Swapping is the new Fur Trade

I am giving the weather the finger today and baking up BlueBerry Lemon Muffins and BlueBerry Sugar Tarts. I tripled the recipe and now have more than enough to share. Hey, maybe I'll host a swap party to go with my most recent article! Here's something for you to chew on today!

KV Style - Budget Wise - Jill Lewis-Watts

Remember history class? I remember learning about the fur trading era and how ancestors used beaver pellets to buy sugar and tea? Well, we have our own version nowadays, it’s called ‘swapping’.  You see, some people like the mall, others like big box stores while many may choose thrifty marts. It’s all fun and games until your credit card, cash or bank account run dry. Forget paying for new clothing, children’s items or even items in your pantry with money…pay like how they used to, using something you already have.

Swap parties are the new wave in budget conscious shopping, here is a guideline for hosting your own party and hopefully walking away with some ‘new to you’ stuff.

Decide on the date of your swap party and invite everyone that you think would be interested. The best way of doing this is with emails. In the email, make sure that you tell your friends what it's all about. This for example,  if you decide to have a clothes-specific swap party:

Hi Fashion lovers! I have decided that I need some new clothes, but I don't want to spend any money, so I have decided to throw a FASHION SWAP PARTY! I came to this decision after looking through my closet and seeing all these great clothes that I'm a bit tired of but I know some of you might love. So if you want renew your closet then keep Saturday night free from 5:30pm onwards. Please bring as many clothes as you can. The more you bring the more you get. Please be sure that you wash and press all your items. Try to have them in a condition that you would like other people's clothes to be. Please RSVP. Emily.

1. Make up 3 "value spots" on a table or on the floor. Mark them as Cheap, Mid-price and Expensive.
2. Create tickets for each pile (about 20 for each). Make sure you leave a spot for people to put their names. A good thing to do is pick up 3 different coloured post-it notes, one colour for each pile.
3. When your partygoers arrive, tell them to put each item they have in the value spot that they think suits it best. For each item they put down, give them a corresponding ticket and tell them to put their names on each.
4. Once everyone has arrived, tell the party to put their tickets into a box.
5. Put some cool music on to keep a festive mood going.
6. Get the box of tickets and shake them all up. Reach in and pick out a ticket (you can ask random people to do this to make it more fun.)
7. Each ticket you pick will say a name and have the colour of a value spot. So, for example, if a ticket says EMILY and MIDPRICE, then Emily can go and pick something from the mid-price pile.
8. When Emily has chosen her item she sits down and the cycle repeats.
9. If Emily chooses an item that somebody else really wants then draw those two names again to determine who ends up getting it. You can also set up a simple game such as “Who’s birthday is closest to Christmas” to determine who gets that much beloved item.

A final note…I have heard of swap parties that have involved participants bringing anything from un-opened bulk bags of chocolate chips to un-used florescent bulbs! Don’t limit your swapping to clothes only! Have fun!