Cary, N.C. — Tupperware and Mary Kay home-buying parties have new competition: gold. The secondary gold market is big business these days as gold prices show strength compared with other commodities.

In recent weeks, gold has hovered around the $900 level as investors, fearing more turmoil in the equities markets and the economy, flocked to the investment in search of safety.

With gold prices high, gold-buying parties are becoming a golden opportunity for people looking to make some quick cash.

Kelly Sullivan says her old gold jewelry was just collecting dust. So when she heard she could sell it for cash at her neighbor's house in Cary, she rushed over.

"Most of it is from my grandmother. She used to buy it on the Home Shopping Network,” Sullivan said.

"Everybody is having fun.  It is like Vegas in here. It is like, 'Whoa, she just got $200,'” gold-buying party host Terri Brinton said.

Gold-buying parties are similar to those of Tupperware and Mary Kay. A person invites friends over, and a gold buyer purchases the attendees' jewelry.  Instead of buying something, you get paid to sell gold jewelry that you no longer want. The host or hostess gets a percentage of the party's profits for holding the get-together.

“I was just totally shocked,” guest Neva Eckley said of the $518 she got for her gold.

However, gold buyer might offer a lower price than you might get at a pawnshop because they have to pay for the gold to be melted down and resold.

KidsPeace, a non-profit that helps provide therapeutic foster care to children with behavioral issues, will get 12.5 percent of Brinton's Golden Girls Gold Party profits.

"It was difficult at first because it was sentimental, but then I thought, no this is going for a worthy cause,” Sullivan said.

For more information on hosting a gold-buying party, call Golden Girls Gold Party at 239-887-0354.