Huntington Mall in West Virgina, US, enjoyed a feel-good Christmas event last weekend. The shopping center held its Christmas Cookie contest on Saturday, and shoppers were eager to show off their baked goods.

The tasty treats were judged on recipe originality and simplicity, and cookie taste, appearance and presentation. The winners took home gift certificates from shopping center retailers, but it sounds like the judges were the real winners on Saturday. Winning cookies ranged from frosted banana to a more traditional peanut butter chocolate chip.

It may be a simple contest, but imagining my mall filled with the scent of fresh baked cookies makes me hope more of you will be using this idea in the future.

With long lineups and grumpy customers, retail workers don’t always have a lot to smile about as Christmas approaches, but happy workers help make happy shoppers. That’s why Crossroads Center, in Iowa, US, is dedicated to putting smiles on the faces of both its shoppers and its retail workers this holiday season.

As part of its “Spread the Cheer” initiative, the shopping center is encouraging shoppers to keep an eye out for store employees that go out of their way to be extra friendly or helpful. Shoppers that put in a good word for an employee (on the mall’s website or at Customer Service) are entered into a draw for a $250 mall shopping spree – and those special employees are entered in a second draw for a $250 shopping spree.

It’s a low-risk idea that may generate plenty of good will this holiday season, so kudos to Crossroads Center.

Central City in Surrey, CA, aims to make Christmas a little easier for its shoppers this year.

The shopping center is holding a contest for a $5000 shopping spree. But to make things even easier for the winner, the prize includes a personal shopper that will make the holiday shopping experience much more pleasant. Who wouldn’t want to shop with someone to give them personal advice and carry their bags?

The shopping center is also offering a conveniant, low cost solution to photos with Santa. It’s chosen to completely eschew traditional photo packages, instead offering shoppers a CD of digital images. With people choosing to preserve their photos in digital format more and more these days, this may prove to be a popular decision.

A number of shopping centers are trying new options for Santa photos this year, from encouraging shoppers to use their own cameras to giving away free, branded pictures. Is your mall doing anything different for Santa photos this year?

Some of us get our best holiday shopping ideas while stuck in traffic, but Memorial City Mall in Texas, US is rewarding shoppers for doing their part to help reduce traffic and improve the environment.

The mall has teamed up with NuRide, an online community that rewards commuters for sharing rides with their community members. For the month of December, anyone in Houston who records a shared ride on NuRide will be eligible for a daily draw of a $100 gift certificate from Memorial City Mall.

Maybe the lucky winners can share a ride to the mall!

A few weeks ago, we mentioned the Jump For Wishes charity event. The results are now in – across Australia, over 600 people participated in “star jumping” for charity. Not only did they bring in lots of money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, but they succeeded at setting the record for simultaneous star jumps – a total of 26,830 jumps.

In other Australian news, Erina Fair is taking advantage of the DIY craze this Christmas. It’s holding a competition for 16 local elementary schools. Teams of students from the schools will be given a $100 gift certificate to a mall crafts retailer, and can spend the money to decorate a Christmas tree in any way they like. The trees will decorate the shopping center over the holidays, and visitors can vote for their favorite with a donation to the Cancer Council NSW. A little bit user-generated and a little bit DIY – that’s a great job of managing trends.