How to Host a Swap

Swaps are a great way to express your creativity and receive great new ideas.

Here’s how to host one of your own!
· Decide what kind of swap it will be.
· Decide how many people can participate. The average size of a swap is 10-15 participants.
· Solicit participants. Make a list and add people’s names and email addresses to it as they contact you.
· Set the deadline, giving participants ample time to create their projects. A month is about average, but do allow more time around the holidays.
· Send out a welcome email or letter with all the details. Set guidelines and explain them very clearly to eliminate any confusion. What and when are the biggest issues to address.
· Give a mail by date rather than a due date. You can be flexible in your scheduling as to when you’ll redistribute the items and get them ready to mail out, bt if you give a due date, people will often underestimate the amount of time it will take to get to you. A mail by date is fixed.
· Send a reminder email to participants during the swap time.
· Send email to notify participants as you receive each package.
· You will get some early participants. Open the boxes only to check and make sure that everything arrived safely.
· Allow for some late participants. There will always be a couple. Keep in touch with the group, letting them know the status. You don’t have to tell them which particpant is late, but tell them that you’re waiting on one or two.
· It will always take longer than you think.
· Once you’ve collected something from each participant, it’s time to sort the items. You need to be able to concentrate, especially if you’re going to do groups of various numbers. Pick a time when you can sort without interruption.
· Those hosts who participate also get the chance to pick their own items before sending out the rest.
· Tell the participants when the packages got mailed.
· Thank everyone for a great swap!

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