The Celebrating Home(Home and Garden Party) home party plan offers home, book, catalog and online parties. Home and Garden Party presents candle fundraisers that are perfect for your organization. Income opportunities are available for Celebrating Home, (Home and Garden Party) Designers and Fundraiser Consultants. A Christian company founded on Christian principles we treat all of our customers, hostesses and designers special. Check out the incredible Celebrating Home, (Home and Garden Party) Benefits for designers and hostesses.

Celebrating Home Brings the Best of the Party Plan Industry together as one. Join us in Celebrating Women, Celebrating Families and in turn bringing families together!

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Celebrating Home and Home and Garden Party offers the best fundraiser for your organization.

Join Celebrating Home, formerly Home and Garden Party today. We are a debt free Christian company that has been in business for 12 years. Top Hostess and Consultant Plan in the Industry. Let me help you start a new and rewarding Career today.

Celebrating Home Business Opportunities Await!. When I work, it’s a Party!

Contact me today!  Suzie Self (541) 730-1718

Personal Web Site of Suzie Self- Independent Executive Designer ~ This site has not been reviewed by Celebrating Home, Ltd. Formerly  (Home and Garden Party, Home Interiors).

Founded in 1996 by Steve and Penny Carlile, Celebrating Home began as Home & Garden Party.  After purchasing Home Interiors in 2008, we became one company, under our name, Celebrating Home, Bringing Families Together.

Direct Selling News Article

Pay it forward. It’s a frequently used phrase. For Steve and Penny Carlile, it’s the reason they started Home & Garden Party.

The Carliles felt blessed. They had been successful in other business ventures, and their faith required them to respond by blessing others. Steve read an article about direct selling in the Wall Street Journal and was intrigued. So he talked with his friends Andy and Joan Horner of Premier Designs, a jewelry direct seller. That conversation convinced him that direct selling offered a great opportunity to reach out to others, offering them the prospect of more income, additional time with their families and the bonus of fellowship with new friends.

Penny and Steve owned a pottery manufacturing company, which had helped them learn how to source and handpick unique products at the best prices. It became a key supplier for their direct selling company, Home & Garden Party.

The company opened its doors in 1996 and had $1.2 million in sales its first year. The second year, sales skyrocketed to $15.5 million. But with popularity came problems. It didn’t have inventory to cover all the orders, so it issued gift certificates in place of the out-of-stock items. But the Carliles learned their first difficult lesson and immediately took steps to better manage inventory. 

Their efforts paid off. Home & Garden Party’s 19,000 distributors, called designers, stuck by it, trusting that the young company would do the right thing. By 1999, it was profitable and has operated profitably since. Today, Home & Garden Party offers more at its parties than striking stoneware designs for the table. It also sells framed artwork, decorating accessories, candles, floral designs and a new line of quick-and-easy food mixes. True to its foundation, the product line includes a “Faith and Inspiration Collection” featuring sacred artwork.

Magnetic Mission

Two years after they founded the company, the Carliles recruited Terry Kenyon as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Kenyon’s background is in banking, and he admits that moving from a publicly held financial institution to a privately held, 2-year-old direct selling company entailed a learning curve.

“Steve was a primary shareholder at the banking corporation where I worked,” Terry says. “When he asked me to help at Home & Garden Party, I did as much research as I could. But it was a privately held company, and there was only so much information available. That was new for me. But I had worked with Steve for several years, and I knew that he and Penny were great individuals who walk the talk. They’re a great example for others. So I took the leap of faith.” Terry was named the company’s President in 2007.

One of the things that helped Kenyon take the leap was the company’s vision statement: To become the company known for enhancing people’s lives spiritually and financially through serving and supporting its designers, customers, employees and communities. 

Living that vision in each decision was part of Kenyon’s learning curve, and it’s a commitment he keeps daily. He realized his business decisions needed understanding and buy-in from the field before they were “whole.” 

“When you make a decision here, you’re affecting 20,000 other lives,” he says. “It’s hard to make a quick decision because it involves so many different people from so many different avenues. Working with our ad agency is a good example. They ask, ‘Who is your customer?’ Well, it’s our designer base as well as the people who are buying products. We have to excite designers so they can carry that excitement to customers. It’s been a challenge. My background was in banking and accounting, where decisions were much more black and white. Here, the majority of our designers work full time in another job and part time with us. Unless you make it easy and motivating, they quit. We have to give them a reason to take the next step, because with their busy lifestyles there are lots of reasons why they shouldn’t.” 

He requires communication on many decisions be well thought out so they’re understandable and actionable by those affected. While decisions take time to implement, the results are worth the effort.

Uplifting Focus

“The thing that drives me the most is seeing the success of our field representatives,” Kenyon says. “Our national rally is the highlight of the year for me. It fuels me to put in the time and effort for the rest of the year. Our designers work very hard, do a great job, have great heart and really care about other people. They’re excited to see someone from their downline walk across stage to be recognized. This business is not self-centered in any way, and those individuals who are usually aren’t as successful as others. The designers who grow and become most successful are those who have a strong desire to help others.”

He says while Home & Garden Party needs to be profitable, its focus is to provide opportunities to people who may not have had those opportunities earlier. Steve and Penny are unique in their goal to bless others, he says, and Home & Garden Party is the perfect business to accomplish that. And he revels in designer success stories.

“We had a designer who joined us in 1998,” Kenyon says. “She was working two jobs and was a single mother. But because of her Home & Garden Party business, in 1999 she bought a new car—the first one she ever owned. Then, in 2000, she built her first home. She worked hard for that home, and she earned everything she got. When you see that kind of thing happen with people, it means everything.”

He also loves the stories of designers whose personal development has soared.

“Those are the real milestones for me,” he says. “That’s when you can tell when someone has reached maturity—when they realize the benefits they’re repeating over and over through helping others find success. Then they’re truly happy with what they’re doing.”

Many designers join Home & Garden Party because of its lucrative compensation plan—so rich that some industry experts thought that the company wouldn’t be profitable with such a generous compensation structure. But the Carliles weren’t in it for the money. Their goal was to provide opportunities, so they kept the corporate structure and expenses lean in favor of enriching designers. Then there’s the attractive product line, which is always reason No. 2 that designers join.

“As I go to meetings, I’ll break up the group into groups based on length of time with the company and ask them about their motivators,” Kenyon says. “Some people talk about the attraction of being their own boss or being able to stay home with their children. But the two key motivators for both newer and veteran designers are income and product.”

Efficiency Experts

To bless even more people, Home & Garden Party recently started looking for ways to be easy to conduct business with. It recognized that society is going through an evolution that creates time constraints for everyone, and the changes affect its business. So it launched a series of initiatives intended to let designers be more productive in less time. 

In recognition of its designers’ time demands, the company recently updated its distributor kit, making it “the best kit in our company’s history,” Kenyon says. Brochures, for example, are now shorter and more focused. One of the printed pieces, the Build Your Business flyer, is a brief brochure that designers can distribute at parties or take with them as they live their lives. They can strike up conversations at the grocery, the soccer game, a PTA meeting or wherever errands take them, telling acquaintances about their Home & Garden Party business and leaving the brochure as a reference piece.

“Home & Garden Party’s biggest challenge is that few people know who we are or what we’re about,” Kenyon says. “Designers are our primary way of getting our name out, so we want them to talk it up. Having a handout makes it easier. It’s a short, easy-to-read piece that has been very helpful. We also changed our opportunity brochures to make them more user-friendly.”

When an acquaintance becomes a designer, she can look forward to receiving a kit that introduces her to the company and its products, gives her all the business forms she needs to start and helps her easily set up parties. She has options of kits and sizes to purchase, letting her start her business at her own pace for as little as $99. The kit is designed not only to pay for itself over time, but also to be used as a party prop. Designers use it to create elevation on a tabletop to present products.

“An individual who may not have interior design skills or feels challenged in that area can set up the kit and have a beautiful presentation,” Kenyon says.

Tapping Technology

The company also recognized that, in the past, party plan companies were strong because people spent more time together. Today, as more women work outside their homes, they prioritize their free time and spend it with their families. The result: They simply don’t have as much time to spend with friends as they’d like. 

To accommodate their time constraints, Home & Garden Party developed the “virtual party,” in which a designer holds an online party. It’s complete with a hostess, and guests can attend at their convenience. The concept even lets designers and hostesses invite guests who live in another city or state to their online party. Called Party Connect, the online event offers convenience for guests while allowing designers and guests to earn the benefits of a home party.

Designers—both newbies and veterans—can also rely on Home & Garden Party to give them ample, actionable training, again at their convenience. It has just launched a new series of interactive online courses that cover every aspect of the business, including booking parties, party presentation and more.

“Each segment takes less than 20 minutes, but it seems like five because they’re so interactive,” Kenyon says. “Courses are helpful not only for new people but also for seasoned designers. We did a lot of research before launching it, and we think this training is by far the best in the industry. It’s been very exciting for the field.” 

Kenyon compares online training to virtual parties. Party Connect will never replace a home party, but it enhances them. For some, it will be the only way they want to offer products. Online training follows a similar model. In the past, a designer was responsible for everything when they brought on a new recruit. Today’s online training doesn’t replace the personal touch of face-to-face coaching by sponsors, but it offers every designer the same excellent, streamlined information that helps them be successful in their business and help others be successful.

“Designers love it because they’re so busy,” Kenyon says. “It takes some of the training time off their shoulders. Now, when they’re talking to one of their recruits, the new designer isn’t asking, ‘What do I do next?’ Instead, they’re saying, ‘I saw this online, and it looks like fun.’ They’ll have very specific questions about how to implement what they’ve seen online.”

Designing Directions

The innovations reflect the increased involvement of Home & Garden Party’s designers. Groups of them have input into a variety of key parts of the business, ranging from products and catalogs to the new online training.

“We went through a phase when the field was not as heavily involved with the direction of the company,” Kenyon says. “One of the changes I’ve made is we now have a product council made up of our designers and a leadership council that’s involved in decision-making about the direction of the company. They’re very hands-on. This coordination with the field has created a unification of direction, rather than designers wondering what’s next. They’re involved now. They know what will be next, and they helped make the decisions.”

One key decision designers addressed was the initial introduction and upcoming expansion of the company’s food products. Mixes for comfort foods, such as Mom’s Chicken Noodle Soup, Tuscan Gourmet Pizza and Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, make daily meal preparation quick and delicious. Entertaining? Offer guests a range of delicious dips such as BLT Dip, Southwestern Chipotle Dip and even a Chocolate Mousse Cheese Ball, all prepared quickly and easily with Home & Garden Party mixes.

The consumable food products fit in well with the company’s efforts to be easy to do business with, since customers can conveniently reorder them through Home & Garden Party’s Web site, giving designers virtually effort-free commissions. The food line will be expanded this fall.

Even Web surfers who don’t know a Home & Garden Party designer can purchase the company’s products. They just select the products they want to buy, enter their ZIP code, and choose one of the company’s designers to receive the purchase commission.

Expansion is also in store for the company’s flagship product, its stoneware. A new design is in the works for 2009. 

“The company was founded on our stoneware product line, and it has been tried and true throughout the life of the company,” Kenyon says. He says that he and his wife use the company’s Welcome Home Collection, but they like the Tuscan Home Collection, which was introduced about a year ago, so much that they’re migrating toward it. 

The company creates its own designs and works with manufacturers to ensure quality and even good working conditions.

The enhancements in selling tools, training and products are paying off. Home & Garden Party is seeing its party average grow. 

“It’s not unusual to hear of a $2,000 party,” Kenyon says. “That means that designers are making more money from each individual party. When the company first started, it grew rapidly for several years and then leveled off for a couple of years. Now we’re growing again, and the growth is coming from our core designers and from new designers. When we make it easy to do business with us, that’s attractive to everyone.” 

He says he hopes to expand the company domestically and, eventually, internationally. Kenyon says he believes that Home & Garden Party’s efforts to increase its name recognition will pay off for designers.

Then he asks, rhetorically, “As long as we maintain our focus that the company was founded to help others, why would we not be successful?” 

Great Expectations

Penny and Steve Carlile believe that “to whom much is given, much is expected,” so when they founded Home & Garden Party (H&GP), part of the company’s vision was to enhance lives in their communities.

For several years, the company supported the American Cancer Society, placing particular focus on its Hope Lodges, a free home-away-from-home for cancer patients—or their families—who must travel to distant facilities for treatment.

“We chose The American Cancer Society because so many H&GP families had been affected by cancer,” says company Co-Founder Steve Carlile. “I guess all of us have a story where someone in the family has had treatment or died because of cancer. Penny’s father died from of cancer in ’98, just after we started Home & Garden Party. Several top leaders died because of complications of cancer. So it’s close to home.”

In addition to monetary donations, the company has also donated time and products to several Hope Lodges to help give them a more attractive, comforting appearance. Steve says that after funding the construction and furnishings of a Hope Lodge, ACS often doesn’t have additional funds for decorating and creating a homey environment. That’s where H&GP can step in.

“For example, one year our national rally was in Nashville,” co-Founder Penny Carlile says. “A group of designers went with us to Hope Lodge there. H&GP provided decorative designs and prints to contribute to the lodge. We’ve also had ACS come to the rally and set up an information booth, and during the year we’ve encouraged designers to be screened for colon or breast cancer.”

The Carliles expect to continue supporting ACS personally and through Home & Garden Party. But in July they will expand their philanthropic support to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which enriches the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. The change comes, as actions at H&GP often do, because of feedback from designers. They chose Make-A-Wish from among several charities suggested by the company’s Leadership Council.

“It’s a great organization, and they do some great things,” Penny says. “One of our top leaders has a nephew who is part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He has a wish, and she’s personally involved with that.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is the latest in a large number of organizations—Boys & Girls Clubs, United Way and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few—that Home & Garden Party has supported, both through direct contributions of cash or products and through designers who hold fund-raisers to support a local charity of their choice.

“People realize that if they’re successful at something, it’s their job to help others achieve their dreams and find success,” Steve says. “That really plays through everything we do, especially with charities. It’s very exciting when a company can achieve some great things for charity. Every time we speak to designers, I say that when we work together as a team, with designers across the country pitching in, we can do some great things for people.”