At some point in every grown woman's life she will be invited to attend a Tupperware or similar party. There are probably more companies around now than at any time in the past that offer business opportunities involving in-home sales. Most are formed on the MLM (Multi-level Marketing) model, where sales commissions are earned by the product demonstrators and their managers up the marketing chain. Most of these companies sell products for the home, children, health or beauty. Here's a list of the parties I've either attended or been invited to attend.
- Tupperware - plastic storage, and other household/entertaining products
- Longaberger - collectible baskets
- The Pampered Chef - high end kitchen equipment and accessories
- Discovery Toys - educationally oriented toys and books
- Creative Memories - scrapbook materials
- Mary Kay - skincare and cosmetics
- PartyLite - candles
- Cameo Lingerie
I never received one of these invitations until I was married and owned a home. In my younger days, I would groan whenever one of these turned up in my mailbox. After all, who wants to be locked in a room for two hours with a sales person trying to get me excited about house wares? I knew that, like it or not, I would not be leaving that party empty-handed because I felt an obligation to my hostess to order something.
Times have changed, however, and now I look at these parties as a good excuse for a night out with my girlfriends. I'm also a lot more interested in home products than I was in my mid-twenties. At this married-with-children stage in my life, I'm not looking for a night out clubbing, nor do I expect to leave my kids for more than a few hours at a stretch. So these parties offer a chance for a little girl talk and a few laughs.
The type of female bonding at these parties can be compared to male bonding while watching a sports event. Just as men sit around armchair-quarterbacking and admiring male agility on the playing field, women look on appreciatively as the demonstrator shows her kitchen finesse as she slices and dices an onion. As anti-feminist and retro as these parties may sound, they are really mirroring the overall trends in this country toward nesting and adding little luxuries to our lives.
Which brings me to the Tupperware party that I hosted. After years of attending these home product demonstration parties I had never hosted one, mainly because I remembered how I used to feel whenever I received one of those invitations. But after attending many of these parties, I realized that I had enough friends who liked going to them for the same reasons I did. Since I had a good friend who sold Tupperware, it seemed like a good excuse to volunteer my home for a party.
