It's your call, but let's say that you spend $20 on a bottle of wine to be social. I am assuming that you enjoy wine, it may be worth the added expense (if the bottle would be like $15 in a store) to keep and maintain your friendship. This is just a suggestion, I don't know how close you are with your friends, but I can tell you that my parents are feeling really lonely because they don't have any close friends (this is due to a lot of reasons), and yeah, I feel bad knowing that they wish they would be invited to things when they are sitting at home on a Saturday watching TV.
No, I don't drink! But DH loves the wine I bring home from the MLM parties :) (A lot more than tupperware, that's for sure.)
I just consider it a cost of the friendship. I mean, we could be going to the movies or out to dinner or something... at least this way it is more of a cozy gathering at someone's house.
Plus, I think I may have saved more in dog boarding than I've spent at parties :)
And they generally know if it is jewerly or makeup I'm not buying- so I don't buy at EVERY party.
It's just so silly that this is apparently the only way women interact these days.
It's not really the only way women interact. We also interact with PTA meetings. ;)
No really, last year with all the PTA fundraising meetings we had, we started having the meetings off campus at people's houses, and there was much wine involved (and one of the members is a wine snob, the other owns a wine tour company, so we had good wine). PTA stuff goes much better with wine.
I was invited to many CAbi clothing parties this year but opted not to go because of my "no new clothing ban", and I told my friends such. Normally, I enjoy those parties because I enjoy those friends, and I hate shopping for clothing. So doing it in someone's house is enjoyable AND I find the clothing to fit well and be high quality and flattering.
I've turned down many jewelry, skin care, and bag parties (in person and on-line). I'm not sure how much of it is "social" and how much is "income". I live in an expensive place, and it's hard to make ends meet here, especially if you'd really rather not have a full time job. For many, I think they hope that these types of parties will bring in extra income so that they can stay at home. If it's something you believe in, great! I like Pampered Chef items, but who needs that many? I'm not into skincare. I like CAbi, but you only need so many items of clothing (well me, anyway). I don't do nails and I don't wear makeup.
Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, essential oils.