Frugal Friday-Swap Party

I admit, this was not my idea, but I am always open to great ideas. In these tough economic times, getting together for a Swap Party is a good way to obtain needed items and get rid of stuff you no longer use or need.

Here's how it works:

Everyone brings their gently used stuff to a central location. It can be clothes, shoes, kitchen stuff, books, even old magazines. The "stuff" is then displayed on tables and each person gets a ticket for each item they bring. I guess if some items are worth more, you could assign a higher ticket value, but we were very easy going about our Swap Party. Everyone looks over the items and for every item you bring, you can take home an item. This works really well if people who have similar ages of children, etc. get together to swap. We had our Swap Party last Tuesday night.

Stuff is arranged according to categories.

Checking out the goods, with tickets in hand.

If more than one person wants an item, then a drawing is held with each person's name on a ticket. The winner gets the item!

This would be a great idea for teenage girls or mommies with kiddies. One of our guests brought a ton of adorable baby boy clothes! We had scrapbook stuff, shoes, jewelry, toys and books. Everyone brings a treat to share and it's a great time. Then the rest of the "stuff" that is left over gets hauled off to DI or Goodwill-by pre-arrangement ahead of time.

It's a fun way to make the best of a tough economic time.....