Party Lite Party Redux

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was really excited to host my PartyLite party for this review, not just because of the fun-looking goodies in their catalog and the potential to earn free stuff… but because it was a great excuse to spruce up my house, cook some good food, and invite friends to spend the afternoon together. While there definitely is a sales aspect to any home sales party (duh), the social part is still there and it’s still a ton of fun. Heck, I go shopping with my friends at Target or the mall… this is basically the same, but in my comfy house.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves — exploring the catalogues, smelling the samples, and asking questions. The PartyLite Consultant, Sherri Smith, kept everything low-key and engaging. She had everyone introduce themselves and say how they know me (can we say I have a lot of natural parenting friends? Most were from NPNH and LLL, with a few from my squadron’s FRG and a couple neighbors) and ask one question about PartyLite. A lot of great information came out of this little session, and I won’t spoil it all for you (you should do some exploring on your own), but in case you’re wondering – I thought this was cool – they have a line of candles and oils made with essential oils instead of fragrance oils. So no VOCs from those, and I loved 3 out of the 4 of them (the other one has ginger in it which I’m not super-wild about in my food or in my nose).

Oh, see those tickets? Everyone who asked or answered a question got one, and Sherri gave away a few awesome little door prizes at the end.

See? Everyone’s engaged. Even the babies are interested.

Sherri also told us about how she’s kind of a lazy decorator… instead of having lots of decorations for each season, she has these vase-like candle holders that can hold seasonal stuff. And she has ziploc baggies filled with “fillers” for each season/holiday. So all she has to do is dump out her Christmas “fillers” back in their plastic baggie, and dump in some Valentine’s “fillers.” Easy. This sounds great for someone who doesn’t like having a lot of junk around, or military wives like (most of) my friends at the party who move frequently and don’t want to have tons to pack all the time. Switching out your scents for the seasons can also make an impact in the “vibe” of your house for different times of year.

Once Sherri finished telling us about PartyLite, their products, and her story, she finished answering lingering questions and we set about the mingly/explorey/hanging-out-y part of the party.

We all flipped through our catalogs, including (lucky us!) the winter clearance catalog. The Spring catalog launched December 16th, so we got to look at all the new items too.

We had some yummy food, which I completely went overboard on I think… you could definitely just crack open a jar of salsa and a bag of chips.

I had prosciutto-wrapped pineapple, grapes, meat/crackers, pickles, a-freaking-mazing artichoke dip, bacon-wrapped dates, and …

…a new cheese ball I invented for this party. I’ll have to type it up in its own official recipe post soon, but I’ll just tell you now… cream cheese. PartyLite’s pepper jelly, and pecans. Simple. Great. I got some of those gluten-free nut crackers to eat it with, and they were good, but I actually like it better on celery. So delicious! It was so good, in fact, that several people ordered pepper jelly just so they could make more at home.

Sherri talked to everyone, answered more questions, explained things, and took orders…

And we all made our final decisions about what we wanted in our own homes. I really enjoyed the chance to smell all of the samples. There was a page with all the smells listed, and I just went through with a sharpie, smelling each sample and either circling the name/picture or crossing it out with a big X. I ended up with 12 scents circled, which was perfect, because in January there was a 12 DOZEN tea lights for $12 special for the hostess! So I ended up ordering a dozen of each of my favorite scents.

When everyone was wrapping up their orders, sneaking a couple more bacon-wrapped dates, and going home, Sherri told me that my party met the minimum orders required for me getting “hostess benefits” – aka getting deals and free stuff. So I got my tea lights deal, but I also got to pick out lots of goodies for myself. I ordered a wax melt warmer thingy (which has LED bulbs that never have to be replaced!), the 3 essential oil blends I really enjoyed, some red lanterns that were on clearance from Christmas, but which will be great for Valentine’s Day, of course more pepper jelly, and some chai tea mix to try.

Trying to remember what else…ooh some pretty clearance white candle holders that can hold tea lights or tapers, and a matching tray for pillar candles (but it’s also food-safe)… just lots. and lots. and lots. of good stuff. I’m so excited! And all in all, with tax and everything, I only paid about $25 total out of pocket, thanks to hostess benefits!

Our orders should be coming in SOON and I’m looking forward to it. Because it’s a lot of goodies, but also because it’s another excuse to pair up with each of my friends to give them their stuff too.

The PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes is over, but there are always other promotions and events going on, so be sure to contact your consultant to learn more.

And like PartyLite Facebook  to make sure you always know what the hostess and guest deals are each month! I hope you have as much fun hosting or attending a party as we all did!