Charity Shop Buys – Christmas Party Special

In the Summer I set the question, could you get your holiday wardrobe from charity and vintage shops and buying second hand. The answer was a resounding yes (you can check out that post here). So now, with another very special time just weeks away I am asking the question – Can you get your Christmas party wardrobe by shopping preloved once again?

I think that, once again, the answer is yes, and the benefits are brilliant, not just for you, but for charities who rely on their customers to keep vital services going, but also for the planet. Sure you can get clothes very cheaply from stores like Primark, but these clothes also tend to be the sort of fast fashion that end up in landfills once they’ve been worn once.

Charity shops and vintage clothing offers you the chance to find something that is different from the High Street offering, hence lessening the risk you will bump into someone else wearing the same outfit (which, incidentally, shouldn’t matter to us, but totally does, all the same.). It gives you the chance to express yourself, whilst raising money for a good cause.

Each year I make sure that some of the pieces I wear in the run up to Christmas come from Charity shops and vintage stores (I’ve got a Vintage Fair coming up at the Manor House on 1st December, and a theatre press night on the 5th so am looking for something special. I also shop my wardrobe, and then add new accessories. By new, I mean preloved pieces that can also be found in charity shops.

Below are some of the dressy things I have found in charity shops over the past couple of years, along with a few things I saw in some of my local charity shops this weekend.

This was a 1970s vintage dress I found in a charity shop for £4.99. (Acorns I believe). I added the vintage style belt as the original one was missing.

Vintage velvet dress that cost £2.50 from a preloved sale.

This jacket was a Definitions jacket, almost kimono style, found in St Giles hospice for £4.

Top is such a 1980s style and is quite heavy. I wore this for a family house party last Christmas. Can’t remember where I found it though, although I think it was Compton Care, but have had this for years.

Apart from the Zara box bag, this whole outfit is from charity shops. Top is Children’s Society £2.50, tulle skirt is St Giles Hospice £6, and the sling back, kitten heeled shoes are Beacon for the Blind. Whole outfit was £12.50. The skirt still had the Dickens and Jones tags on it.