Hello all. Tonight I've decided to share with you all some fun pictures, tips and the planning I did for my First ever:
Sip and Swap Party
Two weeks ago I hosted this fun party, and was joined by 6 other lovely ladies (while my hubs played bartender). It all started with me losing some weight, and then having a few boxes full of clothes that didn't fit me anymore. Some of the clothes were fairly new (or given to me by my stylish mom, who also was losing weight at the time and was a size smaller than me each weight loss step. lol). After coming across a pin on Pinterest, I knew exactly what I wanted to do- host a Clothing Swap Party. I thought it would be fun to have a Sip and Swap (wine and clothing swap) so friends could enjoy food and drinks while "shopping" for free from the swap items.
So, you want to host your own Swap party? Well, here are a few pointers I found out by trial and error after my first swap party.
1. Setup a timeline of the evening. I made sure we all had time to setup, look at the clothes, and then time to pick items you want to take home. Things didn't really go exactly to my schedule (in the frame below) that I setup, but it helped to have the time built into the evening.
2. Originally I had planned to give every guest a poker chip for every clothing item they brought, to be their "cash" for the shopping portion. However, when you have a small group and LOTS of clothes- there is no need for the "chips for number of items brought", since we had way more than we could want to take home. But if you have a big group, and not a lot of clothes, I suggest giving "chips for each item brought" so you can only take home the number you brought.
3. Allow people who are coming late to drop their items off ahead of time (some, a few days earlier). This way, all their stuff is all setup, and you don't have to setup more clothes in the middle of the swap party.
So this how the night played out for us:
A few people who would be late, dropped off their items a few days earlier (so I set their items up for them like I mentioned above). Then as the other guests arrived, I showed each guest where each "clothing section" was designated- by little signs saying "tops, bottoms, dresses, etc" and they added their donated clothes to the areas. Once everyone had setup their items we had a "window shopping" time- where everyone looked over what was there.
(some of the clothes- we actually ended up having twice as much as this- I photographed it early, before most got here)
Then I drew names out of a hat- this was our Order of Shopping.
Round 1- everyone took one item on their turn (since we only had 7 of us total, we did one at a time, though if you have more people, I'd suggest groups or pairs). On our turn, we could look at things, try things on, etc. since you were basically alone in the "shopping room" because I put up a curtain (the purple thing) to cut that room off from the dining room where the food/drinks were. There were also plenty of mirrors, so you can see how each item looked on.
Round 2- I told everyone to pick 2 items to take in this round. (This is a little different than my original idea on my schedule, but since we had SOOO much clothes to choose from and only 7 of us- I thought that way we could spice things up a bit and get rid of clothes faster).
Round 3- This round was "Free-for-All" round. Everyone went to the swapping area and picked what they wanted. Everyone tried things on, passed things to others, gave tips and props to good or bad items when people tried them on, etc. Since most of us are "theater people" none of us were scared to try things on in front of each other (also I made sure the hubs was upstairs and wasn't allowed to enter at that point of the night.)
(Here are some of the items I scored)
After everyone gathered bags full of clothes (or a laundry basket full, as one of the guests did), we piled all the clothes no one wanted onto the couch. (The next day I ended up going through all of this and tried on basically everything my size, and scored a few leftovers. lol)
We enjoyed the rest of the evening gathered in the dining room eating, drinking and having fun. (oh, and FYI: I'm not sharing the other gals in my pictures on this post, as I'm not sure how they feel about blog-land sharing. I promise, there was actual people there. lol).
(star cupcakes!)
Treat table setup, before the treats. lol
(My attempt to have a decor setup like all those other fancy party bloggers. lol. This also closed up the living room to make it a private dressing/shopping room)
The Bar setup
Those that did attend enjoyed the party so much that some have begged to know when the next swap is. We had SOOO many clothes to choose from that I am donating 1 large trash bag to Nicaragua (a friend brings clothes to the needy down there when she visits once a year), 1 bag of clothes to be used in reused crafting and doll clothes for my Mom, and the rest (below) to the Salvation Army. (Except for the cat in the box- she stays with me. lol)
I also had some "goodie bags" I sent the gals home with. Included in the bags were fun things like candy, glowstick bracelets and these cute margarita mixes:
Goodie bags!
We all had a blast chatting, having wine and food after scoring some great stuff. If you have a few friends that want to clean out their closets (and score some new-to-them clothes), I would highly recommend having a swap party. We ended up having plenty of items for every clothing size, so everyone went home with a bag of clothes!
(banner)
(glasses and my cute straws- they were my favorite decor item from this party. lol)
(The front door)
(My Thank you Wreath)
Here are the printables I created for the party, in case any of you decide you want to host your own swap party. ;)
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| Thank you tag |
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| margarita mix tag printable |
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| 3 part banner |
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| Order of events (feel free to tweek this for your own party, as to where things are being donated). |
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| This was my invite! |
It was so fun! I"m just wondering, have any of you ever had a clothing swap party? I'd love to hear from others who have hosted swap parties.
Have a great day all! Hugs!
-M
