To feel irritated by invites to Pampered Chef parties?

[WashwithCare]

or tupperware or candles parties or Usborne books or whatever it is this time...

Yes, I know I could politely refuse, but I always end up feeling obligated to go, because it is my neighbour, or DD's best mate's Mum, or the Mum is feeling weepy or looking for some sort of specific favour from me...(usually canapes)....

So there I am, again, on one of my rare nights out, and I'm not sipping wine and eating olives in a fashionable bar whilst discussing politics - I'm sitting in someone's kitchen, listening to a lecture about the quality of the wax, whilst the display of hand painted candle holders flickers away in the corner. Then although there is apparently no obligation to buy, I will then feel obliged to spend 20 minutes dicussing the quality of the hand painting/perfume/ingenuity of this AMAZING kitchen gadget before orderng £35 "worth" of stuff I could have bought in IKEA for £3.50.

If people want to throw a party, why not just buy a wine box and a packet of peanuts and invite people to talk to each other. They don't even have to clear up before hand - I wouldn't mind. Remember, like we used to when we were students?

AIBU?

So getorfmoiland did you end up at prom club?
It was an ace place to live and we used to leave our kitchen window open for the cats and drunken friends to stumble back in through.
Prom club - is that the one with 3 floors and a piano?
Sorry gone off thread but no clue as to what a posh chef party is. Did have death by virgin vie living in Cheltenham though...

muppetgirl can't see the point of most of the stoneware but the flat pizza stone I haven't seen elsewhere. its the only thing that gets hot enough to make the dough crispy unless of course u are uber posh and have a wood fired oven in yer garden

the china is the most ridiculous rip off: ugly, thick and massively overpriced

go on! what else is ugly, thick and overpriced?

i always feel i should go to these things and always have but never again!!!!

decided to host my own party and only a handful of people turned up (it was a shoe party) and nobody bought anything just arranged their own parties so they could buy items in their own homes with their own commission

just blame kids/husband/work on why you cant go

I've been invited to a PC party this week, but tbh I'm not sure the hostess knows what it is or cares whether we buy anything.
Might take the knob advice - can they go on the BBQ does anyone know?

on netmums there is a whole thread devoted to PC agents (or whatever they are called). It's chock-full of shockingly graphic descriptions of sales techniques, recruiting tactics and how to get free trips to disneyland.

i fear sadly the knobs would melt

fnar fnar

they r made of plastic

I bloody hate these sort of things, always have done. I can't understand why you would invite friends/ colleagues/ neighbours along to anything with the express premise of makign money out of them. Cos that's what it boils down to, isn't it?? I know it's easier said than done to say 'feck off', though.

LMAO at the genius sweetcorn solutions post

I've been to one Ann Summers party and it was just cringe-worthy. I can't believe people actually place orders at the party. If I want to buy a giant rubber cock with 'pistoning action', I'd rather do it on the internet than have to fill in an order form in front of friends/family. I don't want to think about them having sex/masturbating and I'm sure they don't want to think about me either!

At least with Pampered Chef, when someone says 'oooh I've got one of those and it's fab!' you don't immediately picture them with the implement shoved into a body cavity.

Sits reading thread with mouth open in amazement

Aye Yank.

I would forever be seeing that person and thinking'Ah yes, Lisa.She of the purple dildo with realistic foreskin action'

Even when we were old and grey I would still be thinking it.

Keep it in the bedroom ffs!

yeah but go to an ann summers party and u should know what to expec

which makes the knobs at pc a delightful surprise

Any other cheap but useful implements?

I went to an underwear party with a colleague and the host was rather mature and quite stunningly vast in all directions.

When she said that she was usually a "small" size 26 but was a "bit fat" due to being 4 weeks pregnant there was much snorting...

Slightly OT but...anyone after a pizza stone, I suggest buying a granite chopping block for £10 from Tesco and it works v.well. DH got one to homebake bread with, we tried pizza on it, excellent results.

i'm liking the granite chopping block suggestion

my dh was aghast at what i spent on the pizza stone he wanted to use a spare terrace slab

DH spent ages tootling round various bread makers forums; depending on what you use, there can be problems with some tiles cracking in the oven. I think terracotta was one that could crack. It's a balance to get the heat transmission, conduction and how the material reacts to being heated. He's been using the granite for months and its not yet exploded!

Um, to be back on topic, I have never been invited to a sales party and would try very hard to excuse myself, as sitting through the jollifying sales pitch would be terribly uncomfortable.

May I just say at this point ladies that there is NO POINT going to Tesco to get a granite chopping block, as they will all have been snapped up nationwide ten minutes after the doors opened this morning. And Tesco will not have a clue why people have been panic buying granite chopping blocks.

Moondog your last post made me laugh so much.

What hacks me off more than the overpriced shite you end up feeling obliged to buy is the bitter resentment I know I will subsequently feel when Party Hostess Friend books an interesting holiday or buys a nice new car or spoils her already-overindulged DCs still further. I see the car/holiday/bike and think "I helped pay for that".

hassled - good point well made

my p chef friend is " always broke " but has an ever changing wardrobe of gorgeous clothes for her and her kids. and she's super attractive so she looks brilliant in them. and she's one of the nicest people u could meet. dontcha just hate that

catinthehat2 that would be very very funny!

PS found a granite choppping block in Wilkinson's today for the barginaous £8.97!

DH now has his second breadstone so can do a whole batch of bagueettes without waiting for the oven temp to come back up. He's v.pleased.
You do need to remove the rubber 'feet' before using it though otherwise the oven will smell of burnt rubber not yummy pizza.

I went to a PC party this week. The demonstrater made some awesome yorkshire puddings, but I suspect they worked so well because of the large amount of egg in her recipe, rather than the stoneware pan.
Pizza baked on the stone was not great.

She was lovely though, no hard sell, and best of all she made little pastry tarts filled with nutella

I know this is an old thread but I have to resurrect it to mention that I just saw a poster advertising a Boden party!!!!

I have been talked into going to a PC evening, not a party, but an evening to con convince us to become PC reps/agents - whatever.

Part of me thinks 'Not a fucking chance' and the other part thinks, well, if people want to buy it, they might as well be buying it off of me!!

The thing is (well one of the 'things'!!) is that it seems very expensive - but am I just out of touch with what good quality kitchen stuff costs now having shopped in poundland budget shops for ages (until we get the new kitchen!!).

Mind you - maybe it's worth it just to get the discount on stuff for my new kitchen??

Any thoughts?