Clothing Swap Party

A few months before I was immersed in blog land, I threw a clothing swap party with some friends. What is a clothing swap party? Well, I’m so glad you asked!!
It is where you clean out your closet, gather all the clothes, purses, belts, shoes, etc. that you no longer wear and bring them to a swap party! At the swap party you get to exchange each item of clothing for something new {to you} that your friends brought that THEY no longer wear and want to swap! You and your friends score some new items and all left over clothes were donated to charity. It’s a win win!!


Here are some pictures of our fun night! 



I scored those cute ballet slippers {above}! They are so comfortable! I also made these signs and glued them onto those little stands I got from Michaels for $1! I added some ribbon and rhinestones {on the sides} for a little girly glam.

{Ugh! I’m bummed some of these came out so blurry! I only had a phone camera at the time so these are my only pictures of the event!} 

We actually had a ton of jewelry! My friend was a consultant for Cookie Lee and brought some pieces to share and even raffled off a piece of jewelry just for fun!!

These belts and scarves hung from what used to be an over the door towel rack.




I also had a double clothing rack {purchased from Target} to hang up all the clothes.




I used my stairway landing as an additional area to try on clothes. The white drapery is actually my white lace shower curtain hung on hooks! I had other spaces for trying on clothes as well and another full length mirror in the living room for people to look at and try on clothes!



{Can you tell what I made this pom pom out of? A few of these were hung around my living room just for some added fun!}






Swap ‘Til you Drop!




As each guest came in they received a recyclable shopping bag to take home their new clothes in and a little goodie bag which included a pen and a list pad to write down some of the items they liked as they ‘shopped’!




Other than getting to scope out our friend’s wardrobes, our favorite part was shopping and trying on all the clothes, shoes and jewelry!



Here’s the general concept for how a swap party works:
For every item of clothing brought, you receive a ticket. Each ticket, in turn, could be exchanged for another item of clothing. As guests arrived, they wrote their name on a list. We used that list as the order in which we took turns choosing clothing swap items. Guests were given some time to shop and try on clothes before the actual shopping portion took place.

And the shopping was SO much fun! It was so neat to see my friends encouraging each other and hearing “That looks SO good on you! Here – try it with this top!” and so on. Sometimes we felt like the girls in that book “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” Even thought we were all different heights and sizes, the clothes just seemed to work out! And because we had belts, scarves, shoes and purses anyone of ANY size and height could join the party!!

What was also cool was that most people wanted to GET RID OF clothes – SO they may have brought in 30 items of clothing but only wanted to take 5 home! That meant some people got to take extras if they wanted and it also meant that we had a bunch left over! {**Give your friends PLENTY of notice you’re planning a swap party so they have time to save clothes! I recommend at least 6-8 weeks, more if you can, so there are plenty of clothes!}


All extra clothes were donated to charity! {I put that in the invite so guests would know ahead of  time where we were donating.}




Ready for your own swap party? Right click the image below to print out your own directions for swap party fun!



Thanks so much for reading! Let me know if you plan your own swap party!



Linking up to:
Home Stories AtoZ; The Gunny Sack; tatertots and jello; Homemaker in Heels;Tip Junkie;Today's Creative Blog; C.R.A.F.T.