Have a Christmas party amongst your friends this year that no one will forget!
The 1 Million Women ‘No Waste Christmas’ campaign comes down to the way we are choosing to spend, or more importantly to not spend our money this Christmas. It's also about making memories instead of giving 'things'.
So why not do both by holding a Chrissy Clothing Swap with your friends. Clothing swaps are a lot of fun and everyone will go home with a recycled gift. More importantly, your friends will get a gift that didn't cost a thing - memories. It's a great event to plan a girls night, and a perfect chance to get together before the end of the year, before people travel, and celebrate Christmas together in sustainable style. Bring that beautiful dress or clothing item which you never wear that's sitting in your cupboard gathering dust - it could become a treasured gift for a friend.
I recently held a Chrissy Clothing Swap in my own house here in Brazil. It was a beautiful night with the new friends I've made here (some had attended a clothes swap before, and for others it was their first). Back home in Australia I've held many clothes swaps with friends, however it was usually a pretty disorganised event where we'd all arrive with wine, snacks and a bag of clothes. We'd tip our clothing bags into a pile on the floor and once everyone had arrived just go for it. Literally. Clothes would fly everywhere, people grabbing frantically at the same things, and after everyone had chosen (or battled) for what they wanted, a destruction zone of clothes and accessories was leftover.
Now for me this is normal amongst friends I've known for over ten years, but as my friends in Brazil are newer, some of whom had never been to a swap, I thought this time I should make it slightly more organised, and prepare things a little better. ( I admit, I even read the 1 Million Women clothes swapping guide ).
Here are some tips I learned from holding (and really organising) my own swap, which I hope helps you to host your own super Christmas clothing swap...
- Place and space: This includes many things, like firstly where you will hold your swap. Is it at your house? Or if you're wanting to host a bigger Christmas swap amongst the community it could be in a town hall, restaurant or a shop. There are numerous possibilities but give some thought to the place and also the SPACE! You need a place that will have room to display all the clothes so they don't just end up in a pile on the ground. I hosted my swap at my own house. It's a small space, but I made sure not to over invite and I utilised my clothes line as a clothing rack to hang up all of the clothes. It worked perfectly and looked beautiful. If you don't have a clothes line try to pick up or borrow some clothing racks, or get inventive, tie some strings between points in your house, or make labeled areas of the room. For example one corner is labelled just for dresses, another for jeans etc. This will really help organise the space and make it easier for everyone to browse the items. Also make sure everyone knows that all items from clothing, to shoes, accessories and jewelry are welcome.
- Hangers help: If there's one thing I learned, it's that coat hangers really help. Raid your own wardrobe for hangers, and also ask your friends to try and bring their clothes already on clothes hangers. Another tip, having some pegs handy can be a real saviour if you run out of clothes hangers. This happened at my swap and we ended up hanging clothes up with pegs too, just like a real clothes line, just a bit more chic.
- Say 'no' to waste: It's a party after all so food and drink is a given. However food can be a wasteful area, especially if you are buying plastic plates and utensils or have leftovers which you don't know what to do with. As the idea of this Christmas is 'no waste' here is what you can do - if you don't own enough plates, cups and utensils, ask your friends to bring some. Avoid buying plastic throwaways at all costs unless you plan to wash and reuse them again. Try to base what you cook from what's in season . I went with a Middle Eastern theme and made Fattoush Salad along with some homemade dips like Tzatiki and Hommus, pita chips and other nibbles. Another thing you can do is make it a potluck, where everyone brings a seasonal dish. Also, tell people to bring takeaway containers, that way if there's any leftovers people can take them home to eat the next day.
- Make a fruity drink: It's Summer and the range of seasonal fruits at this time of the year are perfect to make a delicious fruit cocktail. I chose to make a Summer Sangria using Watermelon, Strawberries, Oranges and Limes mixed with wine, juice and a touch of vodka. Serve it in a big punch bowl with a ladle so everyone can refill when they please.
- Have some rules and stick to them: As I explained from experience, a clothes swap can end up a mess if you don't set some guidelines. Think of how you would like to run your swap, for example when people arrive get everyone to hang their clothes up or put them in the designated areas. Once everyone has arrived, and after some food and drink, tell them what the rules are. At my swap you couldn't grab more than 3 clothing items to try on at one time, this means everyone gets a fairer chance to try on the clothes. Another was if you only brought 2 items to swap, then you could only take 2 items home with you (of course this rule becomes more lenient towards the end if there is a lot leftover, then it becomes a free for all). First, everyone just browsed the clothes for 10 minutes, looking to see what they may like, and then we started to take and try things on, this stopped it being a frantic rush from the start. If two people wanted to have the same thing, then a game of scissors, paper, rock would be played and the best of 3 won the item. These are some suggestions which worked for a group of around 12 people but could definitely work with larger groups too.
- Share stories: As this is also about giving the gift of memories, something else you can do is share the stories of the clothes you are swapping. If you see someone going home with a beautiful skirt you bought from a vintage market in London, tell them the story. Or what about embarrassing or funny moments, surely your clothes will have some of these. Share your stories and this will make the clothing gifts and the whole event more memorable.
- Donate the leftovers: If there are a lot of leftover clothes, ask everyone if they would like to take anything back, and if not, propose to donate them to a charity. We had quite a few leftover clothes and accessories which is great, and they were all donated to a spiritual centre here in Brazil. The whole swap was a closed loop with nothing going to waste (or back in the cupboard to not be used).
Hope you enjoyed these tips. Now before I let you see the photos, my final tip, and it's a real gem, is to have a mirror!! Full length is better, but something to help everyone see how the clothing looks on them will mean they can make a better choice about what they want to take home and it's less likely to end up sitting not being worn in their cupboard afterwards.
Good luck with your swap! and please send us photos if you have one. We are featuring a photo a day on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and yours could be one of the featured photos. See more on how to be involved here.
Follow Bronte on Twitter: @brontehogarth
