Home shows can be a fun way to show off your products and make some extra money to fund your soaping addiction!  When done properly (meaning with more emphasis on fun and less on stress!) and with as much preparation as possible, they can become a regular addition to your sales strategy, and from what I hear they are, in general, less stressful than craft shows.  If you know your hostess, you will know what to expect with regards to the invitees, the layout of the home, product placement possibilities, etc. in a way you don’t usually get with other shows.   Also, it is a good way to network; since shows start slow and people are around for much longer than you usually would have them, you can talk more in depth.  You never know who might have an aunt opening a farm store or something like that.  You also have a chance to find out what people are looking for but not seeing at the show and offer to make some on order. 

The advice that follows is varied and, as they say, your mileage may vary as well.  I found that people did not want to place orders, while Sue seems to do mostly orders, since she holds shows in absentia.  Customer needs are difficult to predict, as we all know. 

Sue K’s 2¢
My home shows have been slightly different in that they are run by my daughter in Minneapolis (I'm in North Carolina).  We have created an order sheet in Excel, and she takes copies of that to the home show.  The week before the show, I ship a full box of supplies to her -- fresh lotions, body butters, numerous current soaps, lip balms, etc.  I also send a large gift basket, and a small gift bag, plus several small single items as gifties. Ostensibly, the gift items are shown as an example of what can be done with the products, but at the end of the party she draws names and gives them away as door prizes.  She talks very briefly of the benefits of handmade soap, does a small demo on the benefits of sugar scrubs (guests try them on their hands and rinse at the sink or in a tub of water, depending on the layout of the home), allows them to try the various lotions and balms, and demos the lip balms with a toothpick.  She takes the orders and faxes them to me.  People pay her the night of the party -- she pays wholesale prices to me, charges retail prices, and keeps the difference.  I get one check from her, I ship to her, and she distributes.  The show she did in November, in which she displayed three different types of gift baskets, was absolutely startling in the number of baskets she sold.  We had to get very creative in shipping a quantity of gift baskets.  The hostess gets 20% off her order. The guests are not charged shipping, as there is a savings in shipping it all to one person to be distributed.  Gift orders shipped elsewhere are charged shipping.

Most of my hints revolve around the order form.

1.  Create the order form yourself -- I use Excel -- so that it is easily changed if a fragrance or product leaves your line.

2.  In the order form, leave a blank for "soap" and ask the guests to list which ones they want by fragrance and quantity.  Keep a separate list of available fragrances, if you are prone to changing your line. (Hint -- expect to only receive orders for the soaps that have been at the party and were sniffable/ viewable.)

3.  If you provide lotions, lip balms, and other similar products, limit the fragrance/ flavor available in each product to just three.  This keeps you from making many batches of custom scent that won't work in your daily line.

4.  Consider offering a "suite deal," a kit containing lotion, scrub, and soap all in the same fragrance, with a compatible lip balm, and perhaps a bath toy or soap sack.  Again, this allows you to control the number of fragrances you might have to provide.

7.  Don't underestimate the power of free gifties.  I routinely throw into the demo box lots of single items, to be given away during the course of the party, as the mood strikes... soap sacks, soap dishes, bath puffs, etc.  One woman received a soap sack and was so in love with it, she ordered 15 more at the party.

8.  The obvious -- put your contact information on your handouts, on your soap labels, etc.  Make sure that gift baskets have a business card enclosed, or a decorative sticker on the wrapper.  Make yourself available by email, telephone, and even fax, for the people who receive these items as gifts.  They will want more.

9.  Whether you do the parties yourself or have someone do them for you, watch your claims.  It's ok, IMO, to tell people "lots of folks tell me this soap really helped clear up XXX," but don't make it a claim that can disappoint.  No guarantees -- you can tell what it should do, how some others have benefited, why you like it or why you created it, but no guarantees.   In a related note, it's ok to slam ECS, but don't talk down other soapmakers in your spiel.

Joey’s 2¢
I have had two home shows, a year apart at the same woman's house (my best friend).  Both shows occurred in November, so they were Christmas/ holiday based.  My hostess provided food and beverages, and I gave her 10% of my sales in products.

I did okay at the first show, but realized I didn't bring nearly enough inventory (it was my intention to take orders, but people mostly wanted to take the products home that day) and had way too many types of products.  I brought bath salts, bath oils, soaps, lotion sticks, cuticle balms, aromatherapy roll-ons, dream pillows, sachets, facial masks and steams, and some other things I can't even think of, in many scents.  It helps to concentrate on one or two "specialties" like the handcrafted soap and lotion bars in scents to match, or aromatherapy sprays and candles, etc.  I also wasn't prepared for a presentation, just kind of tried to schmooze and felt uncomfortable doing it.  I had a couple of sample baskets and hoped that I would receive orders for them, which I did not.  I think my confidence level was not great, either, as I had only been making soap for about a year by then and didn’t feel like an expert. 

The second show went much better.  I felt much more confident, and I prepared a short presentation, brought a ton of soap (twenty or thirty bars each of about ten scents), and bath bombs (those sell for me much better than salts).  I pre-made baskets but they still didn't sell :-/. I sold out of bath bombs, a few of the soaps, (Santa's Pipe from Sweetcakes sold so much better than I thought it would, and Rise and Shine from Brambleberry), and the linen and body sprays did well.  I also got an order for 60 sets of bath bombs for a bridal shower.  That show netted me almost twice as much, and the repeat business from it was much greater.

Like Sue, I gave away door prizes and people really seemed to like that.  We had everyone write their name on a slip of paper and put them in a hat.  The chosen ones got to pick a full-sized soap of their choice towards the end of the show.

One thing I will do next time is narrow the field even further (I think maybe soaps, bath bombs, lotion sticks and aromatherapy-type candles), and have the rest available on order if they would like.  I would also make sure I had business cards to put in each bag, and cute bags to package things in for the attendees.  Also, develop a better "here is how great my soap is versus the deodorant bars you buy in the grocery store" speech, and show my knowledge about oils, herbs, etc.  I will play up my use of infusions, ground herbs, etc., and their properties.  I should probably try to drum up some more home shows while they are there and enthusiastic as well.  I know most of the Pampered Chef-type presenters try to get people to sign up for additional shows.  That is also what Maria Nerius recommends in "Soapmaking for Fun & Profit".  It's a great venue for seeing what people are interested in, and getting practice in selling directly and setting up a table, maybe in preparation for a craft show, which I still haven't worked up the nerve to do.  Oh, and bring change!  I didn't have any at the second show, and my friend had to dig through her purse to break twenties, etc.  I will also keep records of who bought what and take their information for future sales purposes.

Karol Hovis has some excellent and very specific advice also, which can be found at http://soapnuts.com/homeshows.html

There is also a great chapter on home and craft shows in Soapmaking for Fun and Profit by Maria Nerius.  She advises those of us planning a home show to:

1.  Contact the city or county where the home show is to take place to make sure no city or county statutes prohibit the exchange of money in a private home for business reasons.  You may have to collect sales tax.

2.  Plan ahead for parking and notify neighbors

3.  Keep track of all expenses, including travel and business deductions.  Records and file mileage and expenses for each show to report to the IRS

4.  Plan how to transform the rooms in the house into a sales showroom.  Remove personal property from the rooms where items will be sold.  Set up an area for money exchange and bagging purchases.

5.  Consider inviting other professionals from non-competing media to join you.  This will broaden the craft appeal, provide a way to share expenses, and expand your guest list.

6.  Christmas shows are the most popular and successful home shows.  Play holiday music, light scented candles, decorate a tree with lights, serve punch and cookies, and suggest that customers bring a gift shopping list.  Offer gift wrapping and handmade gift tags.  Have an area of lower-priced items so that children can purchase gifts for their parents.  You can teach bow making or another small craft.

7.  An added bonus of a Holiday home show is that it will usually be at the end of your fiscal year, reducing your inventory and making tax time a little easier.

8.  Most of all, enjoy your time with your customers and take every opportunity to network with your peers.