Pay It Forward Crunchy Exchange
One of our new favorite events in the shop is the Pay It Forward Crunchy Exchange. If you are new to hearing about this, think of it like a cookie exchange, but better. Instead of just cookies, you bring something you made, grew, baked, or crafted with love, and you go home with a collection of treasures from people just like you.
What Is the Crunchy Exchange?
The concept is simple. Everyone registers, everyone brings something to swap, and everyone leaves with something special. Your contribution just needs to meet a $15 minimum value and fall into one of these categories:
- Homemade — sourdough, jams, baked goods, honey
- Homegrown — garden vegetables, herbs, dried flowers
- Handmade — sewn projects, candles, lotions, crafts
- Made with love — anything created with care and intention
This event was created with our bakers, gardeners, crafters, and small business owners in mind. It has been a beautiful way to share your passion and discover the talents of others in your community.
How Does the Swap Work?
Once registration closes, we let everyone know the final headcount. Here is a simple example of how it works:
If 8 guests sign up → you bring 8 gifts. You swap with the other 7 participants and one extra gift is donated back to Creative Simplicity for our raffle basket drawing!
That raffle basket which is a compilation of all the extra goodies will be awarded to one lucky winner to share the love with.
The Raffle Basket — Everyone Can Play!
You do not have to attend the event to win the raffle basket! Tickets are $5 each and will be sold in-shoppe leading up to the event. No need to be present to win.
Even better? The proceeds from raffle ticket sales go directly toward a charitable cause in our community. Our focus this season is youth programs — so every ticket purchased is a little act of generosity too.
Pay It Forward, All Year Long
We’ve had two of these events so far, and our vision for the Crunchy Exchange does not stop here. We are planning additional events in late summer and November (dates TBD), and we think it will only keep growing. Based on interest, we may even expand to multiple events, so stay tuned! Follow us on Facebook and keep an eye on our website for all future details.
