1.18.2009

Have you ever had a trading party?



My friends and I have done this tradition for years. I think the very first one I ever went to was at Michelle's house.

Basically, what we do, is we all clean out our houses of stuff that we might get rid of in a yard sale or donate to Hannah Homes thrift stores.

I usually go through my clothes, shoes, jewelry, lotions, home decor, scrap stuff, kitchen, and my "random closet o' stuff," and bring anything that I don't LOVE or USE.

We bring it all to the hostess' house, who has already made an appointment for Hannah Homes to come pick up the leftovers the next day. We organize it all into sections- home decor, clothing, etc., and then draw a number. We go through in numerical order- the first person picks out one thing that they want, and then the second person goes, etc. After we've gone around the circle a couple of times, then we usually pick out several things on our turn.

Our rules:

1) You don't have to take anything if you don't want to; likewise, you can quit whenever you want.
2) You can't say what you want before your turn, because then someone else might feel bad if they picked that, etc.
3) You can't say, "EWWWWWWWWW Gross! Who brought THAT?" ;) Hehe

We recently had a trading party at Michelle's house, and I got rid of a bunch of stuff (which is always a lovely feeling). I also found some treasures to bring home.

Pretty new tableclothes.

(I noticed this when I was taking that picture. Someone decided to alter my arrangement on the table. Too funny!)

New china. Gosh, I love that rose pattern and the silver edges.
I think it looks pretty with my Southern Living at Home plates on top of it.
A primitive star candle holder that I'm using as a spoon rest on my stovetop.
I'd been looking for something pretty but durable & kid friendly to put on top of my vintage suitcases. Perfect.
A nice big stack of bedtime reading material.
A Lambie for Em's room. (How perfect is that?!)


A new saucepan for the Hubs.
A little cheese plate with glass dome. I have great plans for little displays inside of it!
Itty bitty sewing machine.
As Abbey put it, one of the fun things about this is that everyone thinks they are getting the best stuff... one man's junk is another man's treasure, as they say.

I think my favorite thing is that I get a little piece of my friends in my home. (Well, not an actual piece of my friends- that would be gross.)

Thanks for "trading" with me, friends!

I highly recommend doing one of these parties with your group of friends! They are great fun and a good way to mix up your home decor (and declutter, while you're at it!).

19 comments:

  1. How awesome! I wanna go to one! I have a pile accumulating int he garage right now!!

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  2. What a great idea! I've never thought of doing something like this...til now :)

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  3. that would be so much fun!! i would love to do that!!!

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  4. What a great idea!!! Too bad ya didn't live a bit closer!!!! : )

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  5. how fun is that!? love the treasures you brought home from that - so cute!
    -wp

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  6. I love this idea! I think it sounds so super fun!

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  7. Oh, so much fun! I'm glad you added that bit about "everyone feeling like they got the best stuff" cuz it's true! I felt SO greedy!! But I think we were all feeling the same satisfaction. It really is true that one man's junk is another one's treasure. I've seen a couple of old familiar treasures in this very post! It makes me so happy! They look beautiful!
    & btw, I've been LOVIN my "Virginia junk" the last couple of days! :)
    Good to see you...

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  8. too cool! I am going to have to suggest this to all my friends. I could see doing a 'household' swap and then scheduling a 'childrens stuff/clothes' swap as well. thanks for sharing!!!

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  9. what a fun idea. i love the stuff that you got too. especially the star, watering can and lamb

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  10. That's a neat idea :) You got a lot of stuff!

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  11. Ahhh...makes me miss you guys. I love the stuff you got!

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  12. That is the MOST fabulous idea. Love it. Gotta do one of those...soon! :)

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  13. Hey there!!

    Can you send me the rules on this type of event? Me and my friends totally want to do this and we're so confused as to how. Does everyone bring the same amount of stuff to start?

    What a wonderful idea!!

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  14. What a great idea! Makes me wish I had more friends. :(

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  15. Tomorrow is our Super MOPS Swap ... I can't wait!! :) It was fun to read how you guys did it. I'm not sure our group digs the structure of the numbers, so I think it might be a free for all. We'll see how it goes.

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  16. I hate that I missed it. I so would have been fighting you for some of that stuff!!!!

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  17. What a fun idea! I think you SCORED!!! Cute stuff! :D

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  18. I agree with Abbey I felt greedy too and that I got the best stuff of all... I am lovin me some of your so called scrappin junk it has made my month =) thanks for sharing querida !!

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I'm so glad you decided to leave me a comment today! Thanks for taking the time to stop by my little corner of the world. :)

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