Clothes Swap Party - One Girls Trash is Another Girls Treasure

Well, I finally did it!  I finally Hosted my very first "Clothes Swap Party"  This is an event that I've wanted to do for several years but never made it a priority.  Several weeks back I sent out an Invite to several of my friends and starting planning.  I was excited for several reasons but first, I was looking forward to having some girlfriends over to eat a little and laugh a lot! Secondly, I was getting bored with some of the clothes in my closet, some I rarely wore, others I hadn't worn at all.  As I was picking things out for the Swap Party I realized I like to buy belts, earrings & bracelets

I'll share a few tips on how to prepare for the Swap Party as well as a few things I would do differently.

As far as your preparation, an invite is a necessity so you can have an idea of how many people will attend, the amount of munchies to provide and how to setup the Swapping area giving each friend her own space to display her items.

                                        Here is the Invite that I created and emailed to my friends.

You can include date, time, etc or just add it to your email message like I did!

I starting getting my home ready the day prior to the Swap Party because I'm a Type A and like everything to be just right, if your not, you probably won't need as much time. Here are some things I did to make the event pretty, fun and sort of like a boutique in my living room.

I had a name plate for each person so others knew who's stuff it was, I designated a bathroom and two additional rooms as  a "Fitting Room" so we could try stuff on to see if it fit.

I asked each person to bring a min of 10 items in good, gently used condition but more is better if you have them.  I confess, I had more like 50 plus items but that allowed for more "Swapping"

Having Party Rules is important so everyone knows what to expect. I decided to go with a one-to-one barter and used raffle tickets, the right of refusal with no hurt feelings.  When your guest arrive, give them a ticket for each item they brought.

Lastly, have a "Donate" bin so any unswapped items that your guest do not want to take home can be Donated to a local charity

Finally, a few of the things I would do differently: Make sure it's not a long holiday weekend, that did not work in my favor. I would also give a little more time between the day I emailed the invitations and the day of the event.  All-in-all it was successful, I had a great time with friends, got some new stuff,  and can't wait to see how my friends style and accessorize the new pieces they got from me!!  

I hope you get inspired to Host your own "Clothes Swap Party" -- Jo Ann