Search

Farmer's Market Swap Party: homemade goods, handcrafted art & homegrown friendships

38 minutes ago

3 min read

If you were on TikTok at all over the summer, you likely saw the viral trend of holding Farmer's Market Swap parties. When it was time to host a new seasonal event, I knew that we had to do our take on this viral theme. So, I created a flyer and sent it to all my closest friends and family and we all worked together on ideas of what to contribute for the potluck and swap.

As with all my parties, I set a theme, offer a craft, and have food & beverages aplenty! For this event, I wanted to come up with a craft that all levels of skillsets could do and came up with pressed floral art prints. And, for my contribution to the swap, I wanted to make something with similar supplies, so I came up with dried floral mini bouquets.

To do this, I set out to dry and press my own flowers - although I came to find that it was turning into a significant project to get enough varieties to make the art prints and bouquets for roughly 12 people! So, I needed to acquire some additional supplies more easily and picked up some pressed flowers from Amazon. To dry my flowers, I purchased several bouquets from Trader Joe's (if you haven't figured out that TJ's is the best place to get flowers and greenery, now you know!). For the lavender, my husband and I picked them from a local lavender farm in Hood River on one of our mini-honeymoon getaways.

For a few weeks, I strung them upside down in my dining room to air out and dry. I also have a small flower press, so I took several clippings and made my own pressed flowers - this process takes 1-2 weeks, and my press is small so this is when I realized I would never make enough pressed flowers for the craft!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/46afbc_56415851f4814268a8c64f64e7094039/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

For decorations, I wanted to keep them simple and with that handcrafted aesthetic. I used my trusted roll of craft paper and acrylic markers to set the dining table. Centerpieces were made with fresh cut sunflowers from a local farm along with handpicked fruits and vegetables for that farm-to-table vibe. For gathering all of their goodies, I purchased baskets from Dollar Tree which were the perfect size for what we needed. For the tableware and paper decorations, I purchased them from Amazon and Target.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/46afbc_d78cea6fe30741b39380103df016b896/720p/mp4/file.mp4

The ladies showed up! Our potluck was full of delicious snacks and sweets. And for the swap, we all walked away with several different items. The gals LOVED crafting their pressed floral prints and we had a blast getting hair tinsel by one of our guests as their contribution to the swap. It was a beautiful sunny summer day filled with laughter, creativity and friendship. This theme doesn't have to stick just to the summer months - it truly can translate to every season. Time to get creative for the next gathering!