Home Decor Swap Party

Somewhere around Christmas time, I was talking to a dear friend of mine about some home decor items I had around the house that I didn't quite have a place for in this new house.  I wondered if I should take a picture of these items and post them for free to my local friends on Facebook or just donate them to Goodwill.  As we were talking, the idea of some kind of in house swap meet with friends came up and it sounded like the perfect solution:  get together with friends + get rid of things I no longer had a use for + get a new (to me) thing or two to use as well!

A couple of weeks before the swap, I sent out a simple Facebook invite for a handful of friends.  I kept it semi small because my home is not large and the invite included friends PLUS their stuff.

I dedicated our dining room for all of the decor items.  I set up a long folding table long ways, butted up against our dining room table, for small items and larger items were leaned against the perimeter of the room.

As friends arrived that night, I invited them to write their name three times on three small pieces of paper and place them in a basket.  After everyone was settled in, I drew three names at a time to go into the dining room and pick one item.  I kept drawing three names, until all of the little papers had been drawn.

After everyone had their chance to pick three things, I opened it up for everyone to go pick whatever items they wanted that remained unclaimed.

We ended the evening with some refreshments.  I bought pies and placed small slices in individual small, white cupcake boxes.  I also provided tiny cups to scoop up some salty pub mix and made lemon water for us to drink.  This is probably the simplest I've ever done things, as far as refreshments go for get togethers.  It was refreshingly stress free, which is perfect when you're hosting.  I think I'll keep it this simple in the future too. :)

 

I think everyone went away from this party with things they genuinely were happy to bring back to their homes.  The best part was they were FREE!!!  One of the items I chose that night, was this runner for our laundry room.  Funny enough, I had just told my husband a few days before the party, that I wanted to buy something exactly like this for this room and lo and behold, it was one of the items that was brought to the swap!

This was such a fun night, that I plan on throwing another Home Decor Swap sometime again in the late spring and inviting even more people.  Have you ever thrown or attended a swap party before?