Robin,

Here are pictures of my previous year's cookie swaps. My guests love the event and I have run my swaps for 5 years now. This year I am excited to send out my invites for the 6th Annual Cookie Swap! Instead of captaining each picture, I thought I'd outline some key things that I feel are very important to hosting a cookie swap:

1 - organization! I am very very organized! I put together games, contests and lots and lots of voting goes on to determine who wins gifts for things like....best presented cookie, cutest cookie, best dressed baker, first to submit recipe, first to arrive...to name a few.

2 - upbeat! I send out lots of emails with tips, reminders, encouraging words to those nervous bakers.....and I always dress in a nice outfit and greet everyone with a smile! At one party I read a list of quotes that I made which were quotes from many of my guests who called with different comments prior to my swap, such as..."I am so nervous, you have all of these rules, I am actually scared to come!", "michelle...I cannot come. My cookies are so horrible, I cannot show my face!", etc.. When i read these aloud, during our swapping, my guests were hysterical!!!

3 - gifts gifts gifts! I love buying gifts for my bakers and I love wrapping them and giving them as rewards. I purchase items all year round, as I see them. I especially love the week after xmas, as everything is really cheap. I give out gifts ranging from $1 to $20 depending on what the category it.

4 - New constests! I always try to add new and different constests to make my bakers excited to come! This year I am encouraging them to try to make a theme cookie, other than xmas. For example, let's say you wanted to make a cookie with macademia nuts, pineapple, and toasted cocount...call it a hawaiian cookie and present it in a hawaiian manner. Then, dress in a hawaiian outfit and there you go! You could win a prize for either most delicious cookie, nicest presentation of a cookie, best dressed, best themed cookie!

5 - Food and drink -although we bake, we want the night out for ourselves! My guests bring a bottle or an appetizer and we always have a great spread. I usually have one basic holiday drink that I serve in fancy glasses, which are always a big hit.

I thoroughly enjoy your site and please know that your site is what I hit on 6 years ago when I typed in "cookie parties" on GOOGLE!

Thank you for the site, I love it! Here's to a successful 2009 swap!

Michelle from Long Island, NY.