{related}Ugly sweater parties are sooo 2013. Say goodbye to 2014 with a scrumptious cookie swap! Nothing’s better than spending an afternoon eating delicious Christmas cookies with your besties. The best part of the party? Having a bunch of recipes for amaze cookies at your convenience. So you wanna join the fun? Here's how to throw the best cookie swap ever.

Invite 12 people

Have each person make a dozen cookies (of different kinds). Your BGF can bake snicker doodles, your sister can bake peanut butter blossoms, you can bake sugar cookies, so on and so forth. There are hundreds of cookie recipes on Pinterest, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding multiple recipes. Have each person print out twelve copies of the recipe to their cookies. Once the swap starts, everyone gets one of each cookie, and the recipe for that cookie. Genius, we know. Check out how to make Grinch cookies below—they’re a GL fave.

Recipe: Grinch cookies

What you'll need:

• French vanilla cake mix
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• Powedered sugar
• 2 drops green food coloring
• Candy

Directions:

1. Preheat
   oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine
   cake mix, oil, eggs, and food coloring and mix together with large spoon until
   it forms a soft dough.
3. Put the
   dough in the fridge for 15 minutes.
4. Roll the
   dough into teaspoons and then roll in powdered sugar.
5. Place
   rounded spoonfuls on cookie sheet and press candy into dough.
6. Bake
   for 8 minutes.
7. Let
   cool for at least 3 minutes before placing on cookie rack.

Recipe by: inkatrinaskitchen.com 

Christmas Music

Rockin' around the Christmas tree? Uh, yes please. If you don’t have a CD of classic Christmas faves, turn on the radio or make a Spotify playlist of Christmas tunes. Music gets everyone in the spirit for the holidays, and having a cookie swap without Christmas music would be like having Thanksgiving without the Turkey—L-A-M-E.

A Hot Chocolate Bar

Cookies and milk are delicious,
but cookies and hot chocolate? Outstanding. Set up a hot chocolate bar on the
kitchen counter for when your guests arrive. Put various mix-ins in mugs so your
friends can make the perfect hot chocolate concoction. Suggestions? Candy canes
and marshmallows are a must, but also try vanilla extract, whipped cream,
chocolate sauce, caramel, and crushed up candy. Yumm, talk about the best
cookie swap ever.

Insta-Pics

Taylor Swift knows how to have a great time with her besties and how do we know? Her Instagram pics of course! Nothing says good times like goofing off in pics with your best girlfriends. During your cookie swap, make sure to stop and strike a pose for the camera and come up with an original hashtag for the big event. That way, you’ll have a ton of pics to look back on and you’ll have a fun new profile pic—perfection.

Have you hosted a cookie swap
before? How did you make is festive and fab? Let us know in the comments so we
can steal some of your tips!