Yesterday morning my very nice neighbor, Gina, invited me to her Tupperware Party. When she told me it was last night at 7 PM I hesitated. I was think about my CT scan this morning and didn’t feel like going out. But I talked myself into it. It would be a good and fun distraction for me. I haven’t been to a girl’s night out in ages, and to a Tupperware party in over 30 years. Before I married the wife of my husband’s friend invited me to one at her house. Being I was in the midst of buying everything we would need, I over estimated the necessity of Tupperware. Therefore, as I listened to the sales pitch, everything sounded like a “must have, something you couldn’t live without” item. And when I put my order in I did so accordingly, buying up everything they were selling. I used a fraction of it regularly and the rest sat around for special occasions while the others spent a life sentence in my cabinet waiting for the right moment for a debut that never happened. When I moved I threw out almost every piece of Tupperware I owned except for a couple of favorite pieces that I love.
Promptly at 7 PM I went to ring my neighbor’s bell. She lives just two doors away and seemed surprised to see me. I told her it was a very long time since I had had a night out and it was a good excuse to give my husband some peace and quiet. It was a pretty small gathering of about 10 guests and two sales consultants. I’m sure you know how it all goes. We go around the table saying who we are, how we know Gina and what our favorite piece of Tupperware is. My favorite all time piece of Tupperware is the 4 cup plastic measuring cup (which is as big as a bowl) that comes with a cover. I use it to mix all my cake mixes and they easily pour them into pans and cupcake trays. It is a big time saver and a lot less messy for a klutz like me. Every time you say something that helps promote Tupperware you get a raffle ticket. But the sales lady took a liking to me and kept giving me tickets whether I earned them or not. My next door neighbor, the one between us, was also invited. Her name is “Ina,” and she looked like she didn’t even want to be there. Gina kept offering her wine, but Ina kept saying no. She didn’t try to engage in any conversation and as soon as the demonstration was over she walked out without even trying to buy anything. Oh well. Now for a little commercial:
The Amazing Macaroni Maker!
Now, I know very little about Gina, the hostess, so when they announced the first game would be to write down what Gina would answer to various questions, how the heel would I know. He mother, sister, long term friend and coworkers were there. I think they had a leg up on me. However, despite my skeptical attitude, I ended up winning making logical guesses. For example when they asked her favorite color, I said “red” because as I looked around her kitchen for clues I saw the Solo cups were red. When they asked her favorite music, I picked country because we are around the same age. When she said “Disco” I piped up, what about country? To which she said yes she likes country music a lot, I gave myself a point for that.
I interacted in all the games, was my nice, witty self, and made everyone laugh. They started a conversation about high schools they went to, I was polite and didn’t chime it right away. Then Gina asked are you around our age and did you go to Grover Cleveland H. S.? I said I’ll be 60 in August and yes I went there too. Then everyone was shocked to learn I was 60 and I just said I had good genes! This is why I don’t get why anyone would shave years off their real age and look like an old 55 year old instead of a young 60 year old . . . But that’s just me.
Then we get to the role playing. The sales lady is trying to compare working for Tupperware (yourself) as opposed to working for “Starbucks.” She needs two “volunteers to help her so she picks one woman she has a kitchen full of Tupperware and me. The woman is playing the role of the new Tupperware saleslady and I am playing the part of the Starbuck’s barista. The saleslady is holding some giant $100 bills to give us. She gets to work whatever days she wants and I am relegated to working weekends. She gets two hundred for every one hundred I earn. She gets twice the pay and earns vacation points. So the third time she offers me $100 I told her I have something for you too . . . My resignation letter. Everyone got a laugh out of that.
Comes to the end of the demonstration and she gives us all a penny and we have three choices: One we can put it in our pocket and she wishes us all good luck, two we can take it up with our order and she will deduct it OR three we can pick out a straw with a message attached to it that is either a prize OR a commitment for a Tupperware Party. She comes to me first, because she likes me. What do you want to do with your penny she asks? I say, “Well I’m not buying one of those straws because I can’t have a party. I don’t know enough people to invite.” She got serious for a second. I guess she didn’t like me any more but that was the honest truth. I have no one to invite and it would be a waste of everyone’s time.
The Chop n Prep
I jotted down some of my favorite items like the Chop & Prep, the macaroni cooker, the omelet maker, an ice cream scoop that warms up when you hold the handle, a nice wine corkscrew that has a an attachment that slips over the bottle for easy opening and I ended up ordering two. The macaroni cooker was very intriguing. It’s a long blue box that holds one pound of macaroni that cooks in the microwave and then has vents to drain out the water. That would save me time and clean up. So I asked the Tupperware expert a long side me about it and she said it might work but your microwave has to be large enough for it to go around. She didn’t think hers was and I had no clue if mine was. I ordered the Chop and Prep and omelet maker for starters. I figured I could get anything else from the saleslady in the future from her website.
Omelet Maker
When almost everyone was gone Gina asked me to stay with her mom, sister and friend and we had a lively conversation. Many of my topics came out of my pet peeves on noisy neighbors. No need to rehash any of that here.
If you get a chance go to a Tupperware Party! It was fun and you may want to have one of your own and get free gifts and discounts on more Tupperware.