Get Your Daughter a Fabulous Back to School Wardrobe For Next to Nothing (Hint: It's NOT Goodwill)

Chances are your daughter has plenty of great clothes but still doesn't think she has anything to wear.

There are probably things hanging in her closet that are still new with tags.
Chances are your daughter's friends have a similar closet.
So why not have a back to school night party where you invite your daughter's friends for a custom-made swap meet.

The idea is a new-take on hand-me-downs in that it's more of a lateral transfer where the girls bring the clothes that they don't want to swap with each other.

This approach saves money by cutting down on shopping for back to school clothes.

It also makes good use of what would have been a wasted article of clothing.
Invite your daughter's friends for an "Girls' Afternoon INdoor SwapMeet".

(NOTE: unless you plan on putting up little dressing rooms or have several restrooms available for changing clothes, it's better to keep this event "girl's only".

For practical purposes, aim to invite girls that are within 2 sizes of each other.

Plan on serving light refreshments.
Once you get the RSVP and see if you can get the clothes delivered a day or two before the swap. Be sure to advise them to wear suitable undergarments for changing.
Also see if the guests have full-size mirrors that can be borrowed for the swap. On the day of the swap, organize all the clothes into nice, neat, color-coded piles. Hang up dresses, coats and ensembles.

If you have many clothes, an inexpensive way to hang them is to pick up some flexible, vinyl tubing from a hardware store and run a cord through it, which you then tie to two sturdy end-points in the area that you are having the party. Alternatively, you could pick up an inexpensive portable garment rack and hang the clothes on that. Locate the mirrors near each other so that the girls can try on their clothes with each other.
Apart from the fun and novelty of this experience, it's also a great opportunity to teach your child about consumption and conservation.
Reducing consumption, re-using clothes and free-cycling clothes for others' use is a great way to teach how every purchase that we make impacts the environment.
This clothing swap is a great way to show your daughter that fiscal responsibility by minimizing consumerism has positive reverberations for the environment.

Fire-up an upbeat playlist, set out the refreshments and get your girlie-girl on!