# What do you do when invited to a direct marketing home party? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060 "2010-02-23T01:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/41 "2010-02-24T09:38:57Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > You left out a significant piece of information. It’s not that we don’t want to spend an evening with a roomful of women, it’s that the roomful of women _is shopping, while talking about shopping_. That’s Fourth Circle of Hell stuff right there. Depends - the Pampered Chef one I went to included some cooking demonstrations, and I like to talk about food - a man need only talk in lowered tones about the way chocolate melts on the tongue, for example… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/42 "2010-02-24T13:08:28Z")
It depends on the products being offered, my relationship with the person who is inviting me, and whether the initial pitch was straightforward. But it’s not like I get these invitations all the time because I don’t know the kinds of people who host them. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/43 "2010-02-24T14:39:09Z")
Funny a friend of mine is hinting around tryin to hit me up about Ardyss? I looked it it up and its right in the amway wheelhouse… Another friend was on me about another one i can’t remember. I was explaining to my ex that if the gist is you have to bring others in… then its a ponzi scheme… ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/44 "2010-02-24T15:01:03Z")
I think the participants in this thread are talking about 2 different types of parties. My wife gets written invitations to sales parties that offer high-end clothing a lot, but they don’t resemble the Tupperware/Avon high-pressure events that some people are describing. For some companies, it’s a good way to get their product out there when the company is young & they don’t yet have enough retail coverage. [Paddywax](http://www.paddywax.com/public/pag1.aspx) candles started out this way, along with countless other apparel lines. Comparing these things to Amway & running the other way is a bit much. Usually, it’s a bunch of women drinking wine while clothes are laid out in the living room. No formal speeches, no catalogs, no pressure, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/45 "2010-02-24T15:26:16Z")
I was just invited to one of those sex-toy parties. The invitation was from a friend at work, and it was one of _her_ friends hosting the party. Sitting around with a bunch of women I hardly know (hell, even if it was with women I _do_ know), passing around dildoes and vibes and talking about how they feel? Ick. I don’t have that kind of relationship with my friends. I don’t like the idea of any of those parties, really. I’d rather hit the mall with a friend, if I want to shop. I’ve looked through the Avon and Pampered Chef catalogs people leave at work, and I’ve ordered a thing or two from some of them. But I’m not interested in being captive in someone’s living room for a sales pitch. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/46 "2010-02-24T15:29:04Z")
Hate them! I usually just say ‘not for me’. I’ll blatantly lie and pretend I have a social life if they’re extra pushy. The only times I have gone to these parties involve social pressure that I just couldn’t find a way out of. The first was a superior at work. I was a lower admin. to a higher admin. (and often felt like her bitch.). It was Mary Kay. She steamrolled me into going AND hosting one. She was just so pushy in a perky way and I was at the time rather shy and trying to be agreeable for someone who could make work very difficult… The second is my sister in law. Sweet person, and I went to her first ‘party’ (my mother in law drove me, how do you say no?) but she hosted a candle party at the in law family vacation for the ‘girls to enjoy’. This offended me, so I hid at the beach with my husband and managed to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/47 "2010-02-24T16:13:02Z")
I just send a “No thanks” RSVP and forget about it. I was the “seller” of sorts at something similar once, though. I used to make jewelry, and my sister’s co-workers would ooh and ahh over the stuff I made that she wore to work. So she hosted a party at her house. But it was all very low-key. I set up my displays, we made snacks, and people could just browse and shop on their own. I was available to make adjustments (change hooks/posts/clasps) and take custom orders, but no sales pitch. I gave my sister her choice of jewelry as thanks. That was fun for everyone, I think. But wild horses couldn’t drag me to one of the commercial ones. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/48 "2010-02-24T16:14:55Z")
In my neighborhood, these parties were hosted by moms who had elementary school aged kids and were a means to both a social outlet and a small bit of financial help for young families. I didn’t mind going and frequently buying a not-too-expensive item. Now that the kids are older, I don’t get these invites anymore, which I also don’t mind. So, I guess my attitude about them is “meh”. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060/49 "2010-02-24T16:32:07Z")
I don’t mind at all when a real friend calls and asks if I’m interested in coming to XYZ party, because my real friends say stuff like, “no pressure, I don’t care if you buy anything,” and don’t invite me to stuff I have no interest in. FWIW, the Pampered Chef and Usborne Books parties I’ve been to recently have had almost no pressure. They seem to function more on exposing you to the opportunity, and letting normal human acquisitiveness do the rest. (And yes, it worked on me. :P) On the other hand, the couple that invited us to “dinner” at their house and then subjected us to a high-intensity Amway pitch are no longer friends. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-invited-to-a-direct-marketing-home-party/530060.md?page=2)