I was super excited to be one of 1000 people selected to throw a House Party for Martha Stewart Crafts. If you are not familiar with the concept, essentially a business who wants to get their product in the hands of groups of users (who will in turn spread valuable word of mouth), will throw a House Party. You can sign up at the House Party website to be considered as a host for future parties. You fill out a survey and if you meet the qualifications of the company, you could be selected.
The company sends you a party pack, which for this party consisted of:
- 100 Brochures offering Michaels coupons- 50% off one Martha Stewart Crafts product
- 3 punches (loops edge, corner punch, and 3-dot edge punch)
- 1 bottle of Tourmaline glitter (1.5 oz)
- 1 bottle of Peridot glitter (1.5 oz)
- 1 bottle of Florentine Gold glitter (1.5 oz)
- 1 bone folder
- 2 Bottles of glue
- 1 ballpoint glue pen
- 1 permanent adhesive roller
- Bundles of paper to create the birthday card and wrapping
- 1 sheet of flower embellishments
- 1 sheet of cupcake embellishments
- 1 sheet of ‘Happy Birthday’ adhesive transfers
- 18 white boxes
Yeah, we are talking major bucks here. The Martha Stewart crafts and tools were awesome! Super high quality and definitely worth shelling out some cash for if crafting is your deal. Her instructions were super clear and we made some great stuff.
The House Party site? Well, I wasn’t quite so happy with those folks. First, I got this email that sounded super urgent like I was picked to host but I had to complete this list of like 5 things, including inviting 10 people, before someone else did it first and got my spot. The first try of getting people entered didn’t work (adding via email addresses) so I had to do it again. The second time I got it to work but I could NOT (and STILL can’t) get pictures uploaded. Luckily, I got emails that basically said, hey you’re in, you invited people.
Then I sent out invites via FB. Only 1 person in 13 saw it. Then I sent them out via email (through the website) a week later. Only 1 person saw THAT one. Then I sent it again via FB Direct Message on my own (not through House Party). Finally people started getting it. By that time, though, we were less than a week from party time with barely anyone having got the invitations! I finally started inviting everyone I knew that I saw! I only had 3 people attend and 1 left early b/c she was sick so it was way smaller, I think, than Martha Stewart Crafts & House Party would have liked. But it wasn’t for lack of trying, that’s for sure.
That said, it was an awesome experience and I would love the opportunity to do it again. I think I may circumvent the House Party invite site and send paper invitations next time (if I haven’t squashed those opps by writing this post, that is!).
If you like to throw parties and get some fun stuff, give House Party a try. They have new parties coming online all the time!
Disclosure: I was not required, nor asked to post this blog post in connection with my House Party experience.
Renae (Madame Deals)
20 November 2009 at 11:31 PM (14 years ago)I hosted a Martha Stewart Craft House Party too! I was so excited about this House Party as the package they sent was amazing! This was my third House Party and my absolute favorite!
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