How I spent my Sunday night and Monday morning

I hosted ABC's 6th Anniversary swap and Sunday night I swapped the items. I'm probably not your typical swap host, because I don't open any packages until I begin the swap. I find I don't lose anything that way, they stack and store easier, and if I've made myself clear enough in the instructions, there should be no problems with the swappers getting everything right. The swap had 24 players and I debated most of the day Sunday where I would complete such a large swap. I finally decided my kitchen would be the best place for it.

I brought the packages in and started to lay them out on the table, as you can see by the row in the front of this photo. Then I realized I had way too many for the kitchen table and just stacked them all on the table so I could stage them.

You can see the table is full of packages. I knew I had to come up with another plan.

I drug my chairs around and placed them in a row. I stacked two packages per chair. That took care of 8 packages. You can see by now I have most of the packages open and have determined I can get 12 on my table. OK, I'm up to 20.

I stacked the rest on my stove and counter. That took care of the final four (no basketball reference intended (grin). Here they are as I swap them. The swapper's swap items are laying on their packaging they sent to me. Underneath this is the swapper's return envelope, with their label and return postage on top. As I swap, I lay the swapped item on top of their postage and label. That way I can keep track of things. Not sure how other hosts swap their items, but this technique has always worked for me. And, YES, each and every swap "skinny" was a true work of art.