This Saturday saw the first in what promises to be a long line of enjoyable social experiments. My wife and I hosted a "Bring and Give" party and as far as I know it was the first of it's kind. It went very well and to everyone's benefit too.

The idea was a simple one - guests arrive with something to give. We left this as vague as possible so that the something might be a few words of encouragement or armfuls of items. This stuff could be things you purchased specially or things such as books, DVDs and videos) that you have but probably don't use any more.

These items would probably be greatly enjoyed by other people. Take for example a DVD, Video, CD or Book. There is a good chance that you started watching, reading or listening soon after you obtained it. After that it went on a shelf where many times it is simply left to gather dust with the collection of films and books where we gaze over them from time to time thinking "seen it".

Once at the party everyone was free to help themselves to any of the items on the table, taking home whatever one wished. We made sure the selection was suitably wide by making sure the table was loaded with items before we started. So at all times there plenty of choice and variety or quality items.

While at the party however there is the chance to drink tea (my family are tea drinkers) or coffee (most of my friends are coffee drinkers), nibble food and chat with other guests, some of whom you may not have met before. We had only laid on basic drinks and biscuits but other people brought cakes of different kinds and so we all were able to enjoy plenty of variety.

At the end of things everyone had something new to them, that they wanted, and had made space for it by parting with things they no longer used. All at no real cost.

Some people took the opportunity to have "a good clear out" of things that, while valuable, were simply being horded to no personal gain. The upshot of this was that we had as much stuff at the end as when we started. Albeit different stuff.

We all saw faces we had not seen in a while and many old friends were able to see our new home. It was an afternoon well spent and well worth the effort of investing in a few packets of biscuits and making sure the stock of teabags was increased. Even the kids had a good time.

Running a bring and give

The following is a rough breakdown of the things you would need to consider or do in order to run your own bring and give party.

1. Make sure you understand the idea first and can explain it well. The first few people found the concept hard to grasp because we struggled slightly to articulate what we were planning. Once we could explain the idea sold itself.

2. Provide a good range of quality things. Avoid chipped and broken items if you can so that the range of stuff looks appealing. This also makes sure that guests can have a good look as they arrive.

3. Give plenty of room for access to the table. Guests need to be able to browse the table without feeling crowded. When the flat was at it's fullest access to the table was limited and not everyone felt inclined to push in and get a look.

4. Invite lots of guests. Some of your guests are likely to not show up or show up late. Plan for this by inviting plenty of people.

5. Be a little choosy who you invite. While this was not an issue I can imagine that some you guys and gals that read this will know of highly greedy people that will grab everything they can so they are the only ones with anything. That would spoil things somewhat so your discretion might be required.

6. Your table is going to be in use but any food you provide will need to be placed somewhere.

7. Home made items created especially for the day can add uniqueness and a special personal touch.

8. Time. Pick a time and day when people are not too likely to be tied up with other activities. Saturdays are good for this. Also consider keeping the boundary for things wide open as people may not wish to stay for the entire time period and you might be able to experience a flow of guests over the afternoon (or morning). We told many people 12 until 5 apart from those famed for being late whom we simply told when it started.

9. Invites work well but personal invitation works better. Taking the time to contact a person to specifically ask them to come along gives you a chance to answer questions and explain what is going on.

10. Don't forget to enjoy yourself.


Have you ever done something similar? Why not tell us all about it in the comments below.