Together We Sent Holiday Cheer Around the Globe and Raised Over $15,000 For Charity

Every year, thanks to the organization of Food52er Noëlle (a.k.a enbe), our community gets to participate in our yearly Holiday Swap. We've wrapped up the seventh annual event, and once again, it was a record-setting one: 674 people from 12 countries participated! More than half of the participants (379) were first-timers, while 15 have participated in all 7 swaps.

Not only are we in awe of cookies crossing the globe and your serious edible-gifting skills, we’re also thankful for your generosity. Like the two years prior, the sign-up process included a $5 donation (or greater!). Our 2017 charity partner was No Kid Hungry, an organization that aims to end childhood hunger. We're thrilled to report that you all donated a total of $7,858, and Food52 matched your donations to double our impact, for a total donation of $15,716!

For highlights of the hundreds of packages that made their way to happy bellies, take a moment to scroll through the Holiday Swap Instagram page and the Instagram hashtag #f52holidayswap. It’s like an I Spy for holiday cheer; you’ll find everything from shortbread to quick breads, nut mixes to candies, and all sorts of local specialties. We spotted more than one pet photobomb, a selection of cheeses from the Netherlands, world peace (okay, cookies, but it's a start), and so many heartfelt notes of thanks.

We’ve shared a small sampling from grateful recipients below:

Did you participate in the Holiday Swap? Tell us about one favorite item you received!

We hope every package made it to its destination by now, but if you signed up and sent a box, but haven't yet received one in return, please let us know. Send an email to Noëlle at [email protected].