Last month, I held a Girls Night In event.

Girls Night In is an amazing new Canadian Cancer Society fundraising program to help support leading-edge cancer research for women's cancers (specifically breast, cervical, ovarian and uterine cancers).

And, since I'm never one to colour within the lines, I turned it into a Girls Afternoon In -- and made it a Great Exchange Party!

The idea was that everyone would bring those new or nearly new items they had kicking around the house (you know, the gift you couldn't regift, the super-low sale-priced stuff that you bought a few too many of, etc.), and "shop" from each other's treasures.

It's something my girlfriends and I used to do in high school, and it's even more fun these days, simply because everyone has way more good stuff!

There were books aplenty -- from spicy romance novels to The 4-Hour Work Week -- DVDs. CDs, fantabulous Prada handbag knock-offs, gorgeous scarves and knickknacks, and a whole bunch of other stuff that was picked over, tussled over and, in some cases, taken to Goodwill. ;)

One gal took home a boat. She's headed to Florida with it. (Okay, it's a toy boat, but I had you going there for a second, didn't I?)

It felt good doing something fun and doing something good at the same time. And, as one of the gals said at the party, attending the Girls Night In was "a lot easier than running a marathon"!

Thanks to Matchstick, a word of mouth company, I was able to turn the event into more than just a Great Exchange Party by offering up cupcakes, madelines, great tunes and some great-smelling giveaways from Chloe. No one left empty-handed!

Best of all, the money everyone saved by not going to the store was donated to the Canadian Cancer Society. More than $200 was raised! Way to go, gals!

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