Visions of Cookies

Well the 78th annual Cookie Party has come to a close. Yay!

It's a really fun event, but as one of the organizers I find myself torn between years of panic when we don't have enough cookies, and years of surplus. There have been a few years when we started to cut bar cookies in half the last 30 minutes of the events so that we could attempt to "stretch" the remaining cookies.
This year started as one of thoes years. Our sponsorship was low. We were hurting on donations - about 100 dozen LESS than what we needed. Ouch. So the "committee" and I were fully prepared to bake 100 dozen between the 3 of us.

So, we put a plee out to the campus for more donations. We got a little bit of a response. Then our boss swept in, and saved the day, and saved us the time and effort.

But, as folks dropped off cookies yesterday wek kept hearing - "Well, I knew you were low, so I baked a few more than I said I would bring."

So, we had PLEANTY of cookies. And it was actually really fun to just encourage people to eat as much as they wanted. And they did. If you want to see a visual image for "gluttony", come to the cookie party! People walk away with STACKS of cookies. Gross. :) We had so many cookies left at the end of the party, we told the remaining students to come in and take a few dozen to go. They we still had about 15 dozen to donate to the Decatur Family Refuge. Maybe the best way to end the Cookie Party. :)

All in all, it is something you need to see to believe. From 2pm-4pm we have a constantly full room of students, faculty, and staff as they mix, mingle, and share a sigh of relief for the end of the semester over a sweet treat...or 2...or in our case, 31. :)

Here are the pictures we captured yesterday.

This is what 90 dozen cookies looks like in a car trunk...just incase you wanted to know. :)

This is the "prep" room. From 8am-12pm people drop their cookie donations off here. At 1pm we start to unwrap boxes, at 2pm we start to plate to serve.

This is the Cookie Party place before the time it opens. Lovely. Quiet. Well Decorated and organized. :)

This is what a Full Cookie Party plate looks like before it goes in the crowd of people. The "melted snowmen" were ours. And the chocolate covered pretzles. They were a hit!

And there it is. Cookie Party in full swing. This is how it is pretty consistantly for 2 hours. :)

Happy baking!
MMB