3.15.2012

I love planning parties

I signed up on this site called House Party a while back, on the recommendation of my friend K.  What they do is work with all different kinds of companies to promote their products - from video games to non-profits to cosmetics to food manufacturers...  And members like me apply to host try-and-tell type parties for whatever products strike our fancy.  If you're chosen to host a party, they send you a party pack with stuff like free samples (or full-size products), coupons, and little gifts to give your guests.  All they ask you to do in return is take photos of your party and post them to your House Party page, and spread the word about House Party.  K was selected for a pizza party that she applied for, and received coupons to get free pizzas, among other things, to serve at her party. And I just won the mother load: A Benefit Cosmetics House Party.

My party is coming up next Friday and I'm terribly excited.  For one, the party pack I received is A. MAZ. ING.  I got full size bottles of all 9 shades of their new liquid foundation (Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow), 4 or 5 other full size products (eye shadow, cheek and lip stain, pore minimizer...), plus a ton of samples and cute little goodie bags to give all my guests.  I've never used any of Benefit's products before, but I'd heard of them and knew they had a really good reputation, so I was stoked that I actually got chosen to host!

With St. Pat's day coming up, I've been really busy with my biz and cleaning up my STORE (did I tell you I have a storefront???  It still needs a lot of work, but I'm super excited about it!), so I've had to put off jumping in to planning my girls' night.  But now that I'm almost totally prepped for this Saturday I'm itching to focus on the party!  Why, oh, why can't life be nothing but fun all the time?

Just because I can't contain myself, I shall tell you what I have planned.  And maybe you can help me with some suggestions!

I'm asking all my guests to come with a clean face and their clean makeup brushes, cuz of course we're gonna be trying on all these fancy cosmetics!  My house is so small, I've had to limit my guest list so there's enough room for everyone to be comfortable, but on the plus side that means everyone will get to take home a ton of samples, and many will have a whole bottle of foundation to take with them too (everyone will at least get a sample of their shade).  I'm giving away a few of the other full size products with simple games.  But I'm kind of stumped on what games to play - I only have one idea so far that I'm calling "Natural Beauties."  I'll have a bunch of photos of celebrities without any makeup on and generally looking so awful they're all but unrecognizable, and whoever names the most of them wins a prize.  So if anyone has ideas for simple prize games, I'm all ears!

I'll have 4 makeup stations at the kitchen table, where there's enough space and decent lighting, but I'm gonna need mirrors.  Maybe thrift stores?  Or I can ask around to see if I can borrow some.  (Remember, I'm on a tight budget!)  And hors d'oeuvres will be served in the living room, along with beverages.  Several of my friends have dietary restrictions so I'm going vegetarian and vegan with the food, with minimal sugar and starch, as well as serving fun non-alcoholic drinks in addition to the booze.  Girly music and pink decorations will abound... And that's about it!

I really recommend checking out HouseParty.com.  After all, it's free stuff, and who doesn't love free stuff??

3.03.2012

In their place

I did something really out of character today.  Normally I'm very non-confrontational.  I don't get involved in drama and I try never to start drama.  And I especially try not to take what I see on Facebook too personally or seriously... but today I was fed up.  A woman who I worked with years ago and haven't seen IRL since published a post that questioned the point of a life without kids.  Granted, it was in the context of, "Oh, I'm having such a great time being a mommy!" and I doubt she seriously meant that your life is pointless if you don't have kids.  But that is what she said and I was in the mood to put her in her place. 

Like I said, normally I would have let it slide (like I have with so many of her (and other people's) asinine posts); or maybe just quietly unfriended her.  Not this time though.  This time I responded in a very pointed and snarky manner.  And do I feel better?  Well, sorta.  On the one hand, I have to assume that I'm not the only person she knows who doesn't have kids, and I want to assume that someone besides me would find her post offensive.  Because then I could be the champion of all those who silently cursed her dumb luck at being able to procreate - or at least of those who found it annoying that she was part of what seems like the majority of a very child-centric society that values motherhood above all else.  Before anyone else could comment, though, I unfriended her, so I have no idea if those other offended people actually exist at all.

Ultimately, I'm not sure if commenting on her post was the "right" thing to do.  Being semi-sarcastic and condescending rarely teaches anyone the lesson we want them to learn, even if it does feel momentarily empowering to put them in their place.  On the other hand, because I'm not usually the type of person who voices my dissent in a very direct way, it might have been good for me to get that off my chest.  In the end, I'm only out one friend who was never really a friend to begin with.  So maybe it doesn't actually matter either way!