GoodHolidayStore planning guide
Cookie Swap Bingo Setup: Five Steps, Zero Crumbs
Your cookie trays need the table, and bingo needs somewhere clean to land. Set the game up away from the swap table, print only the boards you need and cut the calling cards before the doorbell rings. The calls are pictures, so nobody has to identify a mystery biscuit from across the room.
Five steps take you from download to checked win without turning the food table into your craft station.
Put bingo between the trays and the take-home boxes
Plan bingo after guests have put down their cookie trays and before everyone starts packing boxes. Tell people where the cards are so they don't carry food plates over while you're handing out markers.
Leave a dry space for the caller's checklist and drawn cards. You want the host to see that space clearly when somebody calls bingo. The food table can remain a place for serving and conversation; it doesn't also need to hold scissors, paper offcuts and thirty-six little calling cards.
Print, cut, mark and call: five steps to the first win
Select one paper size and layout
Choose US Letter or A4, then one player card per page or two per page. All four supplied PDFs contain the same 50 boards. Full-page editions contain 58 PDF pages; two-per-page editions contain 29.
Print at 100% or Actual Size, single-sided. Use portrait for the full-page edition and landscape for two-per-page. The two-up PDF is already arranged, so leave your printer's Pages per Sheet setting at 1. Print a sample before sending your selected pages through.
Print a different board for each player
The full-page player cards are on pages 3–52; the two-per-page player sheets are 2–26. Select enough different boards for your group rather than printing the entire file automatically. Cut two-up sheets along the center guide.
Each board has 24 pictures and a center FREE space. Seat players where they can see the caller's pictures and hear the labels. Put one board at each place, then save unused cards in a clean folder for another gathering.
Cut the complete calling set
Print the host support pages and cut all 36 calling cards along their guides. Keep the caller checklist with them. Count the finished cards before putting the scissors away; a card stuck under a scrap of paper shouldn't disappear from the game.
Shuffle the complete set and reserve a separate spot for drawn calls. You need both piles: one to draw from, one to check against. Don't replace the supplied calls with the names of cookies guests brought.
Put enough markers at every place
One printable sheet has 36 tokens for one player. Print additional sheets for the other players, or provide your own removable markers. Ordinary white paper works for boards; cardstock can make cut-apart pieces sturdier.
Keep the markers in small bowls beside the cards. Mark FREE before the first call. Avoid using the party cookies as markers: the pictures and the real treats don't have to match, and you want the boards clear enough to check.
Announce a pattern, call and check
Agree on a row, column or diagonal, or a full-card round, before drawing anything. Read each calling card's exact label and show the picture. Players cover the matching square if it appears on their board.
Keep drawn cards together and track them on the checklist. When someone claims a win, check each square in that pattern against the calls. Share simultaneous wins. For another round, clear every board and reshuffle all 36 cards.
Two setup mistakes that wreck the first round
The first mistake is choosing two-per-page in both the supplied PDF and the printer settings. That shrinks an already arranged layout again. Check your sample page for the intended board size and a clear center cut guide before printing the rest.
The second is preparing one token sheet for the whole room. The supplied sheet serves one player. Count your marker bowls alongside the boards, then decide whether printing extra sheets or gathering removable markers is the easier job tonight.
After the winning board is checked, collect the markers before anyone opens the take-home boxes. Stack the boards flat and keep the full calling set together. Next cookie swap, there's no cutting at all.
Questions and answers
Do I have to print all 50 player cards?
No. Print one board per guest plus the host pages, and save the rest. All four PDFs hold the same 50 designs in different paper sizes and layouts, so pick one and ignore the others.
Should players mark pictures when they see real cookies?
No. Players mark only what the caller draws from the 36 calling cards. The real cookies on the table are just for eating.
Can we play another round with the same boards?
Yes. Clear the removable markers, keep the boards and reshuffle the complete 36-card calling set.