I recently wrote as a guest blogger on Tonic.com about clothing swaps and thought I would kind of expand on the subject on my own blog. I wanted to touch base on clothing swaps, and "swap parties" in general. If you open any women's magazine, or read a mom blog or watch the news - you have heard of clothing swaps. In this economy they have become SO popular. A few things I have looked into and tried are 1) hosting your own kid's clothing swap 2) online swapping sites and 3) the giant consignment sales. Now, don't get me wrong, I think ANYTHING you do to recycle and reuse your stuff is awesome - and whatever works best for you is what you should do. This is just my opinion on the other options out there and why they don't work that well for me. My focus is on Kid's clothing and gear swaps only. I have had moms ask when I will do a women's swap - but I believe in doing one thing, and doing it well - doing it all the way. I would love to branch out one day - but I don't want to compromise the kids swaps by putting my energy into something else. Recently, I have come across tons of articles and tips on how to organize your own swap party and even "host your own swap party" specific websites. These are great, however, I don't think moms that read these realize the difference between going to an organized large scale clothing swap and having 10-20 friends bring stuff over. While it's a great notion, the bottom line is: you just don't get that much stuff, there aren't racks and racks and tables of items - 60-100 moms attending, bringing in bags and boxes of stuff. Don't get me wrong, if throwing your own swap party is the only way to do a swap in your area, then go for it! I just think that the difference between a at home "swap party" and a clothing & gear swap held at a venue where your kids can run around and play is huge, and you should try both to see what suits your needs better. Also popular, are swap sites - there are some great ones out there. Do searches find one or two that are easy to do. Some seem like a lot more trouble than they are worth. I love the idea, but it's hard to swap things online, vs. coming to a place and bringing what you don't want and trading it out. I have 3 kids and I know I don't have time to spend taking pictures of stuff, posting, and trading piece by piece, or mailing stuff. Also, things are supposed to be of like expense or "even trade" which is really a matter of opinion. Then there is the giant consignment sale - this would be my personal choice out of all 3, because like our swaps, there is a huge selection, which is important to me. You bring in your items that you want to get rid of, and get a portion of the money that is made (just like a consignment shop- but huge). My only thing with this option is the pre-registering, tagging & pricing everything - if you have the time to do it, go get 'em! Some of these events go on for 2-3 days. And, if making money off of your stuff is important, then this is a great option.
All three are viable ways to recycle and reuse your kid stuff. However, some of the reasons I created peace. love. swap events were because I didn't like the way that most of these worked. I wanted something easy- no paperwork, tagging registering, something that was in the same place each time- a fun place where you could bring your kids and let them have fun and play with the toys & be a little crazy, I wanted it to be ongoing -every month or every other month - I have stuff every month to exchange, I didn't want to worry about how much I was going to get for my stuff - I just wanted to know it was going to another mom that could use it, I loved the idea of getting off the computer and getting out and meeting other moms & their kids in person - not posting things online & constantly going back and forth on email, and I wanted selection - not just 10 people with stuff, but 80+ people with stuff to trade. Soooo.. after a little tweaking and almost a year of swapping and meeting and talking and swapping with other WONDERFUL moms - peace. love. swap has evolved into what I envisioned it to be. I still tweak here and there, and it's always going to be changing (for the better). I love the input from the moms. I love it when a mom emails me to get a clothing & gear swap started in her area, I love it when moms send me pictures of their kids with their "new to them" items... I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing the swaps. I would one day like to see one in every city - everywhere, every month - helping every community.
And to think, it will all have started right here in Grass Valley - Nevada County : )
(which by the way - the Nevada County kid's clothing & gear swap had a great turnout on 4/17 - these moms are PROS- we were so ahead of schedule and everyone did great! )
Anyways... that's all for now, just wanted to give my opinion on all the cool ways to exchange nowadays.
The next clothing and gear swap is in the San Francisco East Bay tomorrow - in celebration of Earth Day - location & times are on the website.
Happy swapping-
meg
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