Last Saturday was my annual (or sometimes bi-annual) “Clothing Swap”.

A clothing swap is such great fun because you get to hang with your girlfriends, clean out your closet, and find some great new things to wear….all for FREE!

Here is how you can host your own clothing swap!

Who to Invite/What to Bring

• Invite all your girlfriends (and friends of friends too!) – I like to use Evite, because then you will know, roughly, how many are coming.
• Advise them to clean out their closet of any clothes that they no longer want.
• These close need to still be in great condition, but maybe you just don’t wear it anymore because the color is wrong for you, it’s too big or too small, or whatever.  But, it’s still in style and would possibly look good on someone else.
• You can also swap shoes, handbags, and jewelry.

How to Set Up

• If you have (or can borrow) some clothes racks, these are really helpful in displaying all the clothes that people bring – then you can sort clothes by short sleeve, long sleeve, pants, skirts, or whatever.
• If you don’t have racks, maybe have some areas or tables where piles of like items can be placed.
• If you are using racks, encourage people to bring their clothes on hangers that they no longer want, like icky wire ones and ones with clips to hang pants/skirts.  I keep spare ones in a plastic tote in my basement specifically for swaps.
• Have a designated room for trying on clothes.  I usually set up the clothes in my living room and everyone tries on clothes in my bedroom.  Try to have a full length mirror so that you can get a better look at how the clothes look.

When to Have a Swap?

• The beginning of a new season.  This way, people are going through their clothes already, getting rid of the previous season’s items they didn’t wear and seeing what they no longer want of the upcoming season’s clothes.
• You pick the time that’s best for you.  I like to have my swaps around 10 am on Saturdays.  It’s a fun Saturday morning of girl time, no kids (though we had a couple of babies at this one) and it’s over by around lunch time.
• You can offer snacks like quiche, muffins, Mimosas or Lilosas (where pink grapefruit juice replaces orange juice).  We had several contributors for food/drink so the burden was not all on one person.
• You can also hold swaps at night with snacks and wine.  This is really fun too, but harder when you have kids that need to go to bed.
• The point, for us, is to also make it a fun, hang out time with girlfriends since that time is often few and far between!

Are There Rules?

• Some people have specific rules to their swaps, but we have never had so many people that this has been an issue.  Or you can just hang the clothes and start ‘shopping’.
• This last swap was perfect.  Nearly everyone was of a different body type, so if an item didn’t fit one person right, she passed it onto someone else who it would fit better.  And vice versa.
• There is sort of an unwritten rule not to hog clothes.  If you’ve found some really great pieces, maybe take a little break, get a snack or a drink and chat, give others a chance to find some things too.
• Saturday, everyone left happy, arms full of “new to them” clothes and a great morning of girl time and retail therapy!  For FREE!!

Donate all the Leftovers

When it was all over, I took all the leftovers, bagged them up and took them to a local organization that helps families who have recently become homeless (for whatever reason) get back on their feet.  Find an organization that means something to you and donate all the unwanted items.

I scored some great items at Saturday’s swap!  Three pairs of shorts (all name brand), a pair of J.Crew cords, three Gap sweaters, six spring/summer tops (two of which are Banana Republic), a summer dress, a summer skirt and a great pair of red boots for winter.

So now, call your friends and start swapping!

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04/03/2009 | Frugal & Green Living.

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