The Aloha Stadium Swap Meet

Hordes of people swarm the swap meet

If you visit Oahu someday, one thing that you should put on your itinerary is a trip to the Aloha Stadium's Swap Meet. The other thing you should do when here is give us a call. Duh!

The swap meet is huge. It wraps all the way around the stadium, with booths facing each other to make the pathway for shoppers. Here you will find everything from t-shirts, aloha attire, jewelry, wind chimes, and local fruit. There is so much to see that you have to plan to spend a lot of time. And wear your comfortable shoes because you will do a lot of walking.

I went to the swap meet this past Wednesday to do some Christmas shopping. I had my list and yep, I was checking it twice and I'm not even Santa. I was looking for small gifts for Noah to give to all his friends and cousins back on the mainland. It's a great place to buy gifts for kids because there are a plethora of booths selling cheap jewelry, magnets, key chains, and some lead- infused toys from China. I'm not absolutely sure about the lead thing, but there are several booths filled with very cheap toys from Asia. I'm guilty of buying a couple of things from these booths. I figure that Noah's pretty much past the oral-fixation stage and won't be putting the deck of Spider-Man cards I bought in his mouth.

This Hawaiian man uses a machete
to whack off the end of a coconut.
Then he gives the customer the
ice-cold coconut with a straw so they
can drink the milk.


I've been to the swap meet three times, and I've always gone on a Wednesday. I'm always amazed at how many people are there on a weekday. I can't imagine how busy it must get on the weekend. It's funny to watch how much shopping people do at the swap meet. It's common to see people toting a suitcase on wheels to stash their goods. I saw a couple working together to try to zip up a suitcase that was way too full of white socks. There really is a booth that sells nothing but plain athletic white and black socks. I remember walking by it, as a matter of fact, wondering if the guy got much business. Apparently he did quite well with this couple that was going to break their suitcase because they bought 30 pair of socks.

Shoppers in search of the great bargain

When you are shopping on pavement there is one thing that is valuable more than anything for sell: trade winds. It can get so blasted hot. I took my mom to the swap meet when she was visiting in September and we were there in the morning. By the time we left, we were completely soaked in sweat. Gross, eh? Yes, it is. Welcome to our life. At least a couple of days ago it was cooler, but I still got sticky and gross. This is not what I envision as a Christmas shopping experience.

In Hawaii, they like to call food "grindz".

Speaking of a Christmas shopping experience...nothing says Christmas like holiday music. I was at a market in downtown Honolulu earlier in the week. I went downtown to buy a new calendar for my day planner and have lunch with Tom. After we ate I browsed through the open market. They had a lady singing Christmas songs with a man playing an electric keyboard. I couldn't help but snicker to myself when she sang "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow". Right, lady, like that's going to happen.

Walking through the swap meet I heard various types of music -- rap, hip hop, and Hawaiian. But what really caught my attention was a booth that I walked by that was playing The Carpenters. Talk about a surreal moment. It's the holiday season, it's 80+ degrees outside, I'm walking in a football stadium parking lot, and Karen Carpenter's smooth voice is booming out of a middle-aged man's booth. It's all okay, though, because in my mind all I'm hearing is I'll Be Home for Christmas.