Dresses
A dress bought for a wedding gets worn for four hours. The Easter one comes out once. The Christmas one gets a photo and goes back on the hanger. By the following year none of them fit, and almost none of them have been used up.
That is the whole argument for a swap, in one garment. There is more life left in an outgrown party dress than in almost anything else a kid owns, and the only reason it stops being useful is that she grew.
Most of what comes through is not formal at all. Cotton play dresses that go over leggings. School dresses and jumpers. Summer sundresses and cover-ups. Corduroy and knit pinafores for autumn. Long sleeved everyday dresses that are really just a comfortable thing to put on in the morning.
For a lot of kids a dress is simply what they choose to wear, not an occasion. Those get worn hard, and they get graded hard.
Zips and closures that still work, hems that have not come down, linings that have not torn, and no pulls in anything delicate. On the everyday ones the same things as any garment: knees are not a factor, but underarms, seams and necklines are.
Nothing with a set stain, nothing with a hole, nothing pilled or stretched. If it wouldn't pass in our own house, it doesn't go in the closet.
Pick a plan and a bag comes to you, prepaid in both directions. Fill it with what she's outgrown, send it back with the label already on it, and what's accepted becomes credits.
Credits are what you spend on anything in the closet. Nothing is priced in dollars once you're in, and shipping is included both ways.
You can send a bag first and earn your way in, or add credits when you sign up and shop straight away. Either works, and you can do both.
Every dress is inspected by hand. Zips and closures that work, hems that haven't come down, linings intact, no pulls in tulle or knit, no stains, no holes, nothing pilled or stretched.
Occasion dresses tend to arrive close to new, because they were worn once. Everyday dresses get looked at harder, because they weren't.
Formal and party dresses, holiday dresses, school dresses and jumpers, summer sundresses, and plain cotton play dresses that go over leggings and get worn on a Tuesday.
The mix changes constantly, because the closet is made of what other families have sent in. It's worth looking more than once.
The same range as everything else here: 6-9 months up through 2T, 3T, 4, and on to size 7.
Dress sizing runs less consistently than most clothing, so go by height rather than the number on the tag, and check the length if she's tall for her age.
Clothes are the easy end of secondhand. The real hazards are mechanical and visible: buttons, beads and appliques that have worked loose, zips and snaps that no longer close, and drawstrings or sashes at the neck or hood. The CPSC has recorded 26 deaths from drawstring entanglement, and since 2011 a neck or hood drawstring on children's outerwear has been a federal safety violation.
On a dress the extra thing to look at is anything small and sewn on. We check those on every item.
They're some of the best things that come in, because they were usually worn once. What we check is whether the tulle has torn or gone scratchy, whether sequins and beads are still attached, and whether any embroidery has pulled.
A delicate dress that has been through a washing machine a few times usually shows it, and those we don't take.
There are plenty of options: resale sites, local consignment stores, marketplace apps, Buy Nothing groups. Most of them are shops. You browse, you buy, you're done.
KidSwaps is a swap. What you send in earns credits, and credits are what you spend. The bag comes prepaid in both directions and it keeps going round.
An outgrown occasion dress is the single most reusable thing in a kid's wardrobe, and it's the reason a lot of families start swapping in the first place.
Fill the bag, use the label that's already on it, and what's accepted becomes credits. What we can't take is donated rather than returned, so send what you'd be glad to see go. We always tell you which items didn't make it and why.
There are four plans depending on whether you want clothes, toys, or both, and round trip shipping is included in all of them.
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