“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” ~Paulo Coehlo
Today, I want to talk about how can we combine a party, new clothes, friends, and minimizing your home all at the same time – let’s organize a swap party! A swap party is an event where all invitees are bringing an agreed-upon amount of clothes to exchange. There are some things to keep in mind before you start, and I will highlight those here.
In an earlier post, I mentioned how you should not involve family whilst minimizing your clothes, and there are several blog posts on decluttering and organizing your closet. I thought of a fun way to combine new clothes, not spending (much) money, and having some quality time with friends.
Nowadays, we buy more clothes than we actually need.
There are some things we can do with the excess. I’ve highlighted a couple of options in the article with what to do with unwanted stuff, and I will talk more about quality in part one of The Essentials post.
Let’s create a get-together to exchange some knowledge, but most of all – clothes
Swap Party
Swap parties are a fun way to work on your (essential) wardrobe. It can be a team effort! There can be many reasons why you don’t go shopping for your key items; it may be a budget challenge, you don’t enjoy shopping, or you find it hard to judge if something is really an essential item. I think we all have friends whose style we really love, and they can be fantastic resources for us.
Let’s create a get-together to exchange some knowledge, but most of all – clothes.
A swap party can tackle multiple problems regarding shopping and you also have a great opportunity to catch up with your friends and possibly get to meet some new ones in the process!
Be sure that everyone is on the same page about the quality of garments for the party
The rules
This is how it works:
Everyone brings their unwanted garments to a location, where they can swap for new clothes. Below are some key things you need to keep in mind when you organize this minimalist event:
- Invite enough people to have a solid collection to choose from, around 15 people.
- Make rules upfront. This is important for a successful swap party. You can create these rules yourself, or you can discuss this as a team meeting together before you start your party.
- All items need to be in good condition, and they must be washed and ironed/steamed. The items need to be clean and have no stains, wrinkles, or bad smells. Prohibited are small holes, rips, and tears. The garments need to look good enough for a second life.
- Be sure that everyone is on the same page about the quality of garments for the party – fast fashion (Zara, Topshop, H&M), or designer labels.
- When you go for a mix of designer labels and fast fashion, make sure these categories have their own color code. Work with tokens or some colored labels as ‘money’ to match the categories. For example, red is linked to a designer brand item – that garment goes in the red area, and a red token is received by the initial owner to pick another garment from the red area. Fast fashion items can have a blue token, etc.
- Set a minimum amount of garments to bring along to get the party started. I would say a minimum of 5 items.
- Make the area look appealing; make it feel and look like a shop. It would be great to have a garden party, but it might as well be in your garage or in your living room. Maybe you can get some racks from people around you, so it nicely presented. Otherwise, present it on the floor, like a flea market. Just keep in mind that this option is less appealing for shopping. Also, think about a comfortable place to try the clothes on, and having a good mirror nearby.
- Provide snacks and drinks, or organize it so that everyone contributes something.
- Have fun! This is also a great way to get advice from your (close) friends. They know you best, so they can advise you which color looks great on you and which shape works best. You can also get some background information on the garments that were initially purchased – a conversation that you otherwise might not have had!
- Make a decision about what will happen to leftover garments in advance, so that everyone is prepared. Ideally, these should get donated, but if people do want to take their ‘unswapped’ garments back home, then at least you have already had a conversation about it and no one leaves unsatisfied.
I hope this sparks some ideas. This blog post was written with clothes in mind, but the whole idea can also be implemented after cleaning out your bathroom or your kitchen. Remember that minimalism can be fun!
Who will you invite to your swap party?
Thank you for reading.
We’re in this together.
~
