Merry Swap-mas

Today we hosted a big toy and gear swap for our MOMS friends. Several people stopped by and dropped things off beforehand, and I did my best to clean out as much as possible, so by the time our guests arrived we already had quite the pile going! It was a good thing that I had cleaned out the garage because between moms & kids & stuff, we needed all the space.

I love swaps because they are great motivation to look through your belongings and decide what you no longer need. Not that you can't do this whenever you like, but having a swap gives you a good deadline to work towards. I also like knowing that the things we have used & loved are finding a new home with someone else who can use and love them all over again. This time we even had free samples & coupons from GreenWorks to giveaway thanks to House Party.

I was pretty impressed with how much the Tumbleweed was into giving away her things. She had carefully selected some items from her room (after I took out the things that I thought should be swapped), and was showing them to other moms & kids as if she was a sales person - LOL. She still "rescued" a few of the things I had chosen, but overall I thought she did really well.

The kids are both really enjoying the "new" toys they chose at the swap. The Dandelion chose some Cars toys (big surprise) and the Tumbleweed selected a spiral drawing kit, a little ballerina doll, a Littlest Pet Shop display (no more stray pets around here... they now live in "Pet Town") and a few other things. This afternoon it was like Christmas all over... first playing with one toy, then the next, then the next. We have decided to call it "Swap-mas".













Now it is time to get ready for next week's book swap and then the big semi-annual clothing swap!