What Is a Sunday Swap Circle? How to Host Your Own
Have you ever wished there were more opportunities for women to get together that didn’t feel awkward, overly planned or centered around buying something?
That was the idea behind our Sunday Swap Circle.
It’s part handmade swap, part girls’ gathering and part a reminder that we all need more reasons to sit around a table together.
Each babe makes several of the same item and brings them to share. Everyone gets a chance to show what she created, tell us a little about it and then go home with a collection of handmade goodies from the other women.
It sounds simple because it is.
But what happens around that table can be pretty special.
When Life Gives You Lemons
For our second Sunday Swap Circle, we chose a lemon-inspired theme.
And these babes understood the assignment!
The tables were filled with the sweetest mix of handmade items, including lemon diffusers, sugar scrubs, flavored salts, painted totes, treats, gift baskets and so many thoughtful little details.
Some women followed the lemon theme closely. Others simply used it as a little spark of inspiration. That is one of my favorite things about the Swap Circle. The theme gives everyone a place to begin, but there isn’t one “right” thing to make.
Your creation doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive. It can be something you bake, mix, paint, sew, grow, design or put together with care.
So, What Actually Happens at a Swap Circle?
When everyone arrives, we place all the handmade goodies together so we can admire what the group created.
Then we gather around the table and each babe shares her item. She might explain how she made it, why she chose it or the story behind it.
Honestly, this may be my favorite part.
One creation sparks a question. A story leads to laughter. Someone shares an idea that another woman wants to try. Before long, women who may not have known each other at the beginning are talking as though they have been sitting around that table together for years.
Then we swap!
Each woman leaves with a collection of handmade treasures created by the other babes. But the real gift is the time spent creating, talking, laughing and connecting.
It Was Never Just About the Stuff
The handmade goodies are fun. Of course they are.
But they’re also the excuse.
Connection is the point.
So many women want more friendship and community in their lives, but it can be hard to know how to create it. Walking into a room where you don’t know everyone can feel intimidating. Starting a conversation with someone new can feel awkward.
The Swap Circle gives us something to do and something to talk about right away.
No one has to come up with the perfect opening line. We already have a shared experience sitting right in front of us.
And little by little, the room begins to feel easier. Warmer. More connected.
That is what I hoped this gathering could become. Not a Pinterest-perfect party. Not a competition to see who could create the most impressive item.
Just women bringing a little piece of themselves to the table and making space for one another.
Could You Host a Sunday Swap Circle?
Absolutely.
You do not need to be an event planner. You do not need a large venue, a huge budget or dozens of guests.
You need a few women, a simple plan and a willingness to say, “Come gather with me.”
You can host a swap in your home, backyard, community room, studio or another welcoming space. You can choose a seasonal theme, build the gathering around a color or leave it completely open.
The details can change. The heart of it stays the same:
Make something. Share something. Create connection.
The Complete Sunday Swap Circle Guide
After hosting our own swaps, I put everything I learned into a complete guide to help other women create this kind of gathering in their own communities.
The 41-page Sunday Swap Circle Guide includes:
A step-by-step planning timeline
Invitations and wording to help explain the idea
Theme and handmade-item inspiration
Tips for organizing the swap
Conversation cards
Printable handmade-item cards
Connection activities
The little details that help women feel welcome and comfortable
You can follow the guide from beginning to end or use it as inspiration to create a Swap Circle that feels completely like you.
The guide is regularly $27, but during our one-week lemon launch, you can get it for $19 with coupon code LEMONLAUNCH through August 6, 2026.
GET THE SUNDAY SWAP CIRCLE GUIDE
Use code LEMONLAUNCH at checkout to save $8.
And if you host one, please tell me about it! I would absolutely love to see what the women in your circle make, what theme you choose and how your own circle begins.
Because sometimes the gathering we keep wishing someone would create?
It begins when we decide to create it ourselves.
About Brenda
Brenda Kerns is the founder of Band of Babes Nation and the woman behind Body Beautiful Boudoir. She creates experiences that help women feel seen, build confidence and form genuine connections with one another. Sunday Swap Circle grew from her belief that sometimes women simply need a reason to gather around the same table, share a little piece of themselves and remember that they belong.
