The first time I heard “Clothes Swap” I pictured a bunch of women standing around saying “I’ll give you this if you give me that…” and trading even-steven item by item. Tedious!
Clothes “swapping” is not even close to that; and far from tedious. It has turned into one of the highlights of my Spring/Fall wardrobe-wise.
I store up all the clothes that I never want to see again in a bag in my closet, just waiting for the change in season so I can off-load it on someone who loves it.
And surprise! Someone else will love the stuff I never want to see again! And I’ll even score some new things I didn’t even know I wanted.
The first step to hosting a fabulous and fun clothes swap is finding a co-host that you adore.
For me that is Anna. She is a dear friend and loves the idea of spending no money, getting some great stuff, and purging old things as much as I do. Also, she loves to host in her beautiful home, and has lots of common areas and space for trying on!
This is not at the clothes swap. But the only recent picture of us I could find.
There is a lot online about hosting a clothes swap. Some hostesses are very particular with the rules. For example, “only take as many pieces as your bring.”
But in my group we are way more relaxed. We bring all our “I used to love this” stuff in whatever quantity we want and leave with whatever speaks to us.
We do have a couple things in place to keep some order though.
Before everyone arrives we “label” places for specific items. But not with signs, that would take entirely too much effort.
We simply lay all our different items in different areas. Shoes at the hearth, dresses on the table, sweaters here, shirts there, etc etc etc.
This is how we designated areas for different items last swap. And they are only sorted by type, not size. We aren’t a store! 🙂 These pictures show only Anna and my clothes, before the guests arrived.
Light shirts on the chair and workout clothes on the ottoman.
Sweaters and heavier shirts.
Dresses on the table.
Shorts on the coffee table, pants on the couch (skirts ended up on the left side of the couch when some arrived.)
Shoes at the hearth, as well as misc. items like purses, belts and scarves.
When the ladies come in they keep their clothes in their respective bags until after we’ve had food and drinks and everyone has arrived (or at least until the start time which is about an hour after the set event time.)
Snacks and drinks and meeting new friends and catching up with old friends. What a delight!
Then it’s time to get the swapping started Anna and I give a quick summary of the places all the clothes should go.
Now it’s time to “self sort” meaning everyone takes 5 minutes to run around the room and put all their items in the pre-designated areas.
The reason we wait and have everyone do it together and fast is because we know us ladies! We don’t want the “shopping” to start before everyone is there and ready and all the clothes are present.
Even during this “flash sort” people grab things they want to try on later. Myself included! The temptation is just too great when I see the perfect pair of my-very-own size Madewell jeans staring at me! I call dibs!
Then it’s time to shop!
We all wander around the room picking up and looking at things and laughing and talking. It’s such a sweet time and so fun to hear the ladies tell each other “have you seen this?? This would look so good on you!”
Or seeing them find the perfect dress that looks stunning on them or even their new favorite pair of jeans. (hand up.)
It is such a unique experience that brings even the closest friends closer, and turns strangers into friends. Not to mention the wonderful benefits of purging and refreshing our wardrobes without opening our purses! It’s a breath of fresh air.
A couple more tips:
- We try to invite a wide variety of ladies, ensuring everyone will have at least one or two others who wear roughly the same size as them. Even if someone can’t find an exact fit in something as specific as jeans or shorts, there will always be a purse or shoes or flowy dress that doesn’t discriminate size-wise.
In my experience everyone leaves with something that makes them happy!
2. After the swap is over we decide what to do with the leftovers. Not the food, the clothes! Goodwill or Salvation Army would happily take the donation, as would many other groups. This time Anna and I donated everything left over to a family in our community who is adopting a sweet boy from China and having a yard sale to support their efforts.
3. We have plenty of space to try things on. A bedroom slash living-room works if the house is indeed man-free, as well as a bathroom/private area for our shier guests. Also, some full-length mirrors for “oohs and ahhs.”
That actually is one of the few “rules” at our swaps… Everyone should try on everything before they take it home. Why? Because…
1) It’s fun to run around changing clothes and acting like seven year-old-girls.
2) Half the time the dress you think will look perfect on you will actually look perfect on the friend next to you. So trying on everything ensures you go home with stuff you will love and will wear, not the stuff someone else would love and wear.
The day after the swap was a Sunday and Anna texted me this picture on her way to church, “all from the swap!” I mean, how cute is that? All from her friend’s closets… a free upgrade to her wardrobe with zero trips to the store, and a great story to-boot.) The shirt was mine. 😀
My dear friend Alice introduced me to the clothes swap years ago, and I went to her swap this Spring as well. The more “swaps” the merrier I say.
Some things are just too special to consign or donate. For example this dress I wore to my rehearsal dinner over eleven years ago… I could save it for Brielle, but really, how many things can I save for my seven-year-old? My closet needs some breathing room.
This is one of the many times I wore it. I think this was an anniversary dinner?
I nervously took this dress to Alice’s clothes swap, telling myself that if no one fell in love with it I would take it back and keep it indefinitely.
As I’m typing this I realize how dramatic that sounds… but this dress had some serious sentimental value and rightly so!
And guess what? A sweet girl picked it up. She was young and just entering that age where she will be attending a wedding a weekend (remember those days??) It fit her body and her stage of life perfectly.
What a gift to know my dress will really be enjoyed and appreciated! It had some vibrant life left in it and needed a new dance partner.
I love happy endings. And a good clothes swap!!
XOXO
