2nd Annual Cookie Exchange

Last year I had a small cookie exchange a few days after Caitlin was born and it was a blast. My friend Kaari down in Santa Clara throws one every year and I love it, so I decided to host another one this year up in our neck of the woods. I think it is becoming one of my favorite holiday events!

We had 20+ guests this year, compared to last year's four or five and I LOVED the diversity in the creations! Of course I realized at the end of the night that I never took pictures of any of my friends... just their food :)

Our friend Jeremy drove up to be a cookie judge... along with these two crazy kids. Andrew thought it was so fun to have his own cookie party in his room. The train table has many uses :)

To minimize the sugar overload, we had a lovely appetizer spread too. Some of the guests brought delicious things (spinach artichoke dip, spinach balls, bruschetta, cheese plate, taquitos) to share and I made a bean dip, baked brie, and cranberry meatballs. Yum, yum, yum!

My neighbor Sahar made her first batch of cookies- EVER! So exciting... so I had to snap a picture!

I found cute snowmen platters for everyone to load up their cookies on to take them home.

Midway through the night Kevin and Jeremy came down with their little Andrew helper and awarded prizes- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. They picked some great cookies, though they were all amazing.

At the end of the night we cleaned up and Jeremy gave me a mini photo tutorial on my camera... since I don't really know how to use it yet.

Kevin was my practice subject with my portrait lens. :) (not sure what the lens is actually called?)

I already started the morning off with a few cookies :)

What a fun night! Can't wait till next year!