Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Swap Party

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I hosted a Swap Party.  Clothing and household items swapping party, mind you. 

You weren't thinking something else, were you?  (Sorry MamaTea, but I figured you'd be the first to pipe up about that.)

After my light bulb moment came, I did do some online searching on Swapping Parties (and let me tell you, not all swapping parties are household goods related....wow!). Apparently I'm not the only one with this idea (swapping material goods, not well, other non-material goods); although the websites I visited seemed to be geared towards the more "affluent" types of Parties with high-end clothing, purses and accessories. There were all kinds of etiquitte for the parties and rules. Which I could understand would be needed if you made a big production out of it and invited a bunch of people likely to bring pricey items, but since I only invited close friends, I didn't really worry about two participants fighting over a dog-eared paperback romance novel. Guess some of these high-faluting Swap Parties can get pretty sophisticated.

Two weeks before the event, I called several of my friends and told them to get their "To Donate" boxes out and start filling them.  Everything that could be brought into the house without the use of a forklift was welcome; clothing, nick-knacks, costume jewelry, books, DVD's, kitchen gadgets, etc..
The day before the Swap Party, Mom and I cleaned up the living room, dining room and kitchen and put up an extra side table to display the "goods".  I made a trip to the store and bought some lunchmeat, cheeses and little sandwich rolls along with a bottle or two of wine.  Made some last minute cheese dips for more munching and two kinds of wheat-free cookies for dessert.

When Swap Party Day came and the guests started arriving (only half a dozen of us) we displayed our goods on the open tables, side tables and countertops.

There was much merry making, munching, some drinking of wine and laughter.  Some of the gals went home with an item or two, but others left empty-handed.  Not because there wasn't a lot of neat stuff to choose from, but I think that the real benefit from this "Swapping" party was to clean out closets and drawers of old or unused items.  Which is fine.  That's how I came upon the idea; I was cleaning out MY stuff and thought that it would be neat to give somebody else a chance at taking home some of my junk treasures before sending it to the donation site.
After the wine was finished off  items had been rummaged through and everyone was happy with their loot (or lack of), everything was boxed up to be sent to the donation site.

Besides being a wonderful afternoon of visiting with friends, it was a nice feeling to have several boxes of stuff to take to Goodwill just in time for the Holidays.
So, exactly what did I get from the party?

A drinking game called Partini (which I gave to Christine, even though she doesn't drink....I don't know why I took it, moment of weakness I guess and will probably end up in the next Swap Party).

And this little guy (because Rhiannon fell in love with it):


But the best thing I got was some much needed closet space!

8 comments:

  1. I am still trying to figure out what the above 'sink' response is about....

    Sounds like a fun time was had and motivated you all to do some housecleaning...always a good thing.

    We have started with out huge garage....most of ours is going into the trash!

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  2. I'm with gld on the "sink" thingy...huh?!?
    Sounds like ya'll had a good time and cleaned out some stuff that Goodwill will be glad to get!
    On a completely different subject, am I the only one who just figured out that Krazo is Ozark backwards!! DUH!!

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  3. lol...good advice about the sink! :o)

    Candy--true story, I woke up in the middle of the night with that very realization about a month ago. Let me sleep, Carolyn!!

    And Carolyn, that snowman is c-u-t-e. Looks like you made a good swap.

    Enjoy the day!

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  4. Suzie, we're all wondering what the sink comment is about....don't keep us in suspense!! LOL

    gld, I enjoy when people (a select few, that is) come over as it DOES make me clean up the house! I WISH we could get our garage cleaned out...it's always in a state of "being cleaned".

    Candy, you've unlocked the secret code!!! I'm going to have to shut down my blog and move now!!

    Moo, Now THAT'S funny!!! Who would'a thunk that I'd be keeping people up all across the country! :)

    I was thinking about deleting the "Sink" comment, but now that we've all comented on it, it would be really, REALLY confusing for someone who came in after it was deleted, so I guess it's staying! :)

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  5. I have a seed swap party every year but this sounds awesome!

    And don't forget that all-important sink choice... LOL

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  6. That is a great idea! Plus, sometimes it's nice to just get together with friends and eat (and drink wine). I think you "sink" friend just spammed your comments with her sink business. You should trash it and let all the new commenters wondering what planet we are from...

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  7. Yup, the "sink" comment sure sounds like spam advertisement and I'd be very hesitant about clicking on her link.

    Maybe I've been in the woods too long, but I'd never heard of a swap party like you had. Sounds like a darn good idea!

    And Krazo is Ozark backwards? Well, I'll be dipped. Never woulda come up with that. :o}

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  8. Well, I did it. The "Sink" comment has been sent down the Memory Hole. What I though was odd was that there was an option to either "Delete" or "Delete Forever" or something like that. Isn't it interesting that delete doesn't really, REALLY mean delete anymore?

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