The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour – A Holiday Treat

Published by Angie. Last Updated on November 16, 2023.

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In 2022, the Joy of Cookies tour was rebranded as The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour. We visited in a prior year with the previous name; however, we expect the format to be the same. In 2023, the Lawrenceville Cookie Tour will take place on December 9th and 10th.

The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour (formerly the Joy of Cookies Tour) has been an annual tradition for almost two decades.

This event takes place the first weekend in December and is basically an open house for Lawrenceville businesses and restaurants complete with free cookies at each stop.

If you want to support local businesses with your holiday shopping, or if there are shops you've always wanted to check out but always seem to pass by, The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour is a perfect event for you to explore this buzzing neighborhood.

A Self-Guided Trip Around Lawrenceville

Lawrenceville Joy of Cookies Tour

Although this event is dubbed as a “tour,” it's completely self-guided. Hop on the event's website to download a map of participating businesses, or pick up a map at one of the stops during the event. If you don't you needn't worry as each participating shop has a giant numbered gingerbread man signifying participation (and are hard to miss)!

Historically, the businesses are generally open from 10AM-6PM on Friday and Saturday and 10AM-5PM on Sunday, but each individual shop is free to set their own hours for the event. (Note: In 2021, the event will be one day only, Saturday, December 11th, from 11AM-4PM.)

With dozens of participating shops over a 2-mile stretch, it's possible to make an entire day out of the cookie tour. Or you can choose to focus on just a few blocks or a specific kind of shop in particular if you're limited on time.

The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour

We checked out the cookie tour in 2017 and what we loved the most was that it gave us a chance to go into businesses that we'd never been in before. Lawrenceville is full of odd little shops that sometimes you may feel awkward going into if you're just browsing and not really sure what you'll find.

The open house feel of this event means that there's always lots of people coming and going into all the shops, so you don't need to feel awkward about just popping in somewhere quickly.

Too Many Great Spots to Visit on The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour

Lawrenceville Joy of Cookies Tour

Here are some of the cool businesses that we found during the event that we had never been in before but absolutely loved:

Beer on Butler: This is a great beer distributor with lots of craft beer options including bottles and cans from local breweries as well.

Riverside Design Group: Although this shop is moving out of Lawrenceville, we had to mention it. They offer beautiful glass plates, bowls, platters, and other items for your table settings, and the majority of the products are made right here in Western PA!

The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour

Cinderlands Beer Co.: This brewery opened just shortly before the cookie tour in 2017, and we just had to check it out. While we've found most new breweries seem to take a few months to hit their stride, we were pleasantly surprised with the creativity of the beer offerings here like the Test Piece NE IPA and their coffee milk stout.

Asian Influences: If you're looking for some Asian-inspired artwork, furniture, or home decor, this shop should be on your radar. The Asian attributes in their pieces range from overt to subtle, meaning there's something for everyone.

Lawrenceville Joy of Cookies Tour

We should note that we went on a Sunday late morning and early afternoon, and by that time some of the shops had run out of their free cookies. So if you're really banking on cookie-hopping through Lawrenceville, it's best to hit up the event as early as you can- you won't regret it!

The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour typically occurs the first weekend of December. In 2022, it will be on December 10th and 11th. The Lawrenceville Corporation publishes up-to-date information on each year's tour in advance.

Looking for more things to experience during Christmas in Pittsburgh? Click the previous link for some of our favorites!

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