Life As A Farm Wife: Suckered into... Ingenuity???

There seems to be a home party for almost everything you need these days. I think I’ve attended a party for almost all of these companies in the last year: Norwex, Epicure, Lia Sophia, Stella & Dot, Pampered Chef, Everyday Style, Tupperware, Arbonne, Partylite, Steeped Tea, Discovery Toys…. Have I missed any??? I actually really enjoy these parties; partly for the visiting and snacks, but also to see what new amazing “things” are out there. I never go home empty-handed… or without an invoice/order form, anyway.

What I don’t do, though, is host these parties. Two reasons. Firstly, I don’t want to make my friends and neighbors feel obligated to buy anything for my benefit. Second, I worry that if the sales aren’t high enough, it’s not worth the time of the product consultant. Ridiculous reasons? Probably. I love these parties and I’m sure most other women do to.

I recently attended a home party selling Lia Sophia jewelry, put on by a neighbor of mine. Mostly, I wanted to go so that I could get to know my neighbor better, but the fact that there was jewelry there was a bonus. I enjoyed visiting and perusing, as per usual. I even ordered a necklace and some earrings. Everything was great until…. the little jewelry boxes came out.

It was supposed to be a little party game. Everyone received a little box and we were told that inside each box was a dollar amount from $30-$60. Seems great right??? Too good to be true? Yep.

The catch was that only one out of three of the boxes gave you the dollar amount free and clear (in jewelry, of course). The other boxes had the name of the consultant with the dollar amount, and it meant that you had to host a party in the coming months. You were under no obligation to open the box, but if you did, and it indicated that you were to host a party, it’s on your honor that you do so.

I sat and watched as a few women took the leap and opened their boxes. As far as I could see, no one opened a “free and clear” box. So, what was my thought??? My chances have totally just been raised! I should never be a gambler. I opened my box and was excited to see the amount of $50… but also the name of the consultant. That’s right, I am a SUCKER!

Truthfully, I thought about shutting the box quickly and hoping that nobody noticed I had opened it. But, my conscience is stronger than that and I confessed my findings. Luckily, Lia Sophia has a party hosting option that most other home party companies do not. They put on a couple large events each year in a central location where women can opt to host a ‘table’. This appealed to me and I signed up to host a table, meaning that I would try to fill 8 seats.

I am lucky to have some sweet friends that were looking for a ladies’ night out who were willing to join me at this gala. I provided the snacks for my table, and it was a very enjoyable evening of visiting, snacking and perusing the jewelry. Since it was a large event, Lia Sophia had their entire spring line on display, which was rather impressive. I was happy to see a couple hundred women in the room because it felt as though the pressure to buy was lifted. You could be inconspicuous in this crowd if you wanted to be. There was the explanation about how the company was started, but the ‘program’ was limited and there were many door prizes, which added to the excitement.

I made it clear to my friends that I wanted no one to feel pressured to buy anything for my benefit, but they all did! When it was all said and done, I had close to $700 in sales! Including the $50 I had found in my jewelry box, I received $176 of completely free jewelry. Of course I didn’t stop there… I’m a sucker, remember? But, the Lia Sophia hostess benefits are pretty great, if you’re willing to spend a little. All in all, after maximizing their half price items and hostess rates, I ordered over $1100 worth of jewelry and paid just over $200 for it! Now, granted, I probably didn’t NEED to spend $200 on jewelry, but I know that there are other suckers out there who will be impressed.

When my jewelry came in the mail, it was a little overwhelming. I have never had so much jewelry in my entire life! It has been fun having options to choose from when trying to spruce up my almost entirely dark and neutral colored wardrobe. My problem became, that I really couldn’t remember what all of my jewelry looked like and it wasn’t practical to open up each box every time I got dressed, just to find the perfect look.

So, I started brainstorming ways I could display my new plethora of jewelry in such a way that I could see it all at once. I thought about screwing several hooks into my wall directly, but my husband wasn’t keen on that idea. Here’s what I finally settled on, and I’m pretty proud of it.

I was thinking I would have to buy a large picture frame and then put a cork board inside of it, but Staples actually beat me to this idea. If I remember correctly, it cost between $20-$30. I hung it in my upstairs bathroom, where I always get ready for the day, and I enjoy looking at it.

Here was the price I had to pay while I took the time to unpack and hang all of my new jewelry.