10 tips for hosting an outrageously successful style swap party

Times are hard. We all know this. (Well, a lot of us do.) It’s a time of cutbacks, conservation, and recycling.

And so the impossible question on the lips of every recessionista is this: How does one maintain fresh style and satisfy the urge to acquire new stuff without spending money?

We have a good answer. It’s called a swap party. Just gather some friends, bring your unwanted but still wearable gear to a designated place, let the trading begin and nobody’s wallet gets hurt.

Here are 10 tips to help you plan a successful event:

1. Choose a venue. A home usually is the cheapest and most comfortable place, but consider how many guests you’ll be inviting and the amount of parking.
2. Carefully create your guest list. While you want to be sure to include your best-dressed friends and acquaintances, be sure to encourage them to invite theirs.
3. Request responses. It’s critical that you know how large the gathering will be so you can plan other details.
4. Contact all invitees with details. Make sure they know that all clothing and accessories should be clean and in good or better condition. And encourage carpooling.
5. Plan a potluck meal. Or, because of varying diets and tastes, ask each invitee to throw in a few dollars each and buy a simple spread from a grocer or deli.
6. Start off eating. It relaxes everyone, allows extra time for latecomers to arrive, and eliminates the chances of getting food or greasy prints on the merchandise.
7. Crank up the stereo. When you’re with food and friends, good music is the icing on the cake.
8. Assign each guest an area to spread out his or her goods. Post signs with names so that everyone will know whose stuff is whose.
9. The rest is simple: Everybody browses the merchandise and takes what they want from others’ “stores”. Trading isn’t necessarily one-on-one, but in the fact that items are changing ownership.
10. At the end of the event, draw names from a hat. Each person will be responsible for taking to the Goodwill or a clothes bank the leftover merchandise of the person whose name he or she drew. That way, nobody goes home with things they don’t want or need and that somebody else could be wearing.