Clothing Swap Party

We love hosting a party where we end up as relaxed as our guests.  As with any party, most of the organization happens up front, but when there are great clothes and swapping involved, we can get as wrapped up in the moment as everyone else!

In case you hadn’t noticed, we love to go all out in creating a deliberate atmosphere for Little Yellow Couch events.  For the clothing swap, we wanted it to feel like our friends had stepped into an exclusive boutique.  The kind where you need an appointment to shop and you could expect to be handed a glass of wine and a bite of chocolate upon arrival.  

Our lovely friend Laura offered her home as the site for our "boutique."  We had a great time trying on each other's clothing and an even better time seeing our own clothes working so well on someone new.  

Not everyone knew each other when they got there but they certainly did by the time they left! Nothing like modeling clothes in front of strangers to get women to bond and find common ground.  Oh, and trying on belts that we thought were necklaces and necklaces that were meant to be headbands is also amusing.  

Seeing your cast-offs look stunningly fresh on a new friend is truly rewarding!  We highly recommend it.

xoxo, Karen June & Zandra

Preparing a Clothing Swap Party

The first time I hosted a clothing exchange, I had no idea how much fun it would be.  Turns out, having an activity to focus on was a great way to bring all of my different groups of friends together.   The best part came for weeks afterward when I would run into someone and they’d be wearing something they got at the party.  They would gush about how awesome it was to get a (free!) boost to their wardrobes and that whenever they wore their new items, it would remind them of how much fun they had had that night.  Just the kind of party we love to have!

BEFORE THE PARTY

Ask everyone to drop off their clothes and accessories ahead of time so that you have a chance to sort through everything and get things organized.  

Order a few coat racks from your local party supply center.  It’s much easier to see what’s what when items are hung on hangers rather than having everything in piles.  We wanted all of the hangers to be uniform (again, so you felt you were in a boutique), and we chose to use wooden ones from IKEA.

We created little hang tags where we wrote the size of the item on the front...

... and we had a blast writing quick ideas of how to upgrade or embellish each piece on the backs.  Some of the suggestions were a bit cheeky ("...save this one for the next 80s party you're invited to") but for others, we were really excited about the possibilities of adding an applique, or new buttons, or simply cinching something with a wide belt and wearing with cowboy boots.

Having a designated area for trying on clothes is critical so that no one feels uncomfortable. We were lucky enough to have a whole room to designate as the "dressing room."  

You’ll also want a few smaller mirrors for trying on jewelry and other accessories.  And it's all the more lovely if you have a privacy screen!

DURING THE PARTY

Give everyone plenty of time to socialize, drink their wine and look through all of the clothes and accessories.  Let them know that they should try things on and make a mental note of their favorite items. 

After about an hour, you’ll get everyone’s attention and ask them to draw a number. Whoever has number 1 goes first and chooses one item that's theirs to keep.  

You continue through all of the guests until everyone has something.  Depending on how many items you have, you may want to do several rounds of everyone choosing one item at a time.  Then, when you feel everyone has something they’re excited about, you open up the rest of the boutique and it’s a free-for-all, people taking whatever else they like from what’s left over.  

Oh, and to be clear, let everyone know that no matter how many items they bring, they can pretty much take as many as they like.  Believe me, there will be plenty.  

To keep things simple, it was strictly a wine and chocolates party.  But again, to enhance the boutique experience, we decided at the last moment to have plenty of water bottles on hand and replace the labels with ones of our own. 

WRAPPING THINGS UP

Karen June and I always want to give our guests a small memento from our parties.  For this one, we made lavender sachets to take home with them.  You might also want to have handled paper bags on hand so people can carry home their new finds.   

Finally, we let everyone know ahead of time that they wouldn't have to worry about lugging home whatever wasn’t taken.  We’d be donating all that was left to a local charity.  

So, happy planning!  We'd love to hear about your clothing swaps and any new tips you have for making the most of one!

xoxo, Zandra

Cheers! ... Little Yellow Couch Cocktail Party

You know how, in the stressful couple of days leading up to a party, you occasionally wonder if it’s all worth it?  When you’re shoving things under beds because you put off cleaning until the last minute; when you’re still in sweatpants 5 minutes before people arrive and you’re trying to stab individual chocolate covered raspberries with drink stirrers so that your martinis will look like a photo on Pinterest; when you’re hoping the spray paint will dry, the glitter will stick and the ceramic deer head won’t fall on top of a guest and you actually consider crazy gluing the thing to the wall without your husband seeing you…(C’mon, people, tell me you know what I’m talking about).  Well, I can say with confidence that it must have been worth it because we had a BLAST!!!  And I’m still married.  So.  (There will probably be another party).  

My husband and I have been hosting annual holiday parties but this year he was really lucky!  It was a Little Yellow Couch gathering, which meant Karen June and I both were coming up with harebrained ideas.  Ones that simply must be implemented or there’d be no point in even having a party.   For example, the whole “must have more plaid” mantra that translated into plaid pillows, plaid runners, plaid coasters, plaid ornaments, plaid swags, plaid hanging from the windows…; the “we need antlers, but we don’t have antlers, we’ll make our own antlers” idea, the “it’s obvious we need to reupholster the furniture” decision… (That was Pete’s favorite).  

Anyway,  Karen June and I can’t help ourselves.  Our secret daily goal is to get each of our husbands to say, “ummmm, honey?  Isn’t that a little over the top…?”  Then we know we’re about half way there to actually being over the top.  

My favorite idea is probably the one we came up with just a few days before the event: the “a photo booth would reeeeeally make the party click” idea.   But that’s what happens when Karen and I get together.  We egg each other on.   We immediately realized that we needed to create a background for the “booth.”  With hanging-down-thingies.  And props.  And lights.  But hey, we had FUN!  So it must have been a successful party.  

And when I say “success,” I mean that our guests didn’t hate us for making them hold props as we shoved them into our make-shift photo booth, they ate enough of the food to make us think they liked it, and they actually followed the directions when mixing up our signature cocktail…and then helped themselves to another.  At Little Yellow Couch, it will always be all about the people and the experiences we have with them.  

(Honestly.  We need medical attention.  But not yet.  We’re planning January’s party and we’ve got some ideas we have to try out).

Cheers!

Zandra & Karen June