Tagged consignment
A Go-To Guide for Families
Have you checked out Hulafrog yet? It’s an awesome go-to guide for things to do with kids in the Madison area! We love their “Our Pick” emails & The Weekend Guide to find out about can’t miss activities, deals and events for families. Your family will thank you for it!
Hulafrog’s MOST LOVED KIDS CONSIGNMENT EDITION is coming out on September 30! Follow the link and click on the little red heart next to your favorite (no registration required) and maybe give Half-Pint a little love so more people consider checking us out!
Join the fun at the 11th Annual Half-Pint Resale
It’s the 11th Annual Half-Pint Resale! 
This coming weekend is the 11th annual Half-Pint Resale, the area’s largest children’s consignment sale. With only a few days left before the sale, we hope you’ve got your resuable bags ready and your cheat sheets complete. Despite the unusually cool weather, we promise that spring is around the corner– and my guess is that there are littles (and school-aged bigs) who could use some new-to-you clothing, some gear, some toys, and how about a few holiday or birthday gifts stashed away – all on a budget?!
Did you join us for the Fall sale? Remember how you felt when you dragged that big bag to the counter and wrote that budget-friendly check?
Here are a couple of things that might help you prepare for the season’s biggest shopping extravaganza:
1) Volunteers will be wearing black and will be wearing nametags. They are here to help you! There are a couple of volunteers with special duties that will really help you out: Volunteers in the GEAR AREA will help you purchase large items so you can easily purchase them without hindering the rest of your shopping experience (look for the signs on the wall). Volunteers with a ASK ME ABOUT BABY CARRIERS sign on their backs are ladies who know a TON about baby carriers and will be hanging around in that area during a few hours of the sale to help you try carriers on and learn about what will be best for you and your baby. We hope that these folks will help make your shopping experience better.
2) There are two main areas at the Madison Curling Club. In the lobby area, there are tables, seats, and places to just take a load off! Feel free to come in and take a seat, nurse your baby, dig into some food from this sale’s Food Carts. You are more than welcome to come and hang out – we only ask that you leave all unpurchased items on the sales floor. Thanks!
The sale area is in the arena part of the building. We will have hold tables where you could bag your items, if you say, need to go sit and nurse your babe or use the restroom (or get a sugar fix!). NOTE: The temperature in the arena area is similar in temperature to the temperature outside, due to the nature of the space. It may be warm, it may be cool, it all depends!
3) Spend some time reading through our Shopping Tips. There are a few things to highlight…
4) Strollers are NOT allowed during peak shopping times (anytime before Noon on Saturday). It gets so crowded and it would be unsafe for everyone. We also highly recommend you not bring children. We know – sometimes you have no choice! But we’ve had several kids get lost (think kids shorter than the racks and at some peak shopping times, several hundred people packing the space). Finally, Children of any size that are WORN in a carrier are ALWAYS welcome, anytime! If you do bring kids, please make sure that they do not play with the toys or sit in the gear. We’ve had kids break things (and then the item is unsellable) or have had people pass over things they want to buy because they think that they are accounted for, only to find out later that the person using the item wasn’t intending to buy it, and then a consignor lost the sale. THANKS for understanding!!
5) Check out all of our tips about holding items on our shopping tips page. Remember that items can stay on the Hold table for one hour maximum. PLEASE! Don’t abandon items on this table! Shoppers and consignors alike miss out!
6) Don’t forget to come on Sunday during the Half-Price sale for the Fun Booth thanks to First Moments Photography!!! Come have fun with us!
And last, but not least, We only take cash and check! Keeping consignor checks as high as possible and keeping as much money in the community as possible.
Looking forward to seeing you:
Saturday, April 20, 2013- 8am-6pm, and Sunday, April 21, 2013- 8am-1pm when everything is half off!
-Ellen and Lisa
PS – Half-Pint is only possible because of the tremendous community we are a part of. Say thank to these folks next time you see them –
PPS – Save a couple of bucks for some super awesome Half-Pint goods (tees, stainless steel sippy’s, glass insulated travel mugs, and flip and tumbles!) You can carry the Half-Pint love with you year round.
Donate or Consign?
A friend of Half-Pint sent us a great podcast (7/25/12) on what happens to all of those clothes you donate to Goodwill. Did you know:
- Non-profit Thrift Stores get so much clothing in donations that they only keep, on average – according to the podcast, 10% of the clothing that is donated to them. The remaining 90% is sold to textile recycling firms at 5-7 cents per pound.
- Of that 90%, only 15% is bought by the textile recycling industry (used to make recycled products). The Council for Textiles says that they recycle 3.8 million pounds of clothing a year.
- What happens to the rest? It’s shipped oversees. Some people estimate that America’s #1 export is used clothing. And almost everyone agrees that it’s destroying African economies (see here here and here).
And what about all of that new clothing?
- Americans buy, and then throw away, 70 pounds (or more, depending on your source) of clothing and textiles annually. Some say that textile waste is 5% of landfill waste. Some fabrics, like polyester, can’t be composted and don’t decompose well.
- The WWF says that 5,200 gallons of water are needed to raise 2.2 pounds of cotton – about the amount needed for one pair of adult jeans.
So what to do?
I mean, Goodwill is a good non-profit organization, doing good things. As is SVDP. And I’m a big fan of buying beautiful new things for my kids (and myself, let’s not lie). I’m not suggesting that we stop buying things at thrift stores, or even making donations, necessarily. It’s about being smart about HOW MUCH we do it – and where we buy what we need. The podcast host suggests that the best thing you can do is to share clothing in your community as much as possible, such as at clothing swaps and consignment sales.
Being a responsible consumer is such a complicated thing. We love finding thrifty deals, new and used, at thrift stores and elsewhere. New is sometimes necessary, and often good. And someone needs to shop all of that thrift because otherwise it DOES end up oversees or in a landfill. But it’s a good reminder and a great reason to consign or share with local non-profits the items that we buy (new or used!)
Want to read more? Check out this great Slate.com article, as well as Elizabeth Cline’s book, “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion“.
-EC and LS
Who is the Best in Madison?
So many local businesses we love on this list – go vote! And if you are so inclined, give a little write-in love in that Consignment Store category (especially since there aren’t any other kid-focused stores on the list, and we wouldn’t want to leave our little Half-Pint’s out!)
Fall Sale Coming Soon
I took this picture this morning.
His pants are clearly too short.
We know it’s hot outside and it still seems like summer (well, it is) – but take heed: If you don’t take advantage of the upcoming Fall Half-Pint Resale, your child could look like this. Fall weather is funny -one day it’s hot, and the next day you are rummaging through your bins looking for something that fits. And if you’re like us, all of a sudden it hits you that you’ve been livin’ the summer dream and don’t have anything that fits. (and OH, to have to run the store and buy NEW – cringe.)
Do yourself a favor. Make sure to pencil in the upcoming sale on September 9 and 10. Now head down to your storage area and check out those bins. You know, those ones full of stuff you no longer want. Now think about turning it into cold hard cash.
Watch your email, because this coming Wednesday, we’ll open up consignment for the 8th Half-Pint Resale, coming to the Goodman Community Center (with additional space!).
See you around the bend…
Ellen and Lisa
Half-Pint Resale
{the area’s first and largest children’s consignment sale}
{entirely local}
2 Days of the Best in Kid’s Thrift is coming your Way
It doesn’t feel like Fall, and we hope it doesn’t creep up on us too fast. However, you can’t deny that it’s reaching the end of July, AND many of us are starting to think about back to school. We promise to enjoy August, but in the mean time, it wouldn’t hurt to take a few seconds to prepare for what will inevitably come.
Enter Half-Pint Resale. No reason not to take advantage of some summer nights and glass of wine to start going through the basement bins to figure out what you can sell to make room for what you’ll need this fall, and figure out what you need so you can be ready to take advantage of thrifty prices on quality items you need (ok, and want).
First, get the sale on your calendar. We’ll again be holding the sale at the ever Awesome Goodman Community Center, located on the near east side of Madison, in one of our favorite hoods (lots of awesome shops on Atwood Avenue, and situated right on the bike path!) We’ll also continue to have Loot Valet service which allows shoppers to leave their purchased items with a volunteer attendant to later drive-up and load their great finds into the car with ease. No fretting over a distant parking spot – so Shop Away! Consignors, we’ll continue to have similar service for consignor drop-off as well.
And of course, high quality, affordable clothing and items will continue to Rule the Day(s). Two days of the best in Kid’s Thrift.
The Lowdown (Here we go…)
Thursday, September 16
Consignor Item Drop – 1pm-8pm
Friday, September 17
Early Sale for Volunteers Only – 10am-11am (volunteers may bring children to sale)
Early Sale for Consignors Only- 11:30am-12:30pm
Public Sale – 2pm-8pm
Saturday, September 18
Public Sale – 8am-Noon
Half-Price Sale – 1pm-5pm (sale closes from Noon-1pm)
Sunday, September 19th
Non-Sold Item Consignor pick-up – 8:30am-10:00am
Registering to Consign
It’s certainly not too early to register to Consign! Here is what we got for you for our SIXTH Half-Pint Resale, coming up in just nine weeks-
First, we ask that you take a minute to read through the ins and outs of consigning. Read carefully through “what to sell”. Then click, fill out the form, and with another click of the “Woohoo” Button, you’re in. From there, you’ll get an email back with your number (or a confirmation of the number you’ve used in the past if you a Half-Pint Consigning Veteran). Download and print out the tagging template and the Tagging Guidelines and you’re in business. We have been so impressed with the fair and affordable prices consignors pass onto shoppers and believe this is cornerstone to Half-Pint’s continued success. Half-Pint Resale is only as good as its consignors and we think the world of the folks who Consign with us.
Early Registration
As in the past, we’ll again be offering Early Registration incentives! Register before August 15th and….
(for new consignors) – Win a pass to wave your consignor fee and a $10 gift certificate to the sale! (2 winners!)
(for returning consignors) – Win a pass for you and one friend to enter a half-hour early into the Volunteer Sale – (1 winner!)
Partnership Opportunities
There are always ways to partner with Half-Pint! Think that you have something to share with the Half-Pint community? Let us know!
Atwood Summerfest
And don’t worry. It might be nine weeks away, but we’re still here, and out and about, taking advantage of the sun. Come see us at Atwood Summerfest!!
And as always, contact us if there is anything you need.
Happy Purging and Tagging!
Lisa Seidel and Ellen Carlson, Half-Pint Resale Organizers