Staff
Lil' Lambs Consignment Sale
Shoppers can browse racks of children’s clothing and toys at the Lil’ Lambs Consignment Sale at Trinity United Methodist Church, which celebrates its 25th anniversary Feb. 5-7 in Homewood.
A popular kids consignment sale is returning for its spring sale Feb. 5-7 at Trinity United Methodist Church, marking its 25th anniversary.
The Lil’ Lambs Consignment Sale allows consignors from Birmingham and surrounding areas to bring their gently worn clothing, toys and furniture to sell at discounted prices.
“People really enjoy selling their items at our sale, and … we have a large number of shoppers who love coming back and shopping each year,” said sales director Susan St. John. “We have consignors who bring items from places like Trussville to Oxford and Gadsden. We really have them come from all over, which I have found very unique to see.”
The sale is held at the church twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall.
Any items that don’t sell are marked “donate” and shared with families and organizations in need near the Homewood area.
This is St. John’s fifth year participating in the sale, and this year she anticipates a much larger donation amount than previous years.
“[At] our fall sale, we ran out of room, so for this sale we have actually had to build more clothing racks to hold all of the clothes that we anticipate will be donated,” St. John said. “The sale is held in our gymnasium, and [at] the fall sale, we had about 28,000 items donated, so it really prompted us to figure out how we could expand and accommodate all that is brought to us. The building of the clothing racks is not an easy undertaking because they are not your traditional racks and they have to be able to hold a lot of clothes.”
Roughly 1,000 people shop the sale each time.
Consignors who bring items to sell at Lil’ Lambs retain 70 percent of the money made from the items sold, and the remaining 30 percent is used for missions and ministries.
One of the primary partners of the sale is Trinity’s West Homewood Outreach Hub, where the majority of non-cash donations go. The ESOL program at the Outreach Hub is also supported with proceeds from the sale.
St. John said an additional ministry the sale helps is an organization called Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which helps provide homemade beds for children who do not own one.
“We are actually having a collaboration come up called ‘Build a Bed’ where we are helping to build the beds,” St. John said. “As a result of the sales, we were able to help give $10,000 toward the cost of the beds, which is really just an amazing thing.”
Proceeds from the sale also help Trinity’s children’s choir ministry. In addition, donations are made to Sozo, Oak Mountain Missions in Pelham, Sand Mountain’s Real Life Pregnancy Center (specifically baby clothes for moms in need), and infants and toddlers within DHR through UAB hospital (specifically clothes and shoes).
The sale begins on Feb. 5 with a presale for those consigning at the sale. The general public can attend the presale by paying $5 cash at the door. The presale is 5-8 p.m.
Regular sale dates are Feb. 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3-6 p.m., as well as Feb. 7 from 8 a.m. to noon, with many of the items marked half off.
Children 12 years and under are permitted to shop the sale, but umbrella-type strollers are required. Cash, credit cards and checks with proper ID will be accepted.
St. John said there will be several giveaways on the event’s Facebook page “Lil’ Lambs Consignment” in preparation for the sale.
“We hope people will come out and shop the sale,” St. John said. “We aren’t the biggest sale in town, but we have a lot of loyal followers, and it is always a great time.”
The sale will be held at 1400 Oxmoor Road, Homewood. For more information, visit trinitybirmingham.com.
