The most successful parties are the ones in which the refrain, "I'm having it at my house next time," can be heard repeatedly. Why are women attracted to swap parties? Do teens like them too?
Swap parties have been around for a while and yet each one is as unique as its host and attendees. Women love to share great finds with friends. What one doesn't wear, another will gleefully choose and wear with pride.
Women live to shop, talk, eat, and share. This, dear reader, is the basis of all swap parties.
Swap Party Rules
- Invite 25 people and ask each person to bring one friend. Remember that when 25 people are invited, the usual response is 1/3 of those invited will actually attend.
- Each person attending must bring five nearly new items from their closet. Popular items to bring include: unworn or lightly worn shoes or sandals, purses, blouses, dresses, jeans, jackets, vests, jewelry, scarves, and hats.
- Each attendee will also bring a tapas, appetizer, dessert, or salad. This should be cleared with the hostess prior to the party. Very organized hostesses will ask for recipes to be printed out to go along with the dishes for party goers to take home.
- Each person attending will leave with five chosen items.
Setting Up the Swap Party
A great way to set up the party is to have appetizers in the kitchen along with drinks, while desserts are placed on the dining room table. Clothes can be hung on racks or placed all around the house in a creative fashion. Each swap party hostess will decide how to display the items.
Clothing sizes should be grouped together in rooms; small (sizes 2, 4, 6 Ladies) should be in one room, medium (8, 10, 12) in one room, and large sizes (14, 16, 18, and larger) should be grouped or hung in another room. This allows the party goers to move freely about chatting, looking at the items up for swap, and snacking on appetizers and desserts.
Shoes and sandals should be lined up along walls in order of their sizes. Small (5 - 6), med (7 - 8) and large (9-10) can be set up with their s-m-lg clothing groupings.
Swap and Shop
Once the party goers have had about an hour to mix, snack, look at and try on the items up for swap, the group will be asked to sit down and numbers will be passed out to all the attendees.
Number one will go first and pick one item from the entire grouping, then number two, number three, etc. until all attendees have chosen one item to take home. This will continue until each person has chosen five items to take home. The party should last about 3 hours or at most, 3 -1/2 hours.
Serve Curried Chicken at a Swap Party
You can make enough curried chicken salad for a party with this recipe. The mango chutney and curry powder give it an exotic and tropical zing!
Ingredients:
- 5 lbs chicken breasts, skinned and boneless
- 1-1/2 lbs fresh broccoli
- 2 cups chopped red onions
- 2 8-oz jars of mango chutney
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 3 Tblsp curry powder
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- 2 tsp tarragon
- romaine lettuce leaves
Directions:
- Rinse the chicken well, then place in large pan in water. Cook for approximately 20 minutes until tender. Drain, cool, and cut into small chunks.
- Steam broccoli for several minutes, till bright green. Combine chicken, broccoli and onions in a bowl. Chop the chutney into small pieces. Combine with lemon juice, curry powder and tarragon in a small bowl. Add to the chicken mixture and toss to mix well.
- Chill until ready to serve. Add the mayo and toss lightly. Serve in a bowl, lined with fresh lettuce leaves.
Serves: 15
Prep time: 20 mins.
Cook time: 20 mins.
The swap party is a fun way to get rid of unused items in your closet. It also brings together old friends and new friends in a casual, party atmosphere. Some "swappers" host a party once a month and continue to be energized by new attendees with new recipes and new items up for swapping.
For more party food recipes from this author, try the following:
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