Clothing Swap!!

Howdy, howdy!

So this post is about something that I've touched upon before and been looking forward to for the past six months, seriously!
The 2013 Spring Mama/Kiddo Clothing Swap!!

"What is a Mama/Kiddo Clothing Swap?", you may ask.
Well, it is pretty much what it sounds like. Mamas and kiddos swapping their clothes! That is, an opportunity to purge one's closets of clothes that have exhausted their use for their current owners, and replenish one's wardrobe with "new" (used) clothes from people doing the exact same thing. It's a win-win in this great cycle of giving~

The first time this was held was last September with pretty kickin' results too! Here is a photo from that:

William on the right; his buddy Henry on the left. I title this "Swap 'Til You Drop"

At these Swaps, anything leftover goes to Vina Moses -- a local center that supplies household items to needy families in the Benton County for free -- or any other charitable cause that comes up. The Spring Swap will also have a portion of the leftovers go to the OSU Folkstore because it supports the Waldorf After School Program and scholarships to students, and a woman in Albany who runs a second-hand store in the hopes of raising enough money to start a women's shelter.
Good causes all around!

Anyway, here are some photos of the 2013 Spring event:

The early morning hours...setting up...

The Fall Swap was held in the First Congregational Church, which was fine but a tad small and not as easy for entertaining the kiddos in. The space we opted for this time was the second floor of a church located more centrally in town, complete with climbing structures (seen right) for the kids and plenty of space for them to run around in too. Dash helped bring up bags of clothes from the RV (I had accumulated quite a bit, having made myself a "drop-off point" for a number of ladies), and Angela and Kim helped set-up tables, hang signs, organize clothes, and they brought food too! Yum!!

Things start warming up...

 People brought a lot of things to contribute. We had different sections (thanks to Kim for devising and labeling!) that went as follows:

- women's clothes S > XL
- child clothes 0 mo. > 10+
- maternity wear
- baby misc. (blankets, bumbos, bottles, etc)
- shoes
- toys
- hats/gloves/accessories
- home/decor

Aaaaw, so cute!

The shoe section was particularly entertaining for me because it felt as though I could come back to it every half hour and there would be some new shoes for me to check out (for William primarily). It was ever shifting on account of people steadily trickling in for all five hours that the event lasted.

Look at that mountain of baby clothes!!

 We didn't keep formal track of how many people came, but having originally emailed 60 people about the event, I think we had roughly 50 attendees (and not all people that I emailed or even knew! It's amazing how word-of-mouth works, eh? ;) )

The mandatory "Safe Zone"

At the last Swap, I had accidentally left my shoes out among the clothes...and they had fallen prey to someone in need of size 10.5 women's shoes! Ha!! We wanted to make sure things like that didn't happen again so we had a designated Safe Zone where you could leave your claimed goods without fear that somebody would walk off with it. I think it worked~ (no complaints, yet!)

All in all, it was an exciting/exhausting event that benefited many families, so I'm happy :)
Kim, Beth, and I (+ 2 selfless husbands!!) stayed behind until nearly 7pm to pack all the leftovers, put everything back to how it was, and set things straight.
I must be honest, my energy was pretty low by then... Ever since Friday evening, I've been not feeling right in the gut and though I barreled through it for most of Saturday, here I am sitting Sunday evening still not feeling good despite having spent most of the day in bed. >_0
Hopefully I'll be all better by tomorrow~~

I look forward to meeting with some of the core planner ladies involved later this week to confer about the Spring 2013 Mama/Kiddo Clothing Swap; when to do the next one (we're looking to make this a biannual thing), and what changes to make to it run better.

Until then, take care and if you didn't come to the Clothing Swap, I hope you can make it to the next one~! Unless you're in a completely different state or something, at which point I recommend you establish your own! :)))

Til next time, take care and Happy Clothing Swapping!!