A few months ago, my friend Katie and I asked ourselves a question. We had been hosting our monthly ladies’ dinner parties regularly, but as the summer approached and we knew our dinner parties would be put on hold until the fall, we started wondering how we could still be intentional about gathering—how we could continue creating a space of belonging for those longing for connection and friendship.
As we pondered this, an idea began to take shape. We had both seen reels trending on Instagram about throwing a market party and thought it looked like such a fun idea. But could something like that work with a larger group? Instead of inviting ten or fifteen women, what if we extended the invitation to all the ladies in our church? What could that look like?
Well, we decided to go for it. We created flyers, sent out invitations, made our preparations, and waited to see who would show up. And show up they did! And it was so fun.
If you’re looking for a reason to gather and thinking about planning a Saturday Swap of your own, here’s how we did it (and why we’d do it again).
What is a Saturday Swap?
A Saturday Swap (or market party) is essentially like a little pop-up market where everyone is both a vendor and a shopper. There are a few different ways to do a Saturday Swap, but we decided to keep ours very simple: each guest brought ten of the same item, and everyone went home with ten different things.
We weren’t sure how many people would be able to come as we had extended the invite to all the ladies in our church. It could have been a party of five or fifty, and we needed to be ready for either. If more than ten people showed up, Katie and I planned to draw names and let each person choose ten items to bring home with them, one at a time. This way, everyone would have an equal opportunity to choose from the market.
Planning the Saturday Swap
For our gathering, Katie and I encouraged guests to bring either homemade or purchased items. We didn’t choose a specific theme or a price limit; the idea was simply to bring something you thought someone else would enjoy receiving. The only requirement was that the items be individually packaged or wrapped so everyone could easily take one home.
Because it was a church-wide event, we made a flyer to hand out to all the ladies in our church with the details for the Saturday Swap. In addition to the time and location for the swap, we also included this short description on the flyer: Bring 10 of the same homemade items or favorite finds to share (i.e. baked goods, canned items, crafts, candles, plants, etc.). Browse, swap, and head home with a basket of new goodies!
Closer to the date of the party, we sent out a text reminder about the swap along with some ideas, for those wondering what to bring. The ideas included things like:
- Baked goods (cookies, muffins, bread)
- Herb blends
- Fresh produce
- Jam, jellies, or preserves
- Homemade treats (fudge, snack mixes, granola)
- Candles, soaps or scrubs
- Pickled veggies or sauces
- DIY crafts or decor
- Crocheted or sewn items
- Floral bouquets, seedlings, seeds or potted plants
And then before we knew it, the day had arrived and it was time to get everything set up and ready for our Saturday swappers to arrive!
Setting Up the Swap
The day before the Saturday Swap, we finished up as much prep as we could. We first set up two tables in the middle of the patio for the market items and another table to the side for refreshments. We also set up clusters of chairs around the patio and on the grass so seating was available for anyone who wanted it, while still leaving plenty of space for mingling.
For the decor, we gathered some pendants to hang around our patio and painted a simple “Saturday Swap” sign to hang on our garage. We also prepared “Saturday Swap” labels to put on brown paper bags that guests could bring home their new goodies in.
The next morning, we set everything else up. We placed table cloths and floral arrangements on the two tables for the market items. We also arranged a few boxes and baskets on the tables to add some height and visual interest to the display of market items. And we hung up the pendants and market sign, and then turned on some music to have playing in the background.
For the food, we decided on a fairly simple spread: freshly sliced watermelon, grapes, two types of cheeses cubed, multigrain crackers, and a delicious, freshly-baked apple fritter focaccia. For the beverages, we opted for a pitcher of lemon water and a dispenser with homemade raspberry lemonade. We also set out some cute paper plates and napkins, toothpicks and plastic stemmed glasses.
How Our Saturday Swap Went
Overall, the Saturday Swap was a huge success and it was so fun to see what each person brought. As each person arrived, we asked them to arrange their items on the table we had set up and then help themselves to refreshments. When everyone had arrived, we asked each person to share a bit about what they had brought. We had a lot of fun learning more about one another and the things each person is interested in.
There was a variety of items brought to swap, including pickled red onions, crocheted bookmarks, handmade greeting cards, homemade peanut butter cup cookies, soap and even hand-poured candles. Since I was hosting, I wanted to bring something that was fairly easy to make but still fun to receive. I chose to bring ten jars of sourdough starter, each labeled with a few notes on caring for it and a QR code to my favorite sourdough bread making guide and recipe.
In total, the swap lasted a couple of hours and we all had a wonderful time. Because there were only eight of us, we each got to “shop” simultaneously and bring one of every item home with us. Everyone said that they would love to do something like this again and one friend even shared that it was the highlight of her week.
If we were to host another Saturday Swap, there are few things I would change. Prepping as much as I could ahead of time worked really well. I felt very prepared the day of and that I could be fully present as our guests arrived. The ladies who came also fully embraced the party and were so excited to share what they had made with the others who came.
In some ways it would have been nice to know exactly how many ladies were planning to attend and to plan the quantity of items each person brought accordingly. But we found this wasn’t necessarily needed to make this type of party work. If anything it encouraged us to be more flexible and creative with the logistics of the party without needing to have everything perfectly planned.
So would Katie and I host a Saturday Swap again? Absolutely. But the best part of our market party had very little to do with what anyone went home with. The things we brought were certainly fun to browse and share, but the Saturday Swap gave us much more.
It gave each woman something to contribute, whether she had made something with her own hands or simply found something she thought someone else would enjoy. It gave us something to talk about and a chance to learn more about one another. And, perhaps most importantly, it gave us a reason to gather. It created a little space in our busy lives to slow down, linger, and simply enjoy being together.
You Might Also Enjoy
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- A Fireside Feast: Our May Dinner Party Menu
- One-Day Patio Refresh: How a Few Simple Swaps Created a Backyard Oasis
- Longing for Belonging: How Finding Friendship Begins with One Step
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