I would have loved to have flown to Denver last week to participate in the Goodwill Denver’s Fashion Show + Clothing Swap. But since we had Fashion Week plans, we sent our favorite Denver blogger instead! Anna is the fabulous force behind And Then She Saved – a photographer and lifestyle blogger based in Denver who was recently featured on the Nate Berkus show. Here’s her recap:

Once I arrived, I made my way to the eager helpers who traded me a yellow wristband
for my items (the wristband was to allow us into the swapping area that would start after
the fashion show).

As soon as Mondo Guerra from Project Runway fame announced that the swap was
starting a line instantly formed. In the line we were all so close that we began to move in tandem. Suddenly, I found myself in the swapping area, and by pure luck I ended up right next to a rack that had a mint-condition wool J Crew jacket on it! (The score of the night!) On that same rack I found another jacket that still had it’s tag on it (tag said $129!). When the crowd moved you moved so I started grabbing some random things off racks that had cuteness potential.

Somethings that could have been improved about the event: too small of a swapping
area (I heard rumors that there were 850 people there- don’t know how true that is
but there were A LOT), the yellow wrist-bands weren’t checked so anyone could be in
the swapping area, and the emcees instructed everyone to take 10 items (regardless of
how many items you brought). Also, since the exit was right behind the swapping area
people had to go through the mass of people to leave the building. A better layout would
have made all the difference.

What I really liked about the event was that the clothes were organized by type; shirts
were with shirts, pants were with pants. That made things easy once you got to the
rack. At the end of the night, people wiped their brows, heaved their armfuls of clothes and
most ladies looked pretty happy with their loot. Apart from the few glitches it was still a lot of fun to experience a swap of that magnitude, and that J Crew jacket made all that squishing worthwhile!

Check out my blog www.AndThenSheSaved.com. By doing a Spending Fast I
eliminated all of my debt and now I’m on a mission to help others get out of debt too!

The Twitter rumors are true: We are hosting are another clothing swap with Lulus.com! Our second #SwapLulus event will be in Austin, Texas this March as the opening event of the Texas Style Conference. Last year’s Texas Style Council swap was my favorite event that we ever hosted. It was 3 full days of fun and making new fashion friends.

This year’s clothing swap will be a little bit different then last year’s Austin event:  bloggers/conference attendees will get to know each other and their wardrobes at our first official #TxSC event, just like last year, but this time we’re asking you bring just TWO of your best items of clothing to swap. (Easier to pack, too!) We’ll tag your items with your Twitter handle, your site URL and your Swap.com username and you can swap continually throughout the night with other attendees. Then hang out in the Lulu*s lounge, take home a complimentary item from Lulus.com, and spin the prize wheel for a chance to win even more fashionable loot!

If we won’t see you in Texas for SXSW, don’t fret: you can still hang with the lovely ladies of Lulus.com at New York Fashion Week this Friday! Hit up their  Style Studio at New York Fashion Week this Friday, February 10, 2012 from 6 to  10 pm. We’ll be there!

We invited those loyal & fashion-forward supporters to bring two designer or vintage items from their wardrobe (leaving the Forever 21 & Zara and bringing only Marc, Cynthia, Vince, Betsey & friends). Our friends from The Closet on Newbury Street had a little pop up booth at the event giving away free designer items to the attendees…awesome right? We sipped cider & nosh on amuse bouche while mixing, mingling & getting caught by the Pretty Instant photogs.

Happy World Swap day everyone!
View the complete set of photos here.

I can’t believe another year of swapping has come to an end.

2012 will be The Swapaholics’ 4th year in business. So, thank you for swapping with us and hanging out with us on the Swap.com Market! There is no doubt that this’ll be our most exciting year yet.

Lets take a quick look back on the past year of events:

January: Kicked off the year with National Swap Day

February: Greened the Red Carpet in LA and hit up Fashion Week

March: Sponsored the Texas Style Council at SXSW

April: Swapped Boston for New Orleans and Celebrated Earth Day

May: We swapped on my home turf in Worcester

June: We swapped hot in Atlanta then it was all about Lulu’s in SF

July: Swapped with our favorite DC event hosts

August: Celebrated our friend What I Wore’s book launch back in Boston

September: New York Fashion Week with Modcloth and Boston Fashion Week

October: Celebrated Green Halloween with a kids clothing/costume swap

November: Got ready for the private launch of our new Swap.com Market

December: Was all about the cookies and giving back for a good cause.

Photos from last nights Lame Gift Swap:

1. Chose your Host and location.
You should swap hosting every year, but this dosen’t really work in my group of friends, because most are allergic to cats and dogs so that leaves one or two who can host (sorry Laurie).

2. Prepare a menu.
We do our swap potluck style, and BYOB.

3. Collect the gifts you received that dont fit, are not your style, or are just plain old lame.
Examples: Snuggies, Shakeweights, Justin Biber cds, mittens, Crossroads dvds…you get the point!

4. Wrap your items back up.
I like to wrap mine up really fancy, that way the receiver will be in for a real surprise!

5. Head to the party!
This you will need to figure out on your own.

6. Start your Swap!
Put all wrapped gifts in a pile, pull numbers from a hat to determine the order you will choose gifts. The first person opens a wrapped gift. The second person then chooses whether to open a wrapped gift or “steal” their friend’s opened gift, and so on and so on.
If a person has their gift stolen, they can choose a new wrapped gift or steal an unwrapped one. When all gifts have been unwrapped, the game ends.

7. Go home.
If you think your swap gift has value, but just isn’t for you, you could try swapping it online.

Swap a skirt that you no longer love for that perfect pair of heels, a gently used purse for a Groupon deal to your favorite yoga studio. Connect with swappers around the world, browse for items you might like and start a conversation when something catches your eye. Coordinate with your swap partner, then mail your items or meet up in person.

If you are looking for people to swap with Melissa and myself will be happy to follow you!

Try it now!

Also…to celebrate the launch of the Swap.com Market, We are excited to announce our List your Way to $1K Giveaway!!

All you have to do to enter is list your coolest items on the Swap.com Market from now until January 28th, 2012. Two lucky winners (one guy and one girl) with the best Haves, as judged by our panel of expert swappers, will get $1,000! Awesome right? You can find the complete info here.

See you guys on the Market!

The entire mission of World Swap Day is to raise awareness for swapping as the new shopping, by hosting more than 100 events around the world during the month of January — clothing swaps, food swaps, book swaps, kids’ gear swaps, beauty swaps, video game swaps, seed swaps, teacher supply swaps, craft swaps, you name it — listed on our Events.Swap.com directory.

Here are 3 easy ways to participate in World Swap Day:

1. Host or attend a public swap event.
Locate one near you by browsing our Swap Events directory, or list yours if you’re already hosting one! An automatic email goes out to all Swap.com members each time a new local swap event is posted in their state.

2. Host a swap at home with your friends. It’s easy and fun, promise! If you’ve never hosted or attended a swap before, we’ve got you covered — check out our tips for hosting a Swap @ Home. Just check out how much fun our friend Sarah in Brooklyn had hosting her first clothing swap for a handful of friends last weekend for more encouragement.

3. Swap your items online, from the privacy of home!
Join in on the World Swap Day fun by using our new, free, worldwide Swap.com Market. Every listing for an item you have to swap (between now and January 28th) is an entry into our List Your Way to $1K Giveaway celebrating #SwapDay. Two lucky Swap.com members with the best Haves — one guy and one gal, as picked by our panel of expert swappers — will each receive $1,000 to put toward getting what they’ve always wanted!

If you’re hosting an event, want to blog about World Swap Day, or just spread the word, please feel free to use the banners, flyers, and Eventbrite images below (just grab the code below each image).

Hope you’ll join us — and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! Swapaholics at swap dot com is our email address.

SKYSCRAPER

Image link:

http://www.theswapaholics.com/files/world_swap_day_ad_160x600.jpg

MEDIUM RECTANGLE

Image link:

http://www.theswapaholics.com/files/world_swap_day_ad_250x250.jpg

Let’s keep the party going!

Check out all the recipes from the Cookie Swap on MyReci.com
Huge props to Vijay, Alex and the team at MyReci for cataloging all of your amazingly creative cookie recipes, along with photos, for us on their new online community for cooks, based right here in Boston! Click here for a private invite to the site, which is still in private mode and launches early next year.

Tag Yourself (and your cookies!) on Facebook
All of the official photos from the Cookie Swap for a Cause are posted on The Swapaholics’ Facebook page – make sure to tag yourself (and your cookies) and share your blog recaps with us, we’d love to see and hear your experiences!

Give the Gift of Cookies for Kids Cancer
Make a donation online, or grab a gift of the fab “Glad to be a Good Cookie” aprons we were sporting yesterday for just $15 each!

Last but certainly not least, HUGE thanks to The Boston Food Swappers, The GLAD Products Company, OXO kitchen tools, POLAR Beverages, Udi’s Food, and KO Catering & Pies for their samples and donations to yesterday’s event. Also, we can’t forget to thank Space With a Soul for such beautiful space!

With #swaplove,
Melissa & Amy

If you’re shopping for swapped or secondhand gifts this year, ask yourself whether or not a swapped gift is right for the person on your list by answering these questions first:

FRIENDSHIP
Is your friend a swapper? A vintage, consignment, or thrift shopper? How would you feel telling them where it came from? Of the two dozen people we polled last holiday season, they all said that they’d be thrilled to receive a swapped gift but definitely would want to know up front where the item came from.

CONDITION
All swapped gifts should be in new, like-new, or very good condition (unless you’re giving a vintage collectible or something antique). There’s no reason you have to disclose, say, that a brand-new DVD still in its plastic wrap was swapped. You wouldn’t go around bragging that you got the item on clearance at a big box store, either. Only you and Santa himself need to know about that one.

SAFE SWAP GIFTS
Jewelry, purses, antiques, collectibles, books, CDs, DVDs, video games, vintage records/LPs, and homemade holiday cookies all make great gifts for friends and family members, and can almost always be found through swaps or secondhand shops.

SWAPPER REACTIONS
Last holiday season, we polled more than 4,000 of our fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter about getting swapped items as presents, and here’s what they said:

If you got an awesome gift & later found out it was secondhand from a swap (even if new in packaging), how would you feel?

“I’d be amazed at your swap-hunting skills and appreciative of the gift!”

“I would feel awesome!”

“As long as it was something I wanted, I wouldn’t care.”

“I love that idea! Why would it matter as long as you thought it was something of quality that the person wanted!!”

“I would be glad you were giving it to me and not keeping it yourself!”

“I would probably want to know upfront. I don’t mind second hand at all, but if I was the one giving I would probably say something like ‘I saw this at the greatest swap/thrift store and I thought of you!”

“I would feel you had made wise economic decisions in a difficult time. Truly, it is the thought that counts.”

“Second the know up front idea…personally I wouldn’t care and would actually be happy, but I can see how some would not…”

“I probably don’t count since all of my gifts come from/are given from these types of events but I truly think its ‘the thought that counts.’ If it is a perfect gift for that person, who cares.”

“I would love it. Especially if it were a sweet pair of boots!”

“It’d still be awesome. In fact, I’d probably think it was more awesome.”

“I’d feel good that you thought of me when you found the gem, and even better when I learned that you got a good deal! Life is too short to have friends who ‘don’t do’ leftovers or enjoy the thrill of a bargain. ”

“LOVE IT!!!”

Since we’re truly Swapaholics, here are some of our own beloved things that were “gently used” before we gave or got them as gifts:

Vintage jewelry Amy received last year as Christmas presents from her boyfriend and from a friend.

Antique beer cans I gave to a friend, who worked for Miller Brewing, a few years ago. (He still has them displayed in his kitchen, which makes me smile every time I visit.)

HOSTING A HOLIDAY-THEMED SWAP SOIREE

Adding a little  swapping to your holiday party — the office, with friends, or your family affair — takes the pressure off everyone involved and is a great way to have fun while saving everyone time, money, and stress.

Keep it fun, festive and seasonal with a wine swap or a gourmet food swap — ask each attendee to bring one new, unopened bottle of wine, jam, marinade, spice rub, or other gourmet foodstuff, and let each person take one new-to-them item home in return.

Provide swap gift labels for people to fill out as they come in (like these awesome freebies from Jessica at How About Orange). That way, they can let each other know where the item came from and attach a funny or sweet message to the bottle or jar about why they’re giving the item away, like “I don’t know WHY my mother-in-law thinks I grill lots of steaks, since I’ve been a vegetarian for 10 years!” or “My husband and I love this spicy red wine & drink it in front of the fireplace every winter. Cheers!”

Display and organize the swap items in a central location for guests to browse as they sip and mingle, or host a more formal swap around a sit-down dinner by having each guest swap the item they brought with the person to their left. Keep going, allowing people to “stick” or “skip” to the next person, until everyone has something new-to-them that they’re excited about. Poke fun at the head of the family or company by setting the rules so that they agree to take the “lame gift” left over at the end.

Some other popular types of swaps during the holidays can include:

• Cookie Swaps
• Recipe Swaps
• Holiday Cookbook Swaps
• Ornament Swaps
• Handmade Gift Swaps
• Holiday/Cocktail Dress Swaps
• Lame Gift Swaps
• Goodwill Hunting Swaps (All thrifted/vintage gifts)
• Ugly Sweater Swaps
• Holiday Playlist/CD Swaps
• Skill Swaps (aka, the IOU swap)

Check back later this week for our “definitive” rules for that most contentious of holiday swap events: the Yankee Swap!

~ Melissa