When the time finally came for my first open house back in March, I was a little overwhelmed. I of course had to thoroughly clean the house, prepare some appetizers, and set up the table to display my products. Being new, I didn't have a whole lot of samples, but luckily my sponsor had agreed to come this time and bring hers. I had spread my Longaberger products around the dining room table, but it looked pretty sparse. My sponsor graciously rearranged everything and set up her samples showing me how to give height to my display by using a box from a Collector's Club item and setting the basket on top.
The first guest to arrive was a neighbor from the block behind me. I was pleasantly surprised to see her as we had only really met a few times at neighborhood block parties. Our husbands spoke regularly as my husband rode his bike by their house on his way to work. She was delighted that she had been invited and said that her husband was quite jealous that she had something to do this Friday evening while he sat at home. I introduced her to my sponsor and then we all chatted a bit while I waited for my next guest. (Mary and I have recently started going to the gym together and are planning a garage sale soon. She is one of my regular customers now.)
Slowly people started to arrive and in the end there were about eight of us out of probably twenty women that I had originally invited. All of the women who showed up were very excited to be out of the house for the evening with something to do; especially with other women. We sat around chatting for a long time. What struck me most about this gathering was how much each one of us missed getting together with other women. We talked about needing to do this more often and I felt like my efforts were very much appreciated.
Two guests found out that they had both been teachers before retiring and had much to share. Two others talked about the book, "Three Cups of Tea", and one of them went to her house down the block to retrieve a copy for the other guest who didn't even live in our neighborhood. I talked with one neighbor about our common dream of writing someday and shared my limited knowledge of blogging on the internet. (A few days later Linda excitedly flagged me down to tell me that after our conversation she had gone online to check into blogging and discovered a website that accepted stories like the ones she wanted to write--several weeks later she got 3 of her stories accepted for publication online! She credits our conversation for getting her started.)
After about an hour, my first guest showed an interest in looking at the products. I didn't muster the courage to give a "real" presentation to my friends and neighbors, so we just looked things over on the table and my sponsor shared some information with everyone. One of my neighbors decided to leave when the "shopping" started as she had come only for the company. I felt sad that she didn't feel comfortable enough to stay despite not wanting to buy anything.
One special memory from the evening was when my neighbor from two doors down saw the Medium Market basket. Her face just lit up and emotion washed over her. "That is just like the basket my Mother had when I was growing up!" She decided to order one with a liner for her knitting. She also got very excited about the Longaberger To GoTM Shoulder Tote Basket that my sponsor had brought along. She apparently loves bags! I really enjoyed getting to know a bit more about her through sharing the Longaberger products. (I am not sure that I would have learned either of those things about Anne in one of our regular front-yard encounters and she would not have had the opportunity to bring home something that would remind her of her Mother and her childhood home).
The evening lasted longer than I had expected, but my sponsor stayed the whole time. I really appreciated her time as well as her toting all those products to my house so that I could use them for my show. What was really amazing was how excited my husband was to have all of this going on in the house. He loved having people over and despite staying away for most of it, finally joined the conversation in the end. My sponsor told me later that she thought he would soon be joining my team! I don't think so, but he definitely was supportive and continues to be so.
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