National Costume Swap Day

By October 21, 2010 Events 3 Comments

I am a firm believer in reducing and reusing whenever possible. There are many things that I feel that I really don’t need to spend the money on, and costumes are one of them.

Not everyone has the time or they feel they are not crafty enough to pull off making a costume so they go off and spend tons of money on new ones every year. This year I wanted to show my community that you can get a great costume for FREE all you have to do is swap out the old for a (gently) used one. I came across this amazing site called Celebrate Green, founder of National Costume Swap Day, which is held around the country on October 9th of every year. You can have a large community swap and invite tons of people or you can have a small one with just a group of your girlfriends. The goal is for kids get new-to-them costumes, and parents get to save money and the planet by recycling princess gowns, witches hats, and superhero capes from years past.

So I got some of my Philly Social Media Moms together, and we had our own Costume Swap on October 2, 2010 at the Swarthmore Community Center in Delaware Co. PA.  It was an amazing night with 11 different vendors coming in to showcase their goods.

We had Lil Boo Co. so us how easy it is to make your own Halloween decorations, Eco-Party Time gave us some great choices when it comes to use recycled and eco-friendly supplies when having parties with our kids.babyBdesigns had these amazing digital made cards if you are choosing to go paperless this holiday season. IGC Metal Brokers were there taking old gold that you may not want anymore and gave you cash in return. HAPPYBABY Organics showed off their line of all organic baby and kids foods, The Prepared Parent gave CPR tips, Blossoms Hair Accesories for girls had the most amazing handmade bows and hairbands for girls. Shaklee was there giving eco-friendly cleaning advice.We also hadTastefully Simple, Stella Dot, Arbonne, Lia Sophia. The women that came also enjoyed some great appetizers and wine so it was truly a Moms Night Out!

Best of all everyone brought their old costumes to swap out, for new costumes. All the costumes that were left over we gave to a local charity in Chester Co. The Maternal and Child Heath Consortium of Chester County.

I’d like to thank Cory and Lynn at Celebrate Green for inspiring me to do this for my community moms and for my partners in crime that helped me with this event, I couldn’t have done it without you.

Andrea from Parentise
Sarah and Shannon from PhillyBurbMoms
Jessica from Delaware Co. Moms

I can’t wait until NEXT YEAR!!!

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Jo-Lynne Shane is co-founder of Philly Social Media Moms and author of her personal fashion and lifestyle blog, Jo-Lynne Shane: My Life & Style, where she shares wearable style and beauty tips for the suburban housewife. Jo-Lynne lives in the western suburbs of Philadelphia with her family.

3 Comments

  • Ohhh this is awesome! I’m sorry I missed it but hope to be at next years. So happy that you had a great turnout and love how all the extra’s were donated!

    I just love this group! So thoughtful!

  • Chrissy Glen says:

    Wow! What an awesome event. I’m going to host one in Bucks County next year. You ladies are an inspiration!! Thanks for the great idea 🙂

  • There are so many ways to create a great costume that is fun, cute, eco-friendly and fun. For me part of the Halloween experience is treasure hunting for the items that make the perfect Halloween costume(s).

    One of the reasons I love thrift stores is because of the treasure hunt. Most times I won’t find a treasure but on the trips I do it’s literally a WooHoo moment. If there are any pictures of the costume swap you can post them at http://www.facebook.com/greenhalloween

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