Jasper Baby Bazaar a swap meet for children’s clothing

Holly Hammell is undisputed queen of Jasper’s Baby Bazaar, a source of inspiration and advice for all the mothers who will gather this Saturday to buy and sell kids stuff.

Well before the event at the Jasper Activity Centre she had all her sale items laundered, folded, sorted by age and size and packed in plastic trays, and stacked in a spare room in the basement.

Hammell has done it for the last seven years and “it was going on long before that,” drawing buyers and sellers from Hinton, Valemount and McBride.

“The bazaar allows parents an opportunity to recycle and make a little money and to get some great stuff at a decent price,” she said. “It gives another use to the great kids clothing we have.”

“People come mostly for the clothing; a decent selection is far away,” she said, “but there are also bikes, baby monitors, kids shoes, sports equipment, games, DVDs, videos. It’s a swap-meet for kids.”

Hammell offers this advice on how to get ready: organize by size, or by type of item. So all the six  months to a year; are together,   all the pants together, all the shirts together, all the socks in one little bucket. Price it keeping in mind it’s 25 per cent of the cost or less, so most clothing items are between $1 and $5.”

There will also be a silent auction and a sale of baked goods to raise money for the Children’s Centre. The bazaar starts at 11 am Saturday and ends at 2 pm. There is drop-off childcare for $5.