Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone hosting a cookie exchange as a cover to hide the true reason for inviting one of their guests.

Posted in Dark on Nov 1, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 141 stories

“Crumbling the Cookie ” by Kay Swenn

Submitted to Contest #71

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I love the traditions people celebrate, I love the lights, gift-giving, baked goods, all of it. But my favorite Christmas tradition, is the cookie exchange my friends and I do every year. This year, it was my turn to host, I had gone to great lengths to ensure that this party would be perfect. New table cloths decked with green and red and gold and silver threading, plates with beautiful holly leaves and wine glasses to match, not to mention the stocked up medicine cabinet from the inevitable su...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Cookie Bond ” by Shreenidhi Ramamurthi

Submitted to Contest #71

“The best cookies are the ones that melt on your tongue like butter on a hot bread.” – Sahitya recalled the note that came along with the butterscotch cookies on her twentieth birthday. Every year on her birthday, she would receive a basket full of cookies along with a note that shared a secret to baking the best cookies. She had safely locked every note she had ever received in her safe box. ‘The day I bake the best cookies, the mother who gave birth to me shall come to me, forever’ - Sahitya thought to herself. Over the past twenty years o...

4 comments 4
Read story

“STAY WITH ME” by Nhi Yến

Submitted to Contest #71

In Clovelly, an unknown village visible from the Southwest Oceania, there is a minor colony with distinctive culture and customs. All of them have been fostering incessantly respect for Mother Nature for she provides them with daily necessities. From the moments the sun comes up, they start growing seeds, fishing and working in their field. Every day fills with laughter and Ani’s curiosity.  Unlike any ordinary girls, a seven-year-old girl, Ani is a studious, nice-looking with blonde curvy hair and has deep love in magic. Each day at ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Burnt cookies” by Pablo Mascaraque Glenn

Submitted to Contest #71

DEBRIEFING NUMBER: KL156-396/R6. LOCATION: Base 302, Building 2, Room -448. PRESENT: Agent Harper (lead investigator); Agent codename Labrador. DATE: [REDACTED]. TRANSCRIPT: Harper: Good evening, Agent Labrador. I am Agent Harper. Labrador: Hi, hello. H: I am assuming you have been informed of the purpose of this debriefing. Is that correct? L: Uhm, not exactly, no. But I have a fair idea. [both agents remain silent for several seconds] H: Would you like to tell us what that idea is? L: Right, yes. I, eh, I was in charge of the Agency’s ce...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Tom the Temp” by Karlie Scott

Submitted to Contest #71

Piece of Heaven Publishing Company, read in big blue block letters at the entrance of the four story building. I read this phrase every time I entered this godforsaken place. Piece of Heaven for who?? Not for “Tom the Temp”, (that’s me). A couple of my now co-workers nicknamed me that. I’ve been here for 2 months, on the dot, and there is no foreseeable end to this sentence. The person I’m filling for went on maternity leave but is now facing some unexpected health issues. I’ve never met them but everyone I talk to raves about how welco...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Nick's friend” by Sara Blanch

Submitted to Contest #71

Inviting over the family recently moved into the house down the street seemed like a neighbourly, Holiday spirity thing to do. After her normally introverted parents had decided to branch out of their comfort zone and socialise this year, Anika had been meeting a lot more of the neighbourhood...the newest being the Loch's whose Father's shared an intense love of cooking just like her mother. In fact, it was only the other day during an impromptu meet as she picked her older brother up from his job at the local woolworths did she find out tha...

0 comments 0
Read story

“An Almost Unsuccessful Attempt” by Giuliana Engelman

Submitted to Contest #71

An Almost Unsuccessful Attempt I placed the final plate on my counter. There were only a few minutes left until guests would begin arriving. My heart was pounding. I had never hosted a party before, and I certainly never had for the motivations that currently possessed me. In fact, I’m relatively certain that next to nobody has. On the counter before me, dozens of small, plastic plates were sprawled. Each bearing five of my famous butterscotch cookies. One plate had been separated from the rest. There wasn’t anything different about them...

0 comments 0
Read story

“He's Going to Kill Me” by Elliot G

Submitted to Contest #71

When we had received the invitation, I knew that something suspicious was afoot. It had been a normal day, but that dark red enveloppe sticking out of our old rusting mailbox ruined all hope for further peace of mind. This realization had struck me after having read the sender’s name and address. I was hit with a sudden sense of fear and terror, attempting to destroy the envelope before my wife could catch sight of it. To my dismay, she had seized the paper from my hand before giving me a chance to think and read through it, expressing a gre...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Crumbles” by Chris D

Submitted to Contest #71

"Now you promise you'll be there? You're not just saying one thing to placate your mother and are going to break her heart later, are you?" Marylou twirled the phone cord around her finger. "I already cleared it with my boss. He will let me take Tuesday off, but I have to cover for Marsha on Friday instead."  In the grand scheme of things, Hilda was actually doing her friend a favor. She was making plans for a long weekend with her husband before Hilda could even hang up the phone. It'd be an overnight trip into the city to see the Time...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Imperfect Perfection” by Angela Doverspike

Submitted to Contest #71

Everything has to be perfect, Ben thought as he scurried from room to room. He'd insisted this year's cookie exchange be held at his house. He saw no other way. Any minute guests would be arriving. The final set of cookies had just been pulled from the oven and placed on the cooling rack. Cutting it a little close. But there was so much to do to prepare.  As the master of the house and host of the party, he had to set the mood. Festive and merry. He spent hours decorating the tree, hanging the garland with care. The detailed snowy villa...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Secrets” by David Hilder

Submitted to Contest #71

      Theresa needed to sit down. She slumped down into her overstuffed armchair. One hand on her belly, feeling for the baby who had just announced itself with a kick, her other hand clutching an old letter. Her mind was spinning.            Had she read the letter incorrectly? Theresa skimmed through the words again in disbelief. It wasn’t possible. It was dated eight years ago, a letter from her father to her mother. But her father died when she was four....

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Secret Ingredient” by Lauren Ford

Submitted to Contest #71

I got to the oven just in time before they burnt to a crisp. What did it matter anyway? Everyone expects women of a “certain age” to just love baking. But I just think it’s too much work for something you can buy from the store that’s just as good. And I really hate cookies. Especially snickerdoodles. But those were his favorite Christmas cookies. And everything had to be just perfect when he got here.  In 30 minutes all of my family and friends will be arriving for the “35th Annual Astor Family Cookie Exchange.” Somehow it gets bigger...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Poison” by Natalie Lau

Submitted to Contest #71

Colleen Smith hurried around her kitchen, wiping down every surface until it was absolutely spotless. She had an agenda for the night, she was a busy woman. She plugged in the lights on her Christmas tree, illuminating the room with a warm, inviting glow. Colleen laid out the cookies she had baked previously that day, which were all decorated perfectly due to the amount of detail and time she devoted to making them. This was a cookie exchange, after all. She connected her phone to her speaker, selecting her illegally-downloaded playlist. Col...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Of Cookies and Deadly Secrets” by GiGi Liz

Submitted to Contest #71

By the time the guests started showing up, November was ready for them. She ran her fingers along the bulge in her skirt pocket, gazing around at her handiwork. White twinkle lights glowed in every corner of the basement, and the snowflake-embroidered tablecloth looked bare and inviting. Her gaze landed on an oak door against one wall, and she realized she had one more thing she needed to do. Tell-tale voices from the top landing signified the first guest arriving. November’s heart beat faster even as she heard a woman responding to Lulu’s...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The First Noel” by Ashley Wilson

Submitted to Contest #71

"Daniel! Hurry up, we are going to be late" Anna shouted at the top of the stairs. Anna scanned the living room below in search of her husband. She had been waiting all year to see her family for Christmas and she wasn't going to let whatever he was getting into waste a second of it. "One minute honey" a soft distant reply strayed from their kitchen. With a confused expression, Anna descended the stairs two at a time and followed the voice to its origin. The site waiting for her was the back of her 6'2 husband’s silhouette crouched over the ...

0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a group of people determined to win an award for making the biggest cookie ever.

High School – 63 stories

Write about someone investigating a break-in at a bakery. The only thing missing? A very secret ingredient.

Mystery – 106 stories

Write about two people who run rival bakeries, but fall in love during their town’s annual holiday festival.

Romance – 137 stories

Write about someone trying to recreate a grandparent’s signature baked good from memory.

Kids – 161 stories

Contest #71

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Sugar and Spice

$50

Prize money

608

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 11, 2020 EST

Won by A.Dot Ram 🏆

Title: The Craving

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢