My First Swap Party

About a week ago, I held my very first "Swap Party." I invited a few friends over and encouraged everyone to bring some food as well as any clothes or accessories they didn't want any more. There was no specific theme, and the whole thing was pretty casual. It was easy and everyone had fun. Here is what I did, as well as how I might improve for the next one.

Planning: I scheduled the event for a Sunday evening. I have many friends who work in retail environments, which close around 6 or 7 here in Reno. So people began arriving around 7, with the last guest coming around 7:30.
I bought plenty of food and drinks, although I probably should have bought fewer drinks, since one guest brought quite a bit of soda to contribute to the potluck.
I brought out some items of infrequently-used furniture to use for the "fixtures" of the party. We had plenty of space for everything, but one wall hook in particular was overloaded and fell down. Next time, I think I will add a tension rod to the bookshelf unit (it has no inside shelves, only the top was used) for better hanging space.

Invitations: I used Facebook to invite friends for the party. A few people who aren't on Facebook were invited by phone. This seemed to work okay, but I really wish people would respond to the Facebook invite, even to say they weren't coming. I understand that Facebook has changed the way invitations are handled on the website, so maybe a lot of people just didn't see the invitation. Or maybe, when someone RSVPd with "no," I didn't see it. I'm not sure.

The great thing about this type of party is that you can really invite anyone. I invited all of my local female friends and relatives. It is a unique opportunity to declutter, socialize, and shop at the same time. They brought a fun mix of styles and tasty treats. I promised everyone that I would donate any leftover items to a local charity.

Theme: This first-of-it's-kind event didn't have a particular theme. I encouraged everyone to "bring any unwanted items that another lady might enjoy." This translated to a very diverse shopping experience for everyone. We had a lot of clothing and accessories, as well as books, electronics, cosmetic and toiletry items, and household items.

I would like to have another swap party in early October, but I would like to emphasize a costume theme. Everyone should feel free to bring anything they like, just like last time, but I would love people to bring anything that could help make a fun Halloween costume. Wacky clothes, makeup, and accessories are more than welcome!

I think I am comfortable with hosting this type of thing every 2 months or so. Each event could have a particular emphasis.

The Flow of the Party: When everyone started arriving, food and drinks were out in the kitchen, so they could serve themselves buffet style. If someone had brought something, I put it out with the rest of the food. Most everyone sat at the dinner table and got to know each other. I had put out a book called Would You Rather? For Women as an ice-breaker and everyone really enjoyed it.

Meanwhile, I took everyone's contributions to the living room to be placed out on the "sales floor."

This table held jewelry and toiletries. It's just a folding table that I keep for those times when you need a little extra table space.

This table held household items. This table actually lives in my living room all the time, and was commandeered for the swap party.

This poor bookcase was used to hold the various books that people brought. It doesn't have shelves inside, so I used the top. Next time, I will create hanging space inside the cabinet part.

The couch held shirts and pants/skirts, organized by type.

These plastic hooks held dresses, belts, and a coat. The one with the coat kept falling down. :(

The whole thing looked great. My friends were all willing to help with setup as well! Everyone commented on how my living room looked like a real thrift store. 

After everything was set up, I joined everyone at the table and we all ate and played more "Would You Rather?" Then someone suggested that they wanted to go browse the shop, so everyone got up and looked around. It seemed like everyone found a few things that they wanted. After a little more chit-chat, people started to go. It wasn't terribly late but everyone seemed to have had fun. 

Leftovers: Once everyone was gone, I had a lot of leftover items. So, I packed them up in paper grocery bags (save for a few things I kept for myself!) and, the next day, I called the charity I had in mind, a local domestic violence shelter. It turns out that their storage was currently full and they were unable to accept any more donations at the time, but they referred me to another group, a women's substance-abuse treatment center. They, too, happened to be full and referred me to Big Brothers Big Sisters. Luckily, they were not full and even had a drop-off center really close to my house. I gave them all 6 bags full of various items, and from what I understand, BBBS sells the items to the local Savers stores to raise money. 

I am so pleased with how it went. I would definitely do it again. Have you ever hosted or attended a swap party? Tell us about it in the comments!

Well, THAT Sucked ... A Week of Disappointments

How awesome would it be if life was made of sunshine and rainbows? Pretty awesome, at least I think so. Not that I would know, because LIFE IS NOT LIKE THAT. And this week was one such example.

Over the weekend, I took a vacation with some girlfriends to Las Vegas. We had a great time. Upon arriving home, I sat my bags down on the kitchen floor and took a seat at the table to talk about my trip. Grant listened, and so did my kitty, Abercrombie.

After looking at pictures and telling stories, it was time to open my mail. I saw a letter from my college and though Super! It must be the letter giving me the okay to come pick up my diploma!

Nope.

It was a letter to inform me that, after an audit of my course history, I need 7 more credits to qualify for my AA.

Dang. What a letdown, after going through the ceremony and buying photos. After telling everyone I has a college graduate. After my mother was moved to tears with pride. All of that, for nothing. Boy, did that hurt.

I wanted to sit outside and get away from the stress for a minute, but you know what was out there? My fledging garden, which had been eaten to death by pests. So there I was, with no degree and no garden.

Surely, this must be a mistake, I thought. But upon review of my course history, I was ashamed to discover that the college was right. I was missing 7 credits. I misunderstood the graduation report. How embarrassing.

So, back to community college I go, for one more semester. Not sure how we are going to make it all work, but we have to. And then, at long last, I will be able to attend the university.

I hadn't felt so down in a long time. But having talked the situation over, Grant and I are optimistic about our future. Things are going to be okay.

Have you ever left a movie theater in the middle of the day? No matter how cloudy it is outside, it is always much brighter outside than it is inside. Upon stepping out into even the cloudiest of days, we have to cover our eyes because it seems so bright in comparison to a dark theater. And life is sort of like that. It is hard to appreciate how bright things are until you have emerged from some darkness.

Readers, try to keep things in perspective today. Remember that feeling of stepping into the light.

Cheapskate Confessions #1: Gift Wrap

This past week, my lovely and talented brother, Kevin, turned 20. Seems like just yesterday I was changing his diapers...

Anyhow, I bought him some aviator shades. He works as a sign waver and needs lots of protection from the blazing Nevada sun. I was lucky to get a few pairs of glasses for gifts at a going-out-of-business sale for the kiosk I worked at last Christmas.

In my family, gift wrap has never been a terribly serious situation. Since there is no pressure to make something look spectacular, I can be a bit on the frugal side! :) To make things even easier on me, I reuse things like tissue paper, gift bags, and ribbons. And I am not above removing the ribbons from things such as Victoria's Secret shopping bags to reuse later. Those particular ribbons are the perfect length for what I am about to show you.

 Small Gift Wrapping for Dummies and/or Cheapskates

 

You need: a small gift, two sheets of tissue paper, and a ribbon Just place the gift in the center of the tissue and pull the paper up around it, like you're putting your hair into a ponytail, and hold it tight with your fingers. Be sure not to wrap it too tightly, or you risk breaking whatever you are trying to wrap and/or ripping your tissue paper.
 
 Next, take your ribbon and tie into a little bow around the top of the gift. I try to leave a little tail sticking out of the bow to make it easy for the recipient to open the gift.

 

You can now proudly present your gift to the lucky recipient, knowing that you wrapped it yourself in a method that is both frugal AND eco-friendly! I hope they love it! Kevin loved his sunglasses!

 

 Thanks so much for stopping by!

 What do you do to reduce your cost and footprint at gift-giving time?

The Simple Pleasure of a Good Book

I love to read. My relatives will proudly tell you that I learned to read at age 3, with the help of my grandma as well as my great-grandma, who was a teacher. After picking up the basics of reading, I couldn't be stopped. I would read just about anything. Out of curiosity and boredom, I read through encyclopedias, cover-to-cover. So much of my childhood was spent with my nose in a book, it's a miracle that I made it to adulthood without walking right off the edge of a cliff!

These days, I still enjoy a good book. In fact, I just started a new book last night. Deception Point by Dan Brown. Dan Brown is one of my favorite authors. This particular novel, published in 2001, is a sort of political conspiracy thriller with some elements of science-fiction. I can't wait to find out what happens!

An engaging, suspenseful plot is key to a good novel. I remember watching my grandfather read novels as a kid. He would come home from the library with a bag full of Westerns and stories of political intrigue. Sometimes, he would sit at the table with a new book, read about 30 pages, then put it back in the bag and pull out another book. He told me that he just couldn't "get into the plot," so he would cut his losses and move on. Later, I learned about this issue. Life is too short to read boring books. Luckily, I have not come across too many books that I couldn't finish.

A related issue is writing style. While this issue seems to mostly pop up in cheap romance novels, occasionally, one finds the words on a page to be lacking in good-quality prose. I have read some books where the wording was just too awkward to understand. One must wonder whom is sitting at the publisher's office, sending these unfortunate samples of English to print...

I typically do not purchase new books, except as gifts. I prefer to find my books at the library (whose efforts I support through my consistently earned late fees) or at a secondhand store. Used bookstores are especially good, since their staff are typically knowledgeable and can help with a recommendation. I have also come across books I really enjoyed by reading reviews in the magazines I subscribe to. Sometimes, I borrow books from friends. I once saw a quote by Abraham Lincoln, which goes something like "my best friend is someone who will give me a book I have not read." Isn't that the truth? I get book recommendations from my sisters, my mom, and my friends. Sometimes, I daydream about starting a book club with my friends. I wonder how that would turn out. We could read books and munch on snacks and drink wine. Any takers?

Tell me, readers. What makes a book great? Where do you find books? Let's talk literature!

Hula Hoops

Today, I spent a decent amount of time with two of my sisters, hula-hooping. Hula Hoops became popular as a children's toy in the 1950's, but today many adults also enjoy this hobby for exercise or performance art.

Some time ago, my mother got a weighted hula hoop for working out. These weighted ones are easier for me to use than typical toy hoops that have no weight to them. My mom's hoop has these little bumps all around the inside, supposedly to "massage" you or something. I think the real purpose is to give you little annoying bruises on your stomach for no reason at all, but that is neither here nor there. At family dinners, we all often spend lots of time playing with the hula hoop with the music blaring.

A few days ago, my sister, Traci, received her own hula hoop via the Internet. Hers is not weighted and is free of the massaging bumps. Thanks to several videos from Youtube, Traci has become quite good at hooping and is trying to teach me and Cyndi (another sister) some fun techniques. The "ice cream/exploding soda" analogy in this video was very helpful in our successes as students of hooping:



I definitely still need more practice, but boy, was it fun. The three of us shared a lot of laughter this morning. It was a great way for us sisters to get together and just have fun. With work, school, pets, and relationships, it is hard for us to find the time for stuff like that. Even better, it is a pretty rigorous workout, especially when combined with all the laughing we did!