own cookie exchange. As I mentioned last time, it's not too early to start thinking about a Valentine's Cookie Exchange. February can be a great time to get back out there with your friends. In fact, my teen is bugging me to plan a Mother/Daughter cookie party with her and her pals. We'll see about that. I'm still getting through the holidays!

The final steps for planning your cookie exchange are:

• Decide how you will vote. I print up small ballots in advance, with the request to please vote by cookie name and number if at all possible. If people do this, it can avoid any possible confusion between items. After all, chocolate chip cookies can all tend to look alike!
  
• My kids are old enough now that they loooooove to be the keepers of the flame when it comes to tallying the votes. (This is a tremendous help to me, so I can spend more time visiting with my guests!) We make a big production of announcing who won each category but also remember to praise everyone for their efforts.
• Plan your prizes! This is a fun one. Each year, I come up with different things. In recent years, I have started making all three prizes the same or at least a coordinated effort. This year's prizes are beautiful hand-painted Italian Christmas trivets that I found at Tuesday Morning. I don't spend more than $15 apiece on the prizes, just on general principle. This year's were $10 each. Sometimes, I throw in a little something extra for the "Best Overall" winner since that is, technically, the "highest honor"!
• Plan how guests will take their goodies home. One inexpensive way to do this is to provide a larger gift box (with lid) to put the cookies in. I also have plenty of baggies on hand, so the ladies can separate different types of items from each other. This will keep the brownie type of item from ruining the texture of a crispy cookie. I just attended another friend's party last week, and she had everyone separate like cookies into ziplock baggies and then put them into a holiday shopping bag. This was perfect because there was also room in the bag for the recipes. That's what I did this year, too.
• Decide what time you want to start having everyone sample the goodies. I like to party for a while, but sometimes you'll have people who can't stay very long due to an early morning the next day, etc., so I try to do the judging by about 9 pm.
• Early in the evening, you'll need to count how many people actually showed up with cookies. (Yes, you will have people come without cookies. This is a busy time of year, and I always tell my friends that the pleasure of their company is still welcome even without their cookies. However, they don't get to take any cookies home!) For example, if you have 15 people with cookies, and you cut up 4 of each cookie for sampling, that leaves 68 cookies (assuming everyone really brought 72 cookies, which is always a bit of a gamble!). In this case, I would have people take four of each cookie, which would total 60 of the 68. There is often someone who can't come at the last minute due to a sick child or being sick themselves, and I usually try to make up one special tray for that person with some of the leftover goodies.

Don't forget to put on some holiday tunes or whatever music that you like to set the mood. And most of all, try your best to enjoy your guests. If you wind up buying all of your food at Sam's or Costco, FINE! At least that way, your head won’t be stuck in the oven instead of visiting with your friends. I have a friend who has been throwing a mother/daughter cookie event for years. Everyone always has a wonderful time. Do you know what she serves, year in and year out? Chex Mix, hot chocolate, Hawaiian Punch and water. Period. I'm not kidding. Her house looks amazing - - all decked out for Christmas. And we all have a fabulous time. At the end of the party after the girls have gone through and taken their treats, anything leftover is fair game for the guests to munch on. This can be a fun way to have a low stress party!

Finally, don't be offended if someone tells you that "this just isn't my kind of thing". You will find that some of your friends are into this, and some will not be. You will have some who wouldn't miss it if their life depended on it! It really is that much fun! I have friends tell me periodically throughout the year that they have found the perfect recipe for this year's exchange. It really is fun to see what we come up with each year. And not to sound too maudlin, but the memories from year to year of my cookie exchanges are really quite precious to me.

Good luck, and happy baking!

More about my cookie exchange:

• 300 Christmas Cookie Recipes
• Holiday Cookie Exchange Reverie
• Planning Your Holiday Cookie Exchange!
• Planning Your Cookie Exchange: The Details
• Planning Your Cookie Exchange: Final Words of Advice