Kindness Advent Calendar: December 22, 2022 (Day 22)
🍪You're The Chocolate Chips To My Cookie🍪
Welcome to Day 22 of your Kindness Advent Calendar! Throughout December, we will be providing you with your daily act of kindness through our Kindness Advent Calendar! Come and celebrate the holiday season as we are kind all December long.
December 22 is National Cookie Exchange Day and the glorious occasion when festively-decorated cookie tins and boxes appear at cookie exchange parties.
It's a classic celebration where the host throws a holiday party for family and friends, to which everyone brings delicious homemade cookies to share around. The toughest decision is which cookies to take. Wintertime classics like thumbprint jam cookies or gingerbread are always festive, but since this day celebrates all cookies, go ahead and add in some funfetti cookies or lemon squares!
Cookie exchanges are a centuries-old tradition dating back to medieval times. The classic idea is a holiday party in which guests bring a selection of homemade cookies to trade with one another. While the festive holiday has sweet beginnings, the etiquette associated with them has become elaborate and strict. Guests are judged for the quantity and quality of their offerings, and cookbooks outline acceptable and unacceptable practices.
Today, cookie exchange traditions live on in families and friendship groups. Though there is traditionally strict etiquette that accompanies the party, you don't have to adhere to it. The spirit of the day is the joy of cookies, so get together a group of friends and celebrate the treat on your own terms!
National Cookie Exchange Day Activities:
Try a New Cookie Recipe
Maybe you've never tried to bake Grammy's secret World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe - dig it up and give it a try! Certainly, you have an old cookbook somewhere in your closet and it probably has a recipe you are yet to give a go. If not, look up the most extravagant and drool-worthy cookie recipe you can find to rule your cookie exchange with.
Have a Cookie Party!
There's no better party than a cookie party. Whether your friends are coming over to bake, decorate, or simply taste-test those cookies, everyone can get behind a baked goods invitation. Throw on some holiday music and let your cookie party be a celebration of friendship (and sugar)!
Start a Bake Sale for Charity!
Ah, the classic bake sale. Who doesn't remember these from childhood? The best part, however, is that you can use your fantastic cookies to support organizations that do meaningful work in your community or help a cause you care about. Not to mention, you get to spend a fun afternoon selling cookies and meeting new people.
"Cookies are happy because that is their job. Making those you know, and don't know happy. They tell people you care."
~ Brent M. Jones