Move over candy buffet, there’s a new reception idea in town and it’s just as sweet: the cookie table.

Actually, the cookie table has been a wedding tradition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for quite some time, but it seems to be catching on in other parts of the U.S and Canada.

The NY Times wrote an article about it in December, and I’ve been seeing cookie tables pop up on other blogs.

According to the NY times, the cookie table is a longstanding tradition in PA. that possibly had it’s origins during the Depression, when elaborate cakes were not as common. Cookies filled the need because everyone could chip in, instead of one family sharing all of the expense. At least that’s one of the the theories.

“For as long as anyone here can remember, wedding receptions in Pittsburgh have featured cookie tables, laden with dozens of homemade old-fashioned offerings like lady locks, pizzelles and buckeyes. For weeks ahead — sometimes months — mothers and aunts and grandmas and in-laws hunker down in the kitchen baking and freezing. Then, on the big day, hungry guests ravage the buffet, piling plates high and packing more in takeout containers so they can have them for breakfast the next day,” says the NY times article.

The cookie is so important to some that it would be bordering on sacrilege to do without it.

Cookie tables are also big in Ohio, and some claim that is where they originated.

What surprises me is that this idea didn’t catch on sooner in other parts of  the continent. I mean, who doesn’t love homemade cookies?

Here are a few photos of cookie tables that just might inspire you to have your own cookie table!

 

 

 

 

Save