Clothing swap and other events

Although this blog is primarily about food, reducing all waste is important to me.

Over the last couple months I have hosted a few events with reducing waste in mind. Reducing your waste is not just about not throwing things out, but also limiting your consumption. I hosted two baby related events to allow moms to buy and sell their used items and clothing. Both were a great success despite bad weather and we raised $135 for the Hospice House.

Last weekend, I hosted a clothing swap with some girlfriends. This one was the most fun. If you haven't been to one before I urge you to set one up with friends. It's very simple to do. Invite a few girlfriends over and ask them to bring gently used clothes and accessories. We organized them into piles; skirts, summer, accessories, etc. Everyone tried on clothes for the first half hour and then the swapping began. Based on random numbers, everyone had a minute to select 3 items. If you didn't like how they fit, you threw them back and chose 4 the next round. Once everyone was happy with what they had we had a free for all, taking whatever you wanted. We ended up with two ginormous tubs for the Hospice House thrift store and we all came away excited about the new clothes we picked up. The most important thing is to have enough committed people invited. Of the 13 who rsvp'd only 5 showed up. It won't work if only 3 of you come, so make sure people are committed.