This past fall, a friend of mine came up with an idea to have a kid's clothing swap as part of our Mission: Ignition (missional projects for our community with our church). We thought this would be a great way to serve our community, however, you could charge a small fee ($5 per bag) and donate the proceeds to charity.
What is a Swap and Shop?
A group of mamas that get together to exchange clothing and other kid items for free!
How to participate in a Swap and Shop:
If you're in Kansas City, you are in LUCK! We have our Spring Swap and Shop happening this weekend!
1) Sort through your kids closets and toy boxes. Gather all the outgrown clothing, shoes, coats, toys, books, bedding, and gear.
2) WASH IT, separate into sizes and seasons, and bag it up!
3) Bring it to the Spring/Summer Swap and Shop's donation table.
4) Grab a tote bag and start shopping.
How to host a Swap and Shop:
-Establish your rules-
You have to decide and clearly communicate if the items that are brought to the swap need to be considered play clothes or in consignment sale condition. Indicate no stains, rips, or tears and to bring recently washed items or you will be doing a lot of sorting before the swap even gets started.
Decide how much mamas are allowed to take. For a small group, it would be easy to count pieces. For example, I brought 10 pieces of clothing, so I can take 10 pieces of clothing. With a large group, it's easier to do bags. For example, I donated 2 bags of clothes, I can fill two bags of clothes. If you're hosting it for a community, this gets complicated. Some people will come who might not have clothing good enough to swap out. In this case, we've started out the day with each mama filling one bag for every 2 kids or so. If we see they need more, we offer more. If we have a ton of clothing that's not moving, we offer each family more bags as the day goes on.
The last rule determines what to bring. Make sure you clearly communicate if the clothing being swapped is for a certain season or size.
-Establish your guest list-
Do you want a formal swap with 10-15 mamas or a community wide event? Which ever way you go, you need to give people plenty of time to clean out closets, gather and clean clothing and prepare for the swap. For a small group, you can send out formal invites or evites. For a larger group, set up a facebook event or send out fliers. These are easily passed onto friends of friends to create a larger group of mamas.
-Establish your date, time, & location-
For a larger group, Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon may be your best bet for a great turn out. A smaller group might be easier to host on a evening during the week. We typically try to rent out a larger space that's open to the community, but if you have a smaller group, you could swap right in your living room.
-Gather Donations-
Whether your group is large or small, you will have some friends who can't be there or just want their old stuff out of the house. Offer to come pick up donations from them. The easiest way to get the swap started is to have clothing to offer when it begins! That way as donations come in, they can refill racks or tables. If you have nothing out to begin with, people are going to be standing around waiting for more clothes to arrive.
-Gather Woman Power-
Especially, for larger swaps, you will need lots of help organizing, sorting, setting up and tearing down. If you are offering childcare while mamas shop, you will need babysitters as well. Get friends to help you with this process and offer an early shopper incentive to your volunteers.
-Pick a Charity-
You are bound to have items left over from the swap. Pick a charity ahead of time so mamas that give donations know what will happen to their stuff when the swap is over. If you are charging at the door to give proceeds to charity, make sure you communicate that to your guests as well.
Now, get out there and make this happen! What a blessing it is to have nice clothing to share with others and leave some extra spending in your clothing budget for those musthave items at BabyGap.
