National Soup Swap Day is officially the third Saturday in January, but why not move up this exchange for a holiday get-together instead?

Much in the same spirit as a cookie or candy exchange, it’s an excuse to gather with interesting people, have a couple of drinks and trade soul-warming soup. Each guest leaves with as much soup as they brought, but in a variety as wide as the guest list is long.

Soup Swaps can be done in large or small groups and help break the monotony of cold-season cooking. You never know what the other guests will bring. And for a few weeks, the soups will be easy weeknight dinners — just pull one from the freezer, heat and serve alongside a simple salad or some crusty bread.

“When I started swapping soup with my pals in Seattle as a way to overcome my boredom with big pots of soup, I’d never have guessed it would have turned into a day that, for me, rivals Thanksgiving or my birthday on the calendar,” writes web consultant Knox Gardner on his soupswap.com blog.

Gardner first began throwing these parties in the late 1990s, and it catapulted in 2006 with the help of social media, becoming an annual international affair.

Bend local Dan Pilver, a special education teacher at Summit High School, has been hosting these swaps for years.

“I originally thought that I was the one who had come up with the idea,” Pilver said with a laugh. “I had heard of cookie exchanges, and I thought, ‘Hey, it would be nice to do that with soup.’”

Pilver has been putting on his Soup Swaps for eight years now, every year finding new ways to make the swapping go more swiftly.

“One thing I learned from the Soup Swap (website) was that it has to be a lottery. When everyone is bringing six quarts of soup, you can’t just do a trade, it doesn’t work. One way ours evolved was that we thought if you’re picked last for the lottery, that’s not fair, so we decided to let the last person drawn pick two soups. That was our spin on it, then we reverse the order. So if you have 20 people, we go one through 20, then number 20 picks two, then we go backwards all the way back to one,” Pilver said.

Soup Swap participants are competitive. “And I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said. “It’s nice when your soup is the first to get picked, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, all six of mine went in the first six picks!’ But then I always feel bad for the soup that’s left at the end.”

Pilver added, “People get into it. Couples plan their strategy together. People even take notes. It’s just a good time.”

Soup Swaps are simple to plan and can be a nice holiday party for gatherings with co-workers, new neighbors or family and friends together to swap soup and get inspired by new flavors and recipes to try yourself.

Here are some guidelines to help you throw a Soup Swap of your own and suggestions for how to help it go smoothly:

Pre-party

Designate a place and time for a Soup Swap. Two to three hours is adequate, so even weeknights can work. A weeknight gathering might be best during the holiday season.

Send out invitations at least a couple of weeks ahead of time. Soup Swaps work with any number of people, but the more people, the more varieties of soup. Don’t be afraid to tell every guest to bring someone — meeting new people only adds to the fun.

Tell guests to bring an already-frozen homemade soup. Be sure to specify the volume and number of containers to bring. For example, 6 quarts or 12 pints, in glass jars, plastic Tupperware or even Ziploc bags. Guests also need to bring one small, extra container of soup that can be heated up for taste testing before swapping commences. Also, bring recipe cards for each container.

Party time

Designate a spot on the display table for their soups with a taste tester and a recipe card in front.

The host should present his or her soup first to kick off the taste testing and launch the swap into action.

Soup Swap options

Equal trade: This is a low-key way to swap for smaller groups or when you know exactly how many people will attend. If you’ve invited six guests, for instance, have everyone bring six containers of soup. The host makes for seven people and adds six soups of his or her own, ensuring that after all soup is swapped, no guests go home with their own.

The lottery: This system works well to maintain order and “fairness” within larger groups by placing names or numbers in a hat. If drawing numbers, the guest who drew No. 1 will pick the first soup, followed by No. 2 and so on. For names, the host will draw names and guests will line up in the order they were drawn, following along around the soup table until everyone has picked their first soup. For the next pick, you can either continue in the order you chose, return names and numbers to the hat to draw again or reverse the order, as Pilver suggested.

Free-for-all: This can get loud, exciting and quite competitive as guests hone in on the last jars of the African peanut stew or the lobster bisque. It works best if you allow guests to bring any number of containers they want. For instance, a guest who brought just two containers will pick only two, and a guest who brought 12 will leave with 12. The free-for-all strategy also has the added benefit of getting the swapping done fast, but beware the frenzy it can create.

Successful swap tips

1. Add a theme: For instance, all soups must be considered chowders or have origins in a certain country. You can also designate guests to bring a mix of meat-based, vegan or gluten-free entries to make sure your guests with dietary needs don’t go home empty-handed.

2. You don’t even have to be present to win: Even those who cannot attend can drop off soups in a cooler the day of, and the host can do the presenting and swapping for them. This is a great favor for new moms or busy friends who want to be included.

3. Recipe rundown: Create a collection of all of the recipes and send it to your guests after the party. A simple cookbook of recipes presented that year is a great party favor.

4. Prizes: Give door prizes or vote for your favorite soups — best overall, creative or original.

5. Be a gracious host: This means trading soups to make sure guests leave with soups they are happy with, even if that means silently selecting the boring black bean soup no one was interested in, so that the guest who brought it won’t ever know.

— Reporter: laurakessinger@gmail.com