Fit the Bill: A Fashion Swap!

By Cool J in Minneapolis

I wasn't a good blogger yesterday.

I hosted my annual fashion swap, but I didn't take ANY pictures before or during the swap! Honestly, I was just too busy leading up to the swap, so I only took pictures of the aftermath...

Piles of leftover clothes from the swap.

In my defense, it was a very busy day. We had a 20 mile run in the morning, which was awesome because it was nearly 70 degrees and sunny and beautiful! Overall, it was a good run, except towards the end I started to feel really nauseous.

After the run, Dustin and I needed to eat something- 20 miles takes a lot out of a person! After refueling, he was kind enough to take care of exercising Matilda while I cleaned up the house, cooked a bunch of appetizers, and organized any clothes that were dropped off ahead of time by swappers for the event.

I organized the clothes into types, not sizes: pants, tops, fitness apparel, accessories, skirts, and dresses.

I actually attended another swap last weekend, and picked up a new "swapping" method. This year, everyone "shopped" for about 45 minutes, trying things on and making personal lists of their favorites. Then, we drew numbers for the selection order. The 'ones' got first pick, then the two's, etc. Then we went through again, allowing the ones to select two items, and so forth. After a few rounds of this, we opened it up to a free-for-all.

Last year, it was basically a free-for-all the whole time. But this year, drawing numbers allowed for a more diplomatic way for the "hot" items to be fairly distributed.

Leftover accessory table

 Hosting a fashion swap was a fun and free way to revamp the wardrobe. I know that I'll be wearing items from the swap all week! It's also so fun to see your clothes looking fabulous on a friend. A swap is a great way for your to switch up your wardrobe, but also a great way to share your wardrobe with friends, all in a way that Fits the Bill!

leftover shoes

 Thank you to all who participated and helped me make this swap a success. 

I hope you all went home with some great new-to-you items!

The aftermath of the Fashion Swap

Here are some tips I have learned from my swap hosting experience:

• Invest in some hanging racks. I bought several cheap ones from Ikea. It really helps to be able to browse through the clothes when they're hanging up, rather than piled up on top of each other. Though I did have to use my bed to pile up the fitness apparel, most of the other clothes fit on the four racks I had purchased.
• Ask your guests to bring their clothes over ahead of time. This gives you the opportunity to sort through and organize everything before the actual party.
• Definitely have a fair way to break up a "fight" about a hot item. Drawing numbers worked for my party.
• Set up areas to try clothes on. I put a few mirrors in my closets so people could have a little privacy to get undressed, if they weren't comfortable stripping down in front of everyone.

Tilda needed some privacy to try on some clothes :-)

• Do something good with the leftovers! Have a plan to donate all the leftover clothes to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. You can do some good while having fun!
• Have plenty of wine and appetizers on hand. Plenty of chilled white wine and some appetizers from Skinny Taste helped me make sure my guests had a nice time.

I also want to thank Dustin for his help in setting up the party and taking care of Matilda during the event. Thanks honey!