Today our post comes to you via Parenting Press, an online site packed with resources to support you in your child-rearing adventures from  birth to the teen years.  The January newsletter contained this short article outlining the brilliant (and very green) strategy of gift swapping.  It involves getting rid of unwanted stuff, cleaning out closets, and then having the chance to get what you really wanted–all for free!  You may want to round up a group of families with varying ages of kids and involve the little ones in this easy “stuff swap!”  The following piece is entirely written by Parenting Press.

In keeping with New Year’s resolutions and the general 2010 focus on going green, get together with friends and family to swap things you no longer want or can use (maybe even including the white elephants that arrived as holiday gifts). Take over a large room in someone’s house or the meeting room in an apartment complex and consider setting up “stations” by kind of item (sports equipment, clothing, craft supplies, toys, books, furniture) or by size (little kids, grade school kids, teenagers, adults). Be sure to create a space for odds and ends: the incomplete puzzles, fruitcake tins, jars of buttons, fabric remnants, old magazines. Chances are, what you consider trash is ideal for a neighbor’s next craft project­ or Cousin Kyle’s science fair entry!