Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Swap the Old for the Old, But Different

As publicity coordinator of my local Mothers of Preschoolers group, I am in charge of sending out all the emails and notifying members of our events, among other things. I just finished emailing my group about one of my most favorite events that we do - the Clothing Swap!
I LOVE clothes! I love buying clothes for myself, and before my son was even born, I was stockpiling cute little outfits for him. My dad once told me that when I was working retail in clothing shops, it was like an alcholic working as a bartender! That is how bad I am :)
So needless to say, I am constantly going through my son's drawers, finding outfits that he's outgrown and trying to figure out what to do with them - outside of just bagging them up and putting them in the attic.
Thankfully, every year about this time, my MOPS group has our clothing swap. This is my chance to take those clothes that he outgrew during the year and trade them in for clothes in his size - or a year or so bigger for future use. This year I will be swapping a lot of 2T stuff for 4T or 5T toddler clothes.
Of course there are those items that I cannot part with. You know, the baptismal outfit, the Easter outfit, the first Christmas outfit. And alot of clothes now go to my one-year-old nephew. But the others, I'm more than happy to give to my friends, while taking their kids' clothes off of their hands.

Here are some more ways to "get rid" of that pile of outgrown clothes that are spilling over your child's drawers and closets:

* Pass them down to siblings/other family members/friends
* Give them to the Goodwill or DAV
* Make a little extra change by selling them at a yard sale
* Make even less change by selling them to a consignment shop
* Cut them up and get a little crafty with them - turn a baby sweater into a miniature pillow
* Have the really special items mounted in a shadow box and hung on the wall

I'd love to hear what you do with your outgrown kids' clothes. Leave a comment with a tip or unique idea.

1 comments:

Pinching Abe said...

I used to live at a Once Upon A Child shop when my daughter was smaller. Now, the closest to me is Richmond, an hour and fifteen away. I never sold there (I must confess, I hoarded a lot of her clothes, that is, until we moved into a smaller house with no storage!) but I sure bought plenty.

Lately, we've been eBaying lots of her skirts and dresses. I let her have the money to buy something else in her size. Sometimes she cries a little over her "favorite" things (they are all favorites) being sold, but she does love seeing the green stuff laid in her palm and looks forward to shopping.