Hold a Fashion Swap Party

Fashion swap parties can be great fun and a fantastic way to refresh that closet or wardrobe of yours. However, there are some things you should know before you start.

Steps

  1. Decide on the date of your swap party and invite everyone that you think would have some cool clothes. The best way of doing this is with emails. In the email, make sure that you tell your friends what it's all about. For example:

    Hi Fashion lovers! I have decided that I need some new clothes, but I don't want to spend any money, so I have decided to throw a FASHION SWAP PARTY! I came to this decision after looking through my closet and seeing all these great clothes that I'm a bit tired of but I know some of you might love. So if you want renew your closet then keep Saturday night free from 5:30pm onwards. Please bring as many clothes as you can. The more you bring the more you get. Please be sure that you wash and press all your items. Try to have them in a condition that you would like other people's clothes to be. Please RSVP. Emily.
  2. Make up 3 "value spots" on a table or on the floor. Mark them as Cheap, Mid-price and Expensive.
  3. Create tickets for each pile (about 20 for each). Make sure you leave a spot for people to put their names. A good thing to do is go to the newsagent and pick up 3 different coloured post-it notes, one colour for each pile.
  4. When your partygoers arrive, tell them to put each item they have in the value spot that they think suits it best. For each item they put down, give them a corresponding ticket and tell them to put their names on each.
  5. Once everyone has arrived, tell the party to put their tickets into a box.
  6. Put some cool music on to keep a festive mood going.
  7. Get the box of tickets and shake them all up. Reach in and pick out a ticket (you can ask random people to do this to make it more fun.)
  8. Each ticket you pick will say a name and have the colour of a value spot. So, for example, if a ticket says EMILY and MID-PRICE, then Emily can go and pick something from the Mid-price pile.
  9. When Emily has chosen her item she sits down and the cycle repeats.
  10. If Emily chooses an item that somebody else really wants then they must object. If there is an objection then you can play a game to see who gets the item. There are heaps of games (see Tips). Whoever wins the game gets the item.

Tips

  • Games to decide objections
    • Rock, Paper, Scissors.
    • Associated word games like ping pong word games. Whoever falters first loses. For example, you can start with types of plants, and players can't take more than 2 seconds to answer. You cannot repeat words.
    • Dice games.
    • Timed charades.
    • Do a white elephant or Yankee swap variation

Warnings

  • Some people can get very upset, when they bring good items and leave with stuff they don't like that much. So you must warn everybody that it is for fun and that they shouldn't take it too seriously.

Sources and Citations

  • You can also hold swap parties online. Sometimes you can't be bothered to hold a swap party and can swap instead at http://www.swapstyle.com