Hosting your own Clothing Swap Party – Suggestions & Ideas

A lovely way of giving and receiving pre-loved goodies, is to hold a clothes swap with friends. Over drinks and nibbles it’s a great way to catch up while finding pre-loved treasures and doing your bit for the environment.

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1. Choose a date

Check with friends ahead of time, roughly which date/s would work best for them before setting up an event invite (no point having a party if no one can make it). 

2. Work out who you are going to donate to.

Once you’ve finished the swap there will no doubt be pieces leftover that no one was interested in, so make sure you have already nominated a charity to donate to.

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3. Set some Rules

Set some rules for the swap and send them out via email or in the invitation before the event.

One suggestion is to give a time to bring the clothes and another time of when the swap will start, so that everyone as a fair chance to check out all the clothes. I would recommend about 30 mins – 1 hour to set up and display all the clothes.

It should be a given that all items are clean and in good condition, but stipulate this if you feel it necessary. Other rules you might want to include is the number of items that each attendee should bring. I also would suggest providing nibbles and soft drinks and ask friends to BYO alcohol.

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4. Set It Up

It is important that everyone can see all the items on offer, so it’s a good idea to set up a mobile hanging rail/s (if you have one) and a few tables.

Also ensure that that you have a “fitting room” area, ideally with a floor length mirror (e.g. bathroom or spare bedroom).

5. Swap and Enjoy

Make sure that all your friends are there before the swap and let everyone know where they can try on the clothes. Give a rough time of when the swap will end. This will give you time to enjoy drinks and nibbles and collect up items for charity, once everyone has gone.