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What to serve at a cookie exchange

The cookies are the food. What you add is a little salt and something to drink. For 10 guests that is about 30 savory bites, 15 warm drinks and 10 cold ones. The amounts below are my estimates, so adjust them to your crowd. The host guide covers invites, labels and the timeline.

Savory next to sweet

Punchbowl's cookie exchange guide puts it this way: "There will be a lot of sweets at your cookie swap party, so it's important to balance those out with some savory dishes." Its example menus are a crudité and dip, mini pizza bites, or a cheese and fruit board with crackers.

My picks, for a table that sits for two hours with cookies around it:

  • Crackers with a hard cheese, cut ahead.
  • Salted nuts and pretzels in bowls.
  • Olives or pickles on a small plate.
  • Sliced apples or grapes, to cut the sugar.

Label anything with nuts, and ask guests about allergies in the invite. The allergy guide has wording for it.

Drinks by guest count

Warm drinks are the traditional choice. What's Cooking America suggests you "serve warm beverages such as coffee, hot chocolate, hot apple cider, or herbal tea." Punchbowl adds: "Make sure to have a variety of non-alcoholic drinks on hand too."

My estimate: 1.5 warm servings and 1 cold serving per guest over a two-hour swap. To turn servings into gallons, I used a university catering menu that lists "approximately 18 servings" per 1.5 gallons of coffee, hot chocolate and hot apple cider, which is 12 servings a gallon.

Warm drinks, cold drinks and savory bites for 10, 15 and 20 guests
Guests Warm servings Warm, gallons Cold servings Savory bites
10 15 1.3 10 30
15 23 1.9 15 45
20 30 2.5 20 60

Split the warm servings between two drinks, say coffee and hot cider, so non-coffee drinkers have a mug too. Add herbal tea bags next to the kettle. For cold, sparkling water and juice cover most guests. Punchbowl suggests mulled wine from a slow cooker if you want an alcoholic option, next to the non-alcoholic ones. Brewing coffee for a bigger crowd? How much coffee for 50 people has the grounds and water math.

Shopping list to print

The list uses the table above for 10 guests. Scale it for 15 or 20 with the other rows.

Cookie exchange shopping list, 10 guests

  • [ ] Coffee, enough for about 8 mugs
  • [ ] Cider or cocoa, about 8 mugs
  • [ ] Herbal tea bags
  • [ ] Sparkling water and juice, 10 servings
  • [ ] Cream, milk and sugar
  • [ ] Cups or mugs, 25 (fewer if you wash and reuse)
  • [ ] Crackers and cheese, about 30 bites in all across the savory items
  • [ ] Nuts, pretzels, olives, fruit
  • [ ] Napkins, small plates, a few spare boxes

Let the sign-up count the cookies

With food and drinks planned, the sign-up handles the baking: guests claim a cookie, doubles are blocked, and everyone sees how many to bake.

Start a swap for 10

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