Yesterday, I went to a clothes swap party, and despite expecting to come away with nothing (well, since my chest infection, I’ve put on a lot of weight đ but it’s steadied now – just waiting to go the other way), but I came away with the following:
It was a really enjoyable evening – no one was quite sure what to do at the beginning, but Lynne had organised it all very well. Racks for bottom half/top half, shoes & bags on the floor, accessories on the table, and as everyone came in, everything got placed on the rails. People were busier chatting/grabbing a snack to begin with, but then one person found a skirt, and suddenly everyone was diving in. Lots of comments that it was lovely to “go shopping” with “the girls” (most at the party were young mums), and the atmosphere was lovely, encouraging about lots of things – and “this doesn’t fit me, why don’t you try it”. Once the frenzy was over, everyone sat down with some delicious olives, sticky toffee pudding & chocolate fountain (although a certain amount of, “just tried lots of clothes on, should I eat more?! oh well, why not..”). Lynne has been left with quite a big pile of clothes to take to the charity shops – there was still lots of nice things left – they just didn’t fit anyone there (there was probably about 20 of us?!)…
Read Christian Aid’s review of a Clothes Swap party.
Dr Bex Lewis is passionate about helping people engage with the digital world in a positive way, where she has more than 20 yearsâ experience. She is Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Visiting Research Fellow at St Johnâs College, Durham University, with a particular interest in digital culture, persuasion and attitudinal change, especially how this affects the third sector, including faith organisations, and, after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, has started to research social media and cancer. Trained as a mass communications historian, she has written the original history of the poster Keep Calm and Carry On: The Truth Behind the Poster (Imperial War Museum, 2017), drawing upon her PhD research. She is Director of social media consultancy Digital Fingerprint, and author of Raising Children in a Digital Age: Enjoying the Best, Avoiding the Worst  (Lion Hudson, 2014) as well as a number of book chapters, and regularly judges digital awards. She has a strong media presence, with her expertise featured in a wide range of publications and programmes, including national, international and specialist TV, radio and press, and can be found all over social media, typically as @drbexl.