How to Get a “Free” New Wardrobe

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wardrobeThere are so many reasons I love my Moms Club. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, but for the purposes of today, let me tell you about our most recent Moms Night Out.

We had a clothing exchange party at my house last month. For those of you who have never participated in one, let me just tell you it is a crazy great idea. In essence, everyone attending brings items she no longer loves; clothing, accessories, purses, shoes and unopened cosmetics and skincare items. 

And then we “shopped” each others’ castoffs. And it really is true that one woman’s trash can be another woman’s treasure. One Mom in my club left with a huge bag full of “new clothes” and she said that she literally felt like she had an entirely new wardrobe.

For our evening, there were about 15 women in attendance and we conducted the whole thing in my family room, which had a bathroom with a mirror nearby for trying on. Brave souls also used my pantry to change in when the “dressing room” was full. 

Here are a few tips and tricks to make YOUR clothing exchange a huge hit.

1. The more the merrier.

This just makes sense from a volume of stuff perspective – the more people you have and the more they bring, the more variety you’ll have. That being said, make sure the space can comfortably fit the amount of people you are going to have.

2. If possible, have clothing racks available.

One of our members is a LuLaRoe consultant, so she loaned us 2 racks for the evening. For our number of people, this was plenty. We also set out a 6’ table for folded items, and put shoes and boots underneath. Another table would have been nice to have.

3. Keep it simple and don’t keep score.

We did not limit the amount of items one person could take, nor did we require an amount of items to bring to participate. To my knowledge, there was not one complaint about fairness and not one argument over a particular piece.

4. Keep your category to one focus.

We decided it would be a great idea to do with kids’ clothes and stuff too, but on a SEPARATE day or night. If we had tried to do kids and/or men’s stuff, it would have been WAY harder to manage. We may, however, try to do a kids one at a later date, for those of us who really just want to upcycle and purge without having to sell stuff at a resale event or on a Facebook tag sale site. 

5. For really large groups, you may look at using another venue.

You can use a church meeting hall or community center or even a library. You then have to be aware of the hours, and whether or not you can serve alcohol, which is a huge plus for ANY mom’s event, of course (the free flowing wine, I mean).

6. Try to be season specific.

We did NOT do this for our first one, and we all agreed that in the future, this would make sense to do twice a year, at the beginning of spring for spring/summer, and at the beginning of fall for fall/winter. What better way to celebrate back to school this September than with a wine infused free shopping event?

7. This does not have to be with an organized group or club.

I attended one back in Chicago that was just a group of ladies that knew each other from their kids’ school and the neighborhood.

I hope you give this a try, and that you really enjoy your new free wardrobe!

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