How to Host a Successful Clothing Swap

A clothing swap is an event where people bring the clothes, accessories and shoes they no longer want and everyone in attendance gets to take home what they like. It's like shopping at the thrift store, removing the middle man and the price tags. While I didn't host last night's clothing swap, I gleaned a ton of tips out of the evening and would love to host a clothing swap closer to my home.

I got an invite from Maggie to visit her sister-in-law's studio, Room to Move, and spent a couple of hours organizing, then picking out, new-to-me clothes. I ended up with two brand-name suits, three pairs of shoes, a great pair of jeans and a bunch of cute tops. And my closet is a little less packed of stuff I don't wear. Win/Win.

Here are a few ideas to make your clothing swap a success.

Look at all these treasures!

• Invite lots of people. More people = more clothes. Invite a diverse array of people to ensure different sizes ans styles.
• Print out signs for organization. We organized the stuff into a few basic zones: accessories, men's clothing, housewares, children's items and then women's stuff from small to large. The number of categories you have will be dependent on how much space you have.
• Ask everyone to pitch in when putting the stuff together. It makes it go faster.
• Let everyone start picking out clothes at the same time.
• Keep the bags and boxes people brought their stuff in. Your swappers will need something to take their new treasures home in.
• If you attend a clothing swap, wear clothes you can try stuff on over. Maggie is a genius and wore leggings. I was jealous.
• Donate everything that's leftover to Goodwill. Keep the giving going!