Swishing

The art of swishing involves getting your friends together to swap gorgeous clothes and have a great time doing it – AND if you’re swishing for heart children, we take off our hats to you!

Everybody who comes along to a swishing party must take with them a great piece of clothing, or an accessory which he/she would be proud to pass on to someone else. 

How to raise money at a swishing party

It’s easy to arrange a swishing party:

• Decide whether you want to have a big gathering, or whether you would prefer just to keep it small, amongst the people that you know or work with.
• Choose a suitable venue - this may be your own home, depending on how many people you have invited.
• Plan the timings – Swishing parties can include browsing time for your guests to have some snacks and drinks and to socialise before all the swishing begins. 
• Make sure that all the right people know about your swishing party, and what is involved.  Send out invitations, emails, or even a press release.  The more people who know about it, the better, so don’t hold back. 
• At the swishing party, people lay their unwanted clothing and accessories out on display. There is some ‘browse time’ in which everyone gets to look through what's on offer and then finally ‘swap time’ when the actual exchanging takes place. Some parties have a rule that Swishers can take as many items of clothing along as they like but if they take away more items than they brought then there will be a charge per item (typically £1).
• You can raise money at a swishing party in different ways, depending on the size of the event and how well you know people. You could:
  - Charge for a swishing party ticket or entry fee
  - Charge for refreshments
  - Arrange for the fee for taking away more items than you came with comes to CHF
  - Ask for donations – CHF can provide collection boxes, as well as posters and leaflets about our work.

If you would like a little more information, or some help, contact us using the form below.