Party Idea: Host a Home Goods Swap

We've been invited to a few clothes-swap parties lately, and although we couldn't attend, the idea will never really go out of style - bad economy or not. This got us thinking about different kinds of swaps. Similar to a white elephant gift exchange this month, why not host a small holiday party which has a home product gift exchange/swap at its core? Obviously the items would need to be of a reasonable size (no furniture), but things like vases, blankets, pillows, artwork, dishware, even lamps, would be great for gifting and getting. Throw in the stealing element of a white elephant exchange and this could be pretty fun...

Any other great party swap ideas for inexpensive holiday gathering?

Let us know if you do this or something similar...we'd love to blog about it. Email chicago(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com.

Photo: Katy Elliot/Domino

Comments (6)

I've done an accessories swap with girlfriends. Nice, gently worn (or never worn) shoes/pumps and vintage or Coach purses/bags.

Stealing images from istockphoto now? That's classy.

I had a friend move out of state and leave me with all the bath and body stuff from her bathroom she didn't want. Way more than I could use and I lot of stuff that didn't fit my needs or tastes. We've all got the perfume that doesn't smell right on us, or the hair care product that didn't work as promised. And we spend too much on the stuff to just throw it away.

So, I had a swap in early November and it was a big success. Everyone brought very useable stuff and all walked away happy!

We had a GREAT group of women, all very polite and fair. I'm curious if anyone has swap protocol/ettiquette in case not everyone is being nice??

And I had enough stuff - I'll host another one in January after we all recover from the holidays and need a little pampering.

yeeeeah....the istockphoto thing is bothering me. i know some folks who illustrate for them, and they really do deserve the peanuts they charge. that image probably only cost $10 to legally use. as Seth and Amy would say..."Really?!!"

The previous image was taken from a radio blog, not istock (although i looked back and they did not include credit either, so i don't know the source.) apologies for offending.
http://www.mix1073fm.com/article.asp?id=524801&SPID=17375

It has now been replaced.