Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think sodding Sell-You-Stuff parties are a work of the Devil ...

266 replies

Fecklessdizzy · 30/11/2011 22:25

Rant Alert ...

Seething (and stinking of garlic). Just got back from Stupidly-Overpriced-Cookware demo that I wasn't going to go to on account of having a foul cold and not being interested in podding out fifty quid for a casserole dish.

The friend who was hosting the thing was panicking about no-one turning up and guilt-tripped me into coming along to make up the numbers so I sat through the demo ( think shopping channel but much, much duller ) When the demonstrator handed round the stuff she'd cooked at the end I had a nibble or two then made my excuses and started to slink off when she says " Not buying anything, then?" My mate says " Oh, Feckless isn't feeling well, I made her come " and the bloody demonstrator whips back with " Shame, lucky it didn't affect your appitite, though! "

Snarl ... BlushBlushAngry

OP posts:
thenightsky · 02/12/2011 12:19

Al I was just about to post 'Cabouchon'! you mind reader.

It was nice stuff and claimed to be nickel free, but it still made my earring holes red raw Sad

FrenchRuby · 02/12/2011 12:21

I used to do Ann Summers parties as a Party Organiser and I hated it, I understand why people hate going to them.

Miette · 02/12/2011 12:21

I think leaving brochures for people to look at is very different from enticing people with promises of a fun evening with no obligation and then going in for the hard sell.

FrenchRuby · 02/12/2011 12:21

Oh and I used to make quite a bit from it but it's just not worth the stress.

oldenglishspangles · 02/12/2011 12:23

Those of use looking scoffing at the idea of a capsule wardrobe ... I give you Vanessa Knox (original designer for Isabella Oliver) Grin

oldenglishspangles · 02/12/2011 12:24

Those of you scoffing ... even!

ChinaInYourHands · 02/12/2011 12:42

What bothers me the most about these parties is that I get a lot of invites from people who up until that point have not had the time of day for me and would not invite me if it was just a social for the sake of social occasion.

WidowWadman · 02/12/2011 13:09

Miette - do you mean those people who stuff unsolicited brochures through your door and ask you to have them ready for them to collect at a certain day in the following week? I stuff the brochures straight into the bin as a matter of principle.

mummyosaurus · 02/12/2011 13:11

I have the solution:

Go with a one or two people you really like, all take a bottle of wine in each hand.

Plant yourself in the comfiest chairs, proceed to drink the wine, talk loudly and laugh with friends all evening, text each others husbands rude messages etc, etc. Be sure to outstay your welcome by at least an hour, maybe two.

Bingo - you'll never be invited again!

CointreauVersial · 02/12/2011 13:14

Phew, glad to see Phoenix has a few fans. I loved my time as a Phoenix Trader; it got me out of the house with three small kids and made me quite a bit of money. The best thing about cards is that once you've bought one, you use it, then you need more! So people used to come after me and ask me for cards, or request another party (yes, really).

I stopped selling it about four years ago, but I still have a soft spot, and always go and chat to traders I see at school fairs.

CointreauVersial · 02/12/2011 13:15

Ooh, Widow - you meany! Our Kleeneze chap is lovely, and he has to pay for his brochures, so I always leave them out for him, even though I only order every now and then.

WidowWadman · 02/12/2011 13:30

Contreauversial - I know they pay for them - they still clutter up my hallway. In the same way as the 500 different charity bin bags which allegedly will be collected again on a certain day and never are.

If they're worried about not getting their marketing material back they possibly should knock and ask whether I'm interested in their stuff and would I like to have a look at their brochure and they'll come back next Tuesday to collect it and take my order. If they just stuff it through my door, it's their loss. I'm not interested in sorting junkmail into stuff I can bin and stuff I need to house until someone takes it back.

frumpet · 02/12/2011 13:50

I think i might start doing home bargains parties , everyone i know would come , cheapest item 30p Grin

housemum · 02/12/2011 14:00

I swore at a Neals Yard party - I mentioned the phrase "Virgin Vie" - honestly, the rep gave such a cat's-bum-face, she looked like the cartoons when Tweetie Pie puts lemon juice on Sylvester's tongue and his face puckers to nothing Grin

Don't be tempted by Tupperware - a friend let me look at the catalogue recently, and I was shocked at how much it hasn't changed since the last party I went to in the 80s. Even the colours, I'm sure there was a cream and orange plastic item in there. Considered buying the bog-standard square freezer boxes, but checked Lakeland and i could buy their stack-a-boxes for almost half the Tupperware price.

Weekenders - went to but didn't buy there! Lots of jersey shapeless clothing, and they sold you a kit of plastic squares and rubber bands - the idea being that you made the shapeless monstrosity look all Dynasty-like by putting a plastic square under the fabric, using the rubber band to keep it in place - thus creating a gathered effect with a square detail. Hmm Wonder if there were any injuries from people bending over and the band snapping and flying off into someone's eye?

mousysantamouse · 02/12/2011 14:10

I don't get the tupperware hype at all.
food that is stored in them smells funny and at IKEA you can pick up storage containers that do the job at a fraction of the price.
and if something gets mouldy in there you can just bin it including the container without whincing about the money lost

Thistledew · 02/12/2011 14:10

" they sold you a kit of plastic squares and rubber bands - the idea being that you made the shapeless monstrosity look all Dynasty-like by putting a plastic square under the fabric, using the rubber band to keep it in place - thus creating a gathered effect with a square detail."

Yes! That was it. I was being over-generous in saying that it came with brooches. I mean, really, who would actually wear something like that. Can you imagine seeing someone in the hotel restaurant, and thinking "why has she scrunched up her dress with an elastic band? What is so important that she has to keep it pinned to her?". Bizarre.

housemum · 02/12/2011 14:12

Have just wasted ages trying to find out what the £3k plus pans were, and think these are the same sort! www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Frugl-18-piece-Waterless-Cookware-Set/3928078/product.html?cid=133635

Miette · 02/12/2011 14:28

WidowWadman No i mean people like Alouisee who used to leave Cabouchon catalogues for people at her workplace and pub to look at. When I get brochures through the door i stick them straight onto my window sill for them to be picked up again when the seller next comes round.

startail · 02/12/2011 14:43

Plastic containers from the Chinese takeaway are even better. Since you've paid for them anyway you don't feel any guilt at all at chucking them out if they go green.

Original poster
Fecklessdizzy · 02/12/2011 14:46

AnnSummersPartyPlanner Cheers me Dear, you just confirmed all my suspicions, I always thought that " It's just a laugh and a drink, you don't have to buy anything " line was a load of bollocks ... Perhaps you should print NO TIMEWASTERS on the bottom of the invites just to let everyone know where they stand Grin

OP posts:
alemci · 02/12/2011 17:42

the tupperware kit was free but you had to do a couple of parties to 'earn it'. I used to enjoy doing it and going to the social events. I did used to sell quite alot and it was a good product. When the kids were little it was very hard to work as my DH worked irregular hours and this did fit round my family.

I used to win quite a few prizes for doing the most sales in our local area but it was quite hard work.

JugglingWithGoldandMyrhh · 02/12/2011 17:56

startail Pleased to gather that it's not just me with the occasional green sandwich after a school trip or summer picnic Xmas Blush

( chance to try out new festive emoticon Xmas Grin )

TarquinGyrfalcon · 02/12/2011 18:09

I went ot a weekenders clothing party once - I ended up buying the most hideous pair of burgundy jersey trousers that the hostess assured me I would still be wearing in 20 years becasue they were a classic ... 20 years later it turns out she was wrong.

wafflingworrier · 02/12/2011 20:12

i got invoited to a toy party 3 weeks ago, foolishly i accepted because i assumed we all bring a toy along and our babies play with them. nnoooo, actually we all sat there whilst our babies cried and a lady tried to sell us toys. :( i had brought a toy along and stuffed it into my pocket once i worked out i was wrong only to get a strange look from someone who clearly thought i was stealing a demo toy! argh!
and the hostess had put out a gazillion nibbles for us all but noone touched them, i jumped up and grabbed a plate full thinking everyone would follow but they didnt, they just stared at me eating it. and then DD was sick on the carpet.
why are they called parties if no one has fun?

kerala · 02/12/2011 20:26

Ooh they are dreadful. Hate the way these awful companies try to creep into peoples friendship groups and infiltrate them - does everything have to be to make money even going to a friends house and having a chat in the evening?

Also I end up despising myself, friend and I will go along scoffing and yet walk away shamefacedly having spent a fortune and been totally suckered in. The last one I went to (Jamie Oliver) I just wanted it all - the lifestyle, they 50 pound bits of wood, 14 pound glass jars etc and that was having gone to it thinking what a load of manipulative crap. I will not go to any more and would recommend everyone to give a wide berth.