Let’s Get This Unparty Started

I have finally conquered one trivial aspect of my social life that has been a bee in my bonnet for years. When someone invites me to a so-called home shopping party, I always decline. I don’t care who it is or what they’re selling. OK, there was that one time last year when my sweet sister-in-law really needed more warm bodies at a “party” she hosted for her neighbor. I felt like a terrible guest. I didn’t buy anything and didn’t fill out the contact card and was embarrassed when I won the door prize. It was a nice cook book, which I gave to my SIL for Christmas.

Home shopping parties are big business and getting bigger. Tupperware seems to be the grand-daddy of home shopping parties. Every two seconds of every day, somewhere on earth someone begins yet another demonstration of how to burp a Tupperware plastic container, according to the New York Times.

When you go to someone’s house and a bunch of other people are there and you are served food and drink for the sole purpose of having fun, that’s a party. When someone invites you and a bunch of other people to their home and serves you food and drink and then tries to sell you stuff, that is a sales pitch disguised as a party. My heroine, Miss Manners, spoke my heart on the matter in February.

Maybe it’s because I’m not much of a shopper. I loathe clothes shopping. I do not head to the big discount store as a recreational activity. Oh sure, visiting local stores and souvenir shops on vacation is fun. But shopping just to shop is not something I really find enjoyable.

If I want to buy kitchen stuff, sex toys (yeah, right), jewelry, candles, clothes, or pretty much anything else, what are the odds I’ll find just what I’m looking for at someone’s so-called party? But that’s how these things work — you may not intend to buy anything but there’s that ridiculous sense of obligation. They’re also banking on our lust for that shiny new object we previously hadn’t even known existed.

Why should I feel obligated to buy something just because someone I know has decided to try and give one of these money-making schemes a go? That’s their decision and really doesn’t have anything to do with me. If someone asked for my opinion on whether they should start trying to sell crap to their friends, I would advise them not to.

Most of my friends know I no longer do home shopping parties but the occasional invite still shows up. When it does, I simply decline. I make no excuses and don’t pretend to have a scheduling conflict. It’s been such a relief to just say No.