I recently hosted a clothing exchange party. For those of you who have never participated in one, let me tell you that it’s a great idea. First, you need to clean out your closets. In essence, everyone attending brings items they no longer love: clothing, accessories, purses, shoes, and unopened cosmetics and skincare products.
And then we “shopped” each other’s stuff. One woman’s trash can indeed be another woman’s treasure. One mom left with a huge bag full of “new“ clothes, and she said that she literally felt like she had an entirely new wardrobe.
For our evening event, about 15 women attended, and we held it in my family room, which had a nearby bathroom with a mirror for trying on outfits. Brave souls also used my pantry to change in when the “dressing room” was full.
Here are a few tips and tricks to make your clothing exchange a huge hit.
1. The more the merrier.
This makes sense from a volume perspective – the more people you have and the more they bring, the more variety you’ll have. That being said, ensure the space can comfortably accommodate the number of people you will have.
2. If possible, have clothing racks available.
We also set out a 6-foot table for folded items, and put shoes and boots underneath. Another table would have been nice to have.
3. Keep it simple and don’t keep score.
We did not limit the number of items one person could take, nor did we require a minimum number of items to participate. To my knowledge, there was not a single complaint about fairness, nor was there any argument over a particular piece.
4. Keep your category to one focus.
We decided it would be a great idea to do this with kids’ clothes and other items too, but on a separate day or night. If we had tried to do kids’ or men’s stuff, it would have been WAY more complicated to manage. We may, however, try to do a kids one at a later date, for those of us who just want to upcycle and purge without having to sell stuff at a resale event or on a Facebook tag sale site.
5. For large groups, you may look at using another venue.
You can use a church meeting hall, a community center, or even a library. You then need to be aware of the hours and whether you can serve alcohol, which is a huge plus for any moms present, of course (the free-flowing wine, I mean).
6. Try to be season-specific.
We did not do this for our first one, and we all agreed that in the future, it would make sense to do this twice a year, at the beginning of spring for spring and summer, and at the beginning of fall for fall and winter. What better way to celebrate back-to-school this September than with a wine-infused free shopping event?
