Last summer, Niki and I came across the idea of having a clothing swap party, I believe from this post. We loved it, and put our plan into action, and now I’m going to share that plan with you! The general idea is to get a group together to trade your gently worn clothing, but truly, it would work great with books, baby and children’s clothes, or kitchen items too.
1. We chose our guest list. Since we planned on hosting it in my little ol’ apartment, we knew we had to keep the list fairly small. We ended up with around 12 girls with a wide range of styles, which ended up being perfect!
2. Choose how to organize the swap itself. This was the part we had the most difficulty with. We found multiple posts with some great suggestions, like this one, and this one. At first, we considered doing a token system, one token for each item, but that seemed like a lot of work on our end, and frankly, we felt lazy. Plus, we didn’t necessarily want to walk away with as much stuff as we planned on bringing, whereas, our younger sisters could probably use some extra clothes. Eventually, we decided upon a plan. We tallied the amount of items each girl brought, and then separated into two groups. Whoever brought the most items was in the first group, and then everyone else was in the second group. Group one got 10 minutes to pick out 5 items each. Then they get 15 minutes to try on what they picked out and decide if they want to keep it, forever!!!! Oh, was that too melodramatic? After that, the next group gets 10 minutes to pick out 6 items each, and then another 15 minutes to try on and put pack. Then, we broke up into different groups, just by counting “1,…2,…1…,2” around the room. Once again, each group chose 6 items each. Finally, it was a free for all, and everyone was allowed to grab whatever was left. This plan ended up working really well. The group that wasn’t ‘shopping’ had time to mingle, snack, and look through what they already had. I would definitely recommend this option.
3. Plan your space! We pushed all of my furniture to the edges of the room, to make plenty free space for everyone and our belongings. Niki had a clothing rack (see why I keep her as my best friend? So handy!) to hang up dresses and jackets, we placed pants and skirts on top of my coffee table, used a vintage suitcase to hold accessories like hats and headbands, a tote for scarves, a shoe rack for, you guessed it, shoes, and spread tops over my dining room table. We were going for a “laid back boutique” vibe, and I think we nailed it, ha ha. We used my bed room as the dressing room, but don’t forget to bring a few extra full length mirrors, like yours truly. Oops.
4. Possibly, most important, the snacks! I love a party. I love snacks. It’s not a party without snacks. Niki and I planned on cheese, fruit, drinks, brownies, and lemon bars. My cousin and her best friend ended up bringing chocolate truffles and cheese, and they went above and beyond! I think they were trying to steal my soul by bribing me with my two weaknesses, and it worked.
5. Have fun! Niki and I agreed, this is probably one of the most fun parties we have ever been apart of. Even thought it was a rather varied group of women, most had never met each other, it ended up being blast. Everybody really got into, relaxed, and shopped. We can’t wait to do it again!
6. Donate the leftovers. Don’t feel pressured to make sure everything goes home with someone. There will be a few things left behind, feel free to take them to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army. We ended up taking them to our favorite thrift store, Chase Me Again, it’s a non-profit that donates to a local women’s shelter and other very worthy causes. 
Ta ta for now!
– Bekah and Niki too!
They Couldn't be Spies 
I’ve heard of people doing these! I would LOVE to attend one of these with friends who are similar size as each other. It looks like so much fun. Thanks for this post + pics!
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