Christmas Cookie Exchange Party!

My friend, Rebecca, and I hosted a cookie exchange party last Friday! 

It all started with these cute invitations. What do you think? I totally stole the idea from here (found via Pinterest of course). Although the spatula invitations are so cool, I thought it would be even more fun to add a cookie to the invitations (after all, they were for a cookie party!). Unfortunately only the invitations that were hand-delivered got the cookies - sorry to those of you who were mailed invitations (I didn't think they'd hold up too well in the mail)!

  

Since the party was at 7:00pm, we figured everyone would be hungry and need some real food to offset the sugary cookies. For appetizers, we had Tortellini Skewers, Veggie Pizza, Pizza Bites, Chips and Salsa, Cheese and Crackers, Snowmen Cake Pops, Peppermint Bark, and Santa Party Mix. Along with Coke, Sprite, and Sweet Tea, we also served Champagne Punch.  

Doesn't it all look delicious?!?

After we all filled up on appetizers, it was time to judge (and taste) some cookies. Just look at all those cookies!

A few ladies brought more than one type of cookie, so we ended up with 18 different kinds! We threaded ribbon through plain white plates to give them a more festive feel (an idea we also found here - yes, a lot of this party's success can be attributed to Pinterest!). Isn't the variety of cookies amazing?

Look how serious the girls are trying to pick their favorites!

After the ballots were tallied, we gave out prizes for the Best Looking, Most Unique, Most Creative, and Best Tasting cookies. I have to say, I'm a bit jealous of the prizes these ladies got: a Shutterfly coupon for 15 free holiday cards and a free calendar, a cookie mix in a mason jar, and an adorable embroidered towel (made by Rebecca).

Even though only 4 talented ladies went home with the big prizes, no one went home empty handed. For favors, we gave out cookie cutters with these cute little tags.

Overall, I think the party was a great success! I had so much fun and I think everyone else did too. Can't wait to do it again next year! :)