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"I don&amp;amp;#8217;t know why these haven&amp;amp;#8217;t really caught on in NYC, but I have friends in the &amp;amp;#8217;burbs who are invited to a sales pitch (cleverly disguised as a cocktail party) every weekend. Welcome to my party! Hope you brought some deutschmarks. (Or whatever that non-U.S. currency is.) I think the most popular stuff to push at these &amp;amp;#8220;parties&amp;amp;#8221; are fancy-pants kitchen goods (a sizzling stir-fry set for $160), fancy-pants bath products (a rejuvenating sea salt scrub for $28), or fancy-pants health stuff (a box of deluxe protein bars for $22)&amp;amp;#8212;none of which the partygoers (or any one else) needs. The one time I was subjected to this modern day form of torture, the hostess assured all of us beforehand, &amp;amp;#8220;Of course you don&amp;amp;#8217;t have to buy anything!&amp;amp;#8221; But come D-day, I couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t just sit there eating her crustless sandwiches and sipping her cheap Champagne, and not fill out an order form. Which is how I ended up with a $28 tub of rejuvenating sea salt scrub. I guess the guise of the parties is you&amp;amp;#8217;re helping someone earn a little discretionary income. And I&amp;amp;#8217;m all for discretionary income! But not when I&amp;amp;#8217;m the one banking the payroll. I mean, I have enough guilt associated with spending. I don&amp;amp;#8217;t need more guilt for not spending. How do you guys feel about direct-sales parties: Love &amp;amp;#8217;em or loathe &amp;amp;#8217;em? How many have you attended? Have you ever gotten anything useful from one? Have any of you ever hosted? Prefer your party talk without a side of guilt? Here you go: Pick Your Fave: Party Dresses From Balenciaga, Dior, and Givenchy Have You Ever Been to a Panty Party? Holiday Party Style Tips A Gorge Party Outfit Idea p.s. I had no idea this was happening &amp;amp;#8217;til I logged onto Amazon yesterday, but if you create an Amazon Wish List this week (like we talked about here), you&amp;amp;#8217;ll automatically be entered to win a bunch of Twilight-related prizes, including a trip for two to the L.A. premier of New Moon (whee!) and a lion-and-lamb keychain (woh woh ...). More Ways to Get Glamour You could win $50,000 just for registering for or logging in to Glamour.com! Sign up for Glamour.com&amp;amp;#8217;s Style Tips of the Week and Beauty Tip of the Day newsletters! Add Glamour to your iGoogle homepage. Follow glamour_sexlove on Twitter. Photo: iStock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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