365 Swap with the Cultivate Girls

I’m a little slow, but I wanted to tell you about the 365 Swap! that I attended a week ago (I first mentioned it here).

This event was dreamed up by a group of friends (the Cultivate girls) who decided to get together to exchange various items they no longer wanted/needed (anything from décor to furniture to purses and more).  The catch is…it’s all wrapped up in a big party!  There are decorations, food, and lots of fun.

This year they sold tickets to the event, and my daughter and I decided to go.  After seeing all they went through, I think $6 was one of the best bargains ever!

Loaded down with our “Swap” items (we were limited to 7 a piece, which was hard!), my daughter and I entered a back-yard gate into a marvelous world.  At our left hand, a fence constructed of old doors greeted us (big fat puffy heart love). 

Hay bales, trailers, wagons and the like provided a framework on which to lay and display hundreds of swap items.

There were funky-cool garlands and vintage accessories which you wished were available for swap!

There were layers and layers of stuff to look through!

You had to walk through several times, and in different directions, so as not to miss anything (and you still did).

See that dynamite box (above) on the red chair?  That came home with me!

After everyone had had a chance to look around, there were 15 minutes in which you could clip a clothespin, marked with your name (you received a clothespin for every item you brought to swap), onto the items you wanted.  My daughter came home with the aqua birdcage!

At the end of that time, each person automatically received any item for which they were the only interested party.  I also came home with the cupboard door above.

For items that had multiple clothespins, they were placed in a battered army helmet and a lucky winner was drawn!

If you were not a winner, you received your clothespin back to be used for another round.

Did I mention there was also food?  A huge stack of Marie Callendar’s pie tins served as plates, vintage hankies served as napkins, and mismatched mason jars served as bowls!  There were cupcakes and pies and homemade root beer!

It was a fabulous evening!  THANK YOU to the Cultivate Girls, and I hope I can come again next year!

What do you think?  Was $6 a bargain or what??

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Remember that the voting for Round 1 of Crafting with the Stars begins tomorrow!