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Baking Party

© Giao Duong Williams

In the November of our first year out of school, my friend Kramer and I decided that we would start an early holiday gifting quest and produce copious amounts of cookies for our teammates at Hewitt. We got together on an early Saturday morning and shopped together for pre-made cookie doughs (the kind from Pillsbury that pop free from a can and roll on out), icings and frostings in cute, little plastic tubs, colorful sprinklies and nonpareils, and twinkly, colored sugars. We were set to bake. When we got back to my apartment, I popped on the holiday tunes (we started with Harry Connick, Jr.), and we proceeded to roll, cut, and bake till the whole of my kitchen and most of my dining room were filled with sheets and sheets of cooling cookies. Hours later, we were proudly (and gingerly) packing away our goods, merely waiting for the gifting days of December to roll in. It was the first weekend of November. In the end, Kramer wound up bringing the cookies in for her teammates to eat early on, weeks before December. I held out and finally brought my cookies out of the freezer the first week of December, when they looked like they could stand to be frozen no more. Though none of the cookies actually made it to our teams as Christmas gifts, the sheer fun of getting together to get a Christmas task done was great.

With Thanksgiving almost behind us (I am currently writing this from my folks' home in a post-turkey semi-coma, so forgive me if I blather; I truly hope that all of you enjoyed Turkey Day as much as I did), this is the prime time to start thinking about having a holiday baking party and getting your holiday treats ready with a few good friends.

Gather the troops. Sure, you could make your holiday treats solo, but the fun is in sharing the task.

Take the size of your home into account. How many people, scurrying about with cookie sheets, rolling pins, what have you, can comfortably work in your space? Although my kitchen in my apartment was huge (16' x 18'), it was completely adequate to have only two bakers in the kitchen. My current kitchen in my "cozy" house is tiny (8' x 8') and couldn't bear accommodating more than 2 chefs. You know the old adage about too many cooks in the kitchen. Don't go testing it with a baking endeavor that could try your nerves rather than soothe them. You know your space and how comfortable you are with extra folks in the kitchen space. Think back on the last time you entertained and people congregated in the kitchen. When did it start to feel a bit too close for comfortable movement?