My Sister’s Closet: LDS Young Women’s clothing swap in four easy steps
Who doesn’t love shopping, especially when it’s free? That’s why the Young Women in your ward will love throwing a clothing swap. Everyone goes home with more than they came and it’s a great way to socialize and serve others. Throw one in your ward in four steps.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we hold weekly activities with the youth in our congregation ages 12-18 years old. The older girls in our congregation decided that they wanted to host a My Sister’s Closet Clothing Swap for all of the girls and leaders in our ward. It’s was a smashing success! Everyone loved it. Here’s how we did it.
Step #1: Gather your donation items
About three to four weeks in advance, we asked all the girls to drop off donations of clothes, shoes, jewelry and room decor items at one of our leader’s homes. Basically, everyone had the opportunity to de-junk.
Step #2: Sort and display
On the evening of the activity, the leaders took all of the donations and sorted them into the following groups:
- Athletic wear
- Shirts
- Pants
- Dresses
- Shoes
- Room Decor
- Jewelry
Then they folded and displayed the donations on round tables in the applicable groups. We used round tables but if you have portable hanging racks for clothes, that would make it easier to look at all the clothes. You can also use a foldable drying rack to display items as well.
Step #3: Decorations
One of our leaders had these adorable homemade signs that made it look like each table was a mini shop that the girls could visit. The frames were made out of PVC pipe that connected to a base made from plaster of paris inside a bucket. The sign part was sewn out of various types of fabric. If you don’t want to make it yourself, you could also buy a retail market stand but it’s just a little bit pricier.
As an added pop to the decorations, we put balloon centerpieces on each table using a balloon stand kit. They are way cheaper than filling a bunch of balloons with helium and you can re-use the kits over and over.
Step #4: Refreshments
We kept it really simple and just did mini pretzels and cheese dip. It was a hit. You could also do a donut bar or an Italian soda bar. Really the sky is the limit. But it always seems like more people come if they know that there will be food there.
Other helpful tips and tricks
- Gather reusable shopping bags for the girls to put their clothes in
- Donate any extra clothing items to good will
- Play fun background music while the girls are shopping
- Encourage the girls to pick out just one outfit until everyone has had the chance to shop
- Sort according to size if possible
- Tell the girls to keep negative comments about the clothes to a minimum so as not to discourage other girls from choosing certain items
What other ideas do you have for combined Young Women activities? Leave your comments below. Let us know how your clothing swap goes! We hope it’s a smashing success.
More from My Silly Squirts: Start a friendship basket with your LDS Young Women group today!
