Recently, I participated in organizing a "clothing swap" at our church. Read more and consider doing one with your own church, neighborhood, MOPS group, or whatever organization you may be involved in.
About two months prior to the day we set to host the swap, we announced to the congregation that we were collecting gently used clothing that they might be looking to get rid of. (We wanted to capitalize on all of that closet cleaning that goes on during the winter months...) So we collected and collected and collected some more until we had a small mountain of clothes that needed to be sorted and sized.
Friday night before the swap, we had a "sorting party." There were ten women, give or take, who came to help at some point throughout the night. It was very fun, especially when we all got a little slap-happy and decided to have a little fashion show with some of the dandies that we came across. (Christine, if you read this, you could have outfitted an entire Christmas sweater party with the selection we had!)
Everyone from the church was invited to come the next day and take whatever they could use for completely free! I wish I would have taken pictures of the actual swap - there were tables and tables piled high with clothes for every size and shape. People were incredibly generous with their donations and most everything was in great shape.
The swap was great for my family. Not only did we get rid of garbage bags full of clothes we no longer want or need, but we found some really great new assets to our wardrobes! (We got rid of more than we took, which is always a good thing to the one who does the laundry :) Below are a few pictures of some new favorites.
Here are some things I got for Hans - most of these will fit him in a year or two. It was fun looking through the boy stuff!
My latest love - finally a 'new' jean jacket!
Some Hanna Andersson dresses that will fit Rylen perfectly next Christmas - SCORE!
Marianne's favorite new sweater and jumper. We were having fun with the camera and trying some new tricks, so we didn't get one with great color. The jumper is a corduroy fushia color, and the sweater is a fushia/purple combo. Very Marianne.
And last but not least, no wardrobe is complete (at least Dan's) without a Dunder-Mifflin t-shirt. All of you Office fans out there will get this.
The clothes we had left at the end of the swap were sorted again and given to three different charities.
This was great fun to be a part of and such a wonderfully simple way to help each other out!
You have to have Dan where that shirt to work:)
Posted by: Candace Nordine | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 01:40 PM