peace. love. swap.

Today I got to experience peace. love. swap. for the first time and I have nothing but good things to say about it! First of all, the girl that runs it, Stephanie, and her husband are just the sweetest people and they do such a great job with this awesome event. It is very organized and fun!

peace. love. swap. was held at Towncenter in Virginia Beach. Of course, the GPS on my phone took me on a wild goose chase, which made me late- ugh! Gotta love technology sometimes, but once I got there it was on the top floor (which made for a nice view out the window of the elevator) in the Hampton University College of Virginia Beach. There were signs so you couldn't miss it!

Once I got off on the 10th floor the peace. love. swap. was right there. I walked into a room that looked this:

I was greeted by Stephanie's husband who gave me a bag and red wrist band. The wrist bands were color coordinated by group. The red group went in first, and then a different color was called for each group that could enter the swap. The blue tote bag that I got can be used at all of the swaps I attend from here on out:

This is the bag I was able to fill with things that I wanted to take home with me from the swap. I then headed into the hall to find a line of people waiting to swap, swap, swap! 

I stood there for a few minutes and then realized that there were two big rooms full of vendors for people to kind of walk around and talk to while they waited for their color to be called to head into the swap. I joined the crowd and walked into the rooms and checked out the vendors. There was such a variety of different companies there advertising their businesses. It was cool to check them all out. There was everything from homemade sewing items for the kids to jewelry. There were food samples, organic lotions, hair products- tons of cool things. A few of the business cards I picked up were:

Boobah's Diaper's & Things (www.facebook.com/Boobahsdiapers&things)

Sew Many Blessings (www.facebook.com/sewmanyblessingsbytina)

Origami Owl: Custom Jewelry (leighanne.origamiowl.com)

Mary Kay (www.marykay.com/mariacaputi)

Discovery Toys (www.discoverytoys.com/mollytoys)

Mommy's Club (www.atoxicfreefamily.com)

Operation Christmas Child (samaritanspurse.org)

Here are a couple pictures of the rooms with the vendors: 

After checking out the rooms of vendors and talking with some of them, I came back out into the hall and got in line. It was only a matter of minutes before I was able to enter the swap and get things to take home for Maggie. When I walked into the swap everything was very organized. The girls and boys clothing were each on separate sides of the room and divided by size. There were two long tables full of toys, books, infant items, and more! There were bouncer seats, maternity clothes, shoes, hats, toys....anything kid related! It was really neat.

 This is a picture of the boys clothing lined up and then one of the tables with infant items and books. 

This is what I saw when I first walked in. The girls clothing was lined up on the far wall and then the two tables had all kinds of things on it like toys, books, infant items and accessories and more! 

This is a picture of all the people in there getting items they need. 

I thought this shoe rack was pretty cool and since shoes for Maggie were the main thing I needed I headed over there quickly and grabbed a couple pairs of shoes that were just the sizes I needed for Maggie. I am so excited about it! Shoes are expensive- but because I swapped out things of hers that she is no longer using, I was able to get things that she needs now. What a great concept! 

The first 50 people to swap received a swag bag as they left. This bag was FULL...and I mean FULL of fun stuff like coupons, business cards (one of my business cards was in it too), samples, pens, notepads, and more. I love those kinds of bags! 

These are the fun Swag Bags! 

These are some of the goodies I got in my swag bag! This isn't even HALF of it- it was full of great stuff! I got to bring home clothes, books, shoes, and toys for Maggie AND I got a bag loaded with goodies- wow! That was a really, really cool event! I loved it! 

So, now what I want you to do is simply try it in the spring! I am not sure about the dates yet, but this is something you need to check out. It's a great way to clean out your kid's closets and get your clutter organized and out of the house. PLUS you can get things for your kids that they now need. Get rid of the old and bring home the new! Anything that is not swapped is donated to local charities.

For more information about peace. love. swap. please check out this link. Or contact Stephanie Council at (757) 641-6137 or stephaniec@peaceloveswap.com.

Trust me when I say- this is worth checking out!

Have a great weekend!