The Accessories Swap Event!

I’ve mentioned And Then She Saved as my favorite financial blog a few times now. Anna Newell Jones writes about her strategy to get out of debt and reshape her views on spending and finance. She has given me numerous helpful tips and motivation to get myself into better financial shape and I always look forward to new posts from her.

Recently, she turned the concept of “swapping” into large social events, which has become a big hit! I read about her first clothing swap she held back in November and I was bummed to be living so far away. When I was assigned to a business trip to Denver and it lined up with an accessories swap Anna was hosting, I was pumped! I called up my sister, we each gathered our unwanted accessories and got ready to swap!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the accessories I swapped but items included 4 pairs of shoes, a headband, a skinny belt, and a necklace.

Anna was smart to partner with a few sponsors to turn the event into a full party, including drinks, cupcakes, a photo booth, a DJ, $5 manicures, a handbag giveaway competition, and a fun button-making booth.

I had my eye on a few items that went before I even got into the swap area but my sister and I still ended up with some pretty cool accessories without having actually go shopping! Trust me, we did plenty of that too over the weekend (again, another post on that soon!) but for someone who tries to stick to a spending diet, a clothing or accessories swap is an amazing idea!

Here’s a link to Anna’s post about the swap, including a few cool videos. And here’s an article that Fashion Follio wrote about the event. There’s even a picture of Sarah and I in her slide show!

It turns out Kimberlee of I Have A Degree In This is hosting a swap here in New York tonight, actually! Unfortunately I’m babysitting but it’s great to know about these events in your area! Hosting an event of this size can be a lot of work but here are the basics if you want to make it possible, even if just for your girlfriends!