Who has clothes or other items in your house that you no longer want or need or fit into? Come on, you KNOW you just won’t be that size again so time to let those clothes go…haha….
Who NEEDS new clothes but lacks the funds to go on a nice shopping spree?
This is your answer! Read on!
All of the above applied to me and I knew there must be other women at my church who felt the same way. And I must digress here to brag on the ladies of my church; they are all tremendously generous. I think it’s the Hawaiian way, and I love it! Everyone is so quick to give things away, without a thought about charging anyone any money. That would be so insulting! When I was pregnant with my first child, I not only had the traditional baby showers, but women in the church with older boys brought me bags of used, good condition clothing. I had so much I didn’t have to buy my son one item of clothing until well after his first birthday! And the same has been true with my two daughters, as well. And the maternity clothes…HA! I can quickly off-hand think of about 5 other women who have worn my maternity clothes as we’ve all passed them around.
Also, the times when our church has held a yard sale as a fundraiser…well….we all ‘shop’ amongst the stuff that we’ve all brought, and probably half of the money raised is from our own pockets!
SO, with all of this in mind, I approached our Ladies Leader about doing a Clothing Swap. She loved it and got permission from our pastor’s wife, asked if I’d organize it since it was my idea, and bam, there it was on our church schedule.
I’ve heard of these for a few years now, and thought it would be awesome for us. If you google it, you’ll see various ideas about ways to do them. Some are pretty high-end, with designer items being swapped. Some are pretty regulated, with rigid rules, while others are more loosely organized. Some are held open to the public and hundreds of people show up, while others are private affairs held among groups of friends. Some are systematic, with people receiving a ticket for every item they contribute to be used to ‘pay’ for each item they select. Some swaps also feature food, drinks, etc. You can research all the different ideas there are, and organize yours however it best fits your group of people. Here is how we did it….
We told the ladies about a month ahead of time so they could start clearing out their house and closets. Yes, we did open it up to more than just ladies clothes; ALL clothing was welcome from babies, kids, men’s and women’s…including any accessories like purses, shoes, etc. And we also opened it up to household items. The rules were:
All items should be new or gently used, in good working, wearable condition.
All items should be small or light enough to be carried by a woman and able to fit into a regular vehicle.
Ladies should not bring items they will end up regretting getting rid of, and reminded that they would get NO money for anything, so obviously if they wanted to sell it on craigslist or eBay for a profit, they should not bring it.
Ladies were asked to bring their own shopping bags.
We had it at our Ladies Leader’s house since hers is large enough and the church wasn’t available that night. She borrowed folding tables from the church. Ladies were asked to start bringing their items during the week preceding the event; they could bring it to her house or to the church for her to take home with her. A few of us showed up early and quickly organized everything like a standard yard sale. Clothing was sorted and folded, all picture frames, accessories, etc. were placed together….same for DVD’s, shoes, books, etc.
The night arrived and some ladies still brought their items with them. Obviously if you have a large group of people, you can’t do this because it does need to be organized ahead of time. We had a small enough group that as they arrived we were able to still quickly sort their items. As ladies arrived, they were invited to grab some of the snacks that were set up (everyone brought a small dessert or snack item to share).
To begin the Swap, ladies were invited to look around and ‘window shop’ all they wanted; checking out sizes, etc. Nothing could be actually taken yet. After everyone was allowed to do this, we went over the rules again and then said “GO”! In our Swap, we did rounds: ladies could go grab one item and then return to the seating area. After everyone returned, round two started and they could go get two items. Then for round three, they could get three items…and so on. Some ladies wanted to try on items which slowed it down a bit, but after awhile we no longer had rounds because, well…no one was fighting over anything like some of the swaps I read about on the internet! Everyone just liked browsing and taking whatever they wanted, and they were able to try on items in the bathroom.
Let me tell you, this was SO MUCH FUN! I mean, how many times have you been to a yard sale and told to take anything you wanted for FREE? And everyone had brought such a neat variety of things; all different sizes of clothing, both dressy and casual, kids clothes, kitchen items, stuffed animals, books, shoes, movies, etc. Everyone left with bags of ‘new’ treasures! Even if you weren’t sure you liked something, you figured you might as well take it because after all, it’s FREE! People got items for family members and friends, too.
We were left with a small amount of unwanted things, and ladies knew they could either take ‘their’ contributions home with them (no one did), or just leave it there for the next fundraiser yard sale that our Ladies Leader is going to do on a local military base.
The next Sunday, several of us (or our kids) were seen wearing some of our ‘new’ clothing! And everyone commented on how happy they were with all the ‘new’ stuff they scored!
Just a few things that I was thrilled to bring home: about 6-7 new DVDs for me and my kids, stuffed animals for all three of my kids, a new platter for my kitchen, a belt, two new skirts and four new shirts, some brand new nursing pads, several items of clothing for Samuel and Olivia, several pairs of shoes for my kids, etc. There were also some things I was glad to get out of my house and see them find new homes with people who would enjoy them!
This was a really fun event and everyone is already talking about our next one. I can’t wait!
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