Attack of the home parties

If you aren’t sure what home parties are perhaps Mary Kay or Tupperware rings a bell? These parties are run by consultants, usually stay at home mothers, who work for a company selling their products. At the parties the consultants need to recruit others to work under their supervising so they can build their own line therefore increasing the amount of money they earn.

Some people compare these jobs to pyramid schemes because in a sense one person makes money off of another person down the recruitment line and so forth, but it’s not. They are 100% legal.

I’ve noticed the parties have gotten out of hand. Each day I learn about a new one that’s come on board. There are basket parties, jewelry parties, purse parties, candle parties, bath and body parties, make up parties, perfume parties, scrap booking parties, cooking parties, other food parties, bead parties and more.

There isn’t a party yet I believe that hasn’t been thought of, and as I write I’m sure another is being dreamt up. I suggested to my mother someone should start a knit your own socks party.

I recently went to a Bead Retreat party. It’s where you make a piece of jewelry. Could you believe I had to pay $10 as a so called “sitting fee” –just to be there. I didn’t realized it was such a privilege. Plus, once you are involved, you get railroaded into buying something you have to assemble. After listening to the consultant speak and explain her products, each person had to choose a bracelet to piece together.

I didn’t particularly like any of the bracelet choices, but I had to pick something. I settled on one of the most difficult kits. I sat next to my friend’s mother-in-law and it got so hard to see the small beads that she lent me her reading glasses. In my defense, they were tiny.

Halfway through the project, I gave up and let her mother finish my mini-project. I’m generally a crafty person, and I used to make my own jewelry at home. But this didn’t thrill me.

I’ll admit, these home party concepts are brilliant. In fact, I talked my sister into being a consultant for The Body Shop. Companies are raking in millions of dollars while offering people part-time work at their own discretion. For profit making, these jobs assert, the more time you put in--the more you will make out. And, why not work doing a craft that you love?