I had previously punched out numbers for people to draw from a bowl. We ended up having 15 people which was a perfect number to have. Enough to make it interesting and have a good selection without so many that it takes forever to get to your turn.
The loot. Seriously, there was a LOT of jewelry.
More display for pierced earrings
A guest selecting her jewelry
There may have been some heckling involved as people took jewelry that other people had their eye on.
To speed things along, we had people pick 3 items in round 1 and then drew numbers again to pick 2 items in round 2 and then 1 item in round 3. By the time round 3 came along, all of the good stuff was pretty picked over. We donated whatever was left over (which was still a LOT) to Dress for Success, a nonprofit organization that provides professional clothing and accessories to low-income women who are going into the workforce.
The swap was a GREAT way to get rid of some jewelry that doesn't work for you and to see friends try on stuff that was outside of their usual style. It was awesome to have no pressure and no monetary repercussions for getting some new jewelry. I love the stuff that I got and we were throwing around the idea of doing a similar thing in the future with home decor (lamps, rugs, vases, etc.), books or clothing.
Many thanks to my awesome co-hosts (and especially for some good late night conversation after the party).
Here are my co-hostesses (from L to R: Dee, Kelly, DrDrama)
I have another party in the works for later in the summer so stay tuned (still hammering out the details)!
