A cookie exchange party is a great way to sample and enjoy an interesting assortment of delectable homemade cookies. Fund raising, retirement, baby-shower, reunion, discussing how to set up a cookie business, etc. are all good reasons for it. Your guests will be even more enthusiastic when you also include other activities such as Spring cleaning, ice-skating, barbecuing….
My favorite reason to host a cookie exchange party is converting someone without a sweet tooth into a cookie lover. The party presents a perfect situation to engage him/her. Of course, this person will be my guest of honor who would not (yet!) have to bring any kind of homemade cookies.
To keep all my guests alert and engaged, I will not serve milk. The tryptophan in milk couples with carbohydrates in homemade cookies will make them feel sleepy.:-)
At the party, everyone including the guest of honor will have plenty of opportunities to explore the making of different kinds of cookies, from easy recipes and simple ingredients to proper equipments and baking techniques.
From my other selective guests, I would request that they bring their favorite homemade cookies and prepare to share and explain their recipes. Specifying the quantity of cookies that each guest is expected to contribute helps assure that there will be enough cookies for everyone to sample and take home (at least a dozen cookies).
Unless I have extra plastic bags, boxes, or cartons in which my guests can store their cookies for the trip home, I would encourage everyone to bring their own containers. Each type of cookies should be kept separately from the others to preserve its original flavor and texture.
However, if my guests prefer to ensemble different types of homemade cookies on a platter, here is a very efficient way to do so.
Before leaving my cookie party, my guest of honor will be eager to extend his/her newly acquired baking skill toward a first batch of homemade cookies.
Experience has taught me not to exclude men from my guest list. In fact, the guest of honor at my last cookie party recently gave me a batch of his very own homemade cookies for my birthday. He wanted me to evaluate it. It was the best homemade cookies I have ever tasted!
A cookie exchange 
