Have any of you ever hosted a clothing swap? I am organizing one for childrens clothing for my church and was wondering if anyone has any tips? I am planning to have all childrens clothing from sizes newborn-14. They have to be in good shape and clean. Any other tips?

By Bobbie~moderatr on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 06:42 pm:

Bumping to the top so you don't get lost..

Is this where you bring in too small of clothing and exchange them for someone else's child's clothing that they have out grown??

By Breann on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 07:24 pm:

Probably put some sort of rule on swapping like value items. For instance, if someone brings in a $5 shirt from Wal-Mart, they shouldn't be able to swap it for a $35 shirt from Limited Too.
Maybe make different items worth different points. Then they can swap for things that equal the amount of points they accumulated. Something like that?

By Luvn29 on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 07:34 pm:

I'm not sure I like the value thing. Who's to say that the person bringing in the expensive item didn't get it on clearance or as a hand me down from a friend or relative.

I just think that it would be very hurtful to say no, you can't have the good clothes, you have to pick from this pile...

This may be a wonderful opportunity for a child who doesn't usually get super nice clothing to have a chance for a change. Especially with it being a church function...

By Karen~admin on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 08:07 pm:

Wouldn't it make sense to consider the overall condition when swapping? As in good, excellent, like-new? What I'm saying is, when you have a garage sale, for instance, some stuff is in better shape than others. And as Adena said, a $35 Limited Too top could have actually been bought for $5 on sale. A $5 Wal-Mart top in like-new condition is worth more than a $35 Limited Too top in fair condtion, IMO..........

On the other hand, that $5 Wal-Mart top could have been purchased for $1 on clearance.

I can see how you'd need to have some sort of sytem or rules - because let's face it, most people would probably going to go for the brand name stuff first..........

Not *quite* the same thing, but I used to go to a book exchange and a record exchange years ago, and at the book exchange you could only exchange for the same classification of book (romance for romance, science fiction for science fiction), but the record exchange was based on popularity of the band and condition of the album (keep in mind, this was a looooonnnnggg time ago! LOL) and musical genre....more conditions than the book exchange obviously.

By Hol on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 11:40 pm:

I think this is such a practical idea. My church used to have these years ago, when my kids were little. It was a big help. People here don't seem to do that anymore. Good for you for organizing it.

By My2girlygirls on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 09:29 am:

Thanks ladies. I am going to try and make it as fair as possible but the main idea is for people to clear out the clutter in their closets and in the end whatever is left over will go to a local family shelter. Most of the people in our area are rather affluent so I think there will be a fair trade with the clothing being brought in. I am hoping to do one for adult clothing maybe in the spring. I want to see how the childrens clothing does first. Any more ideas that you have would be great!