Ever since I first discovered the concept a few months ago, I had been intrigued to try a swap party. Just what the heck is a swap party, you ask? Basically, it’s a great way to make time to get together with friends, share some food and drinks, and swap for some cool stuff. The items for swapping are as vast as the number of ‘pins’ about swap parties you’ll find on Pinterest. For my first foray into swapping, I decided to limit the number of guests to around 10, and limit the items to something that was handmade or foraged. This worked well for our group, as each person brought 10 items, no one brought the same item, and everyone brought something as fun and fabulous as they are. But more about that later.
Here’s how a swap works. First, decide what type of swap you’d like to hold — it could range in theme from food, to health & beauty, home décor, clothing & accessories, plants or seeds, books, toys, or whatever your little heart desires. Next, send out invitations well in advance to give people time to make, sort, organize or forage for the items requested. Make sure to let them know the type of item you’re looking for and the quantity to bring. We kept it simple and did a one-for-one swap, which worked well. Lastly, provide food and drink. To keep it simple, and because this was the first swap, I decided to provide a light lunch, drinks, and dessert for everyone. (If you’re so inclined, you could throw a potluck affair.)
I’m so glad it worked out — it was a fun ladies’ afternoon of eating, chatting, and swapping fabulous stuff — and I’m really looking forward to doing it again. Here are the fun things we swapped: Homemade cavatelli pasta from Lori, gazpacho soup from Chris, lemon crinkle cookies from Christin, backyard eggs from Debbie, apple butter or rhubarb hibiscus jam from me, honey and homemade laundry detergent with wool dryer balls from Beth, creamy body lotion from Linda, quilted potholders or mug mats from Ellie, and handmade jewelry, cards and other crafty items from Julie. Your results may vary, depending on the coolness and talent of your friends. By the way, swaps, and my friends, totally rock!
We shared a simple lunch of potato soup and bread, and then had carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert. This recipe was a big hit, free of chunky nuts or raisins, and perfect for a spring afternoon soiree.
Carrot Cake(courtesy of onehundreddollarsamonth.com)
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups carrots, grated
Frosting
1 1/2 cups cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
5 cups powered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour 2 round 9-inch cake pans and set aside. Sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Fold in the shredded carrots.
Divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans. Bake for about 45- 55 minutes {or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean}. Cool cake pans on wire racks. Remove cake from pans, wrap in Saran wrap, then aluminum foil. Place on a cookie sheet and chill cake layers for several hours or overnight.
To make the frosting, combined the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a medium-size bowl with a wire whisk until creamy. Slowly add in the powered sugar. Place one layer on cake plate or stand, top with frosting, then add 2nd layer. Frost cake with remaining frosting, then garnish as desired.
After dessert, and as the chatting continued, the swapping began. It was an afternoon of food and fun, and our only issue was figuring out how to carry our fabulous stash of goodies home. Next time, I’ll plan to have boxes, bags or baskets for each guest. And maybe try an evening event with appetizers and cocktails — the options are as endless as the items to swap!
