I've been wanting to do a swap party for a long time, and now that I'm back home with a bunch of my girl friends, I've been super antsy for the past couple months.
The idea: Everyone brings over a bunch of clothes they don't wear much of for whatever reason, and then you pick through them! At first, you or everyone might be apprehensive when you're picking out clothes to bring, but don't be! The more and better someone brings, the more they'll walk away with! and hopefully you'll walk away with things you'll actually wear more than once.
There are a ton of ways to do this, but here's what I did:
- Send out an invite. I say to invite as many people as possible, or you can keep it smaller. Explain how everything works, and tell them to bring a dish or beverage to share.
- Decide if you'll have a limit on things to bring. I said to bring any clothes or accessories. You could open it up even more and have people bring home decor, or just anything they want to get rid of.
- Decide on a system. I expected ten people to come, so I came up with a trade and raffle system. I said we'd have two categories: For trade and for donation. The trade items would only end up in a new home if the owner received something they thought was worthy of a trade. The donation items would find a new home with someone here or where I take them afterwards.
To keep it orderly, I got some raffle tickets. Everyone would get one ticket per item they brought to donate, and we'd pick the tickets out of a bowl, and if it's your number, you get to pick from the collection!
- Set up. Make sure you have plenty of space for people to move around, lay out their clothes, and try things on. I had my bedroom for a changing room with a mirror, and another big mirror in the living room. I also bought some clothing racks to hang things on. [They're only about $20 and could totally be taken back afterwards if need be.]
- Have everyone over, mingle and warm up to strangers, then get to it! At the end, you may be able to have everyone just go through the 'leftovers" after the raffle is over.
Unfortunately, I had a ton of people back out last minute [that lead to a bit of a Twitter rant about people not knowing how rude that is], but even with only three people coming over, we had a ton to choose from! I was a little iffy about seeing some things of mine go [and shocked that some of them didn't], but looking at what I ended up with.. I'm not mad!
My loot:
black and white chiffon tee, metallic/floral peplum top, Jessica Simpson purse, floral/fun dress, jean jacket, heart tank, sequin skirt, and scarf...
tan blazer, striped dress, pink cardigan, striped tees, green skater skirt, and zipper denim dress
Besides getting a bunch of new clothes, it's also fun to get stuff I wouldn't normally buy. The peplum, dresses, and jean jackets... I've always looked at that stuff but have been apprehensive about buying it. Now they were free!
And when it's all over.. put the leftover clothes in a box, and take them to a donation center! Unless you have a cat that it attached to them for some reason, of course.
Have you ever done one, and done it differently?! Let me know how you did it!
love,
elizabethany
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