Entertaining

[Moemg]

We had some people over last night and my SO and I got talking about entertaining . It's fun occasionally but we would never be one of those couples who entertain a lot . So do you enjoy entertaining ?

 

[Cattusbabe]

We do the big Thanksgiving meal once a year and that is it. If we do get together with friends then we invite them out. For other occasions, parents fiftieth wedding anniversary, birthdays etc., we rent out a hall or part of a restaurant. Much less hassle that way.

 

[bbbamI]

Not really....probably because I've always had to do everything. There have been a few occasions when we were going to have a party; DH promised to help, but would be called out of town (to get back just in time for the party) or he'd have a "deadline" and I would get no help once again.

We've had quite a few parties in the past few years. Everyone seems to have a great time and they ask periodically, "When are you having another party?" I think to myself, "Why don't you have a party and invite me?"

Having a party/entertaining is supposed to be fun; unfortunately these days trying to have fun and a few chuckles is like trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip....

 

[Khan]

I have CHAOS

Can't
Have
Anyone
Over
Syndrome

 

[Moemg]

We've had quite a few parties in the past few years. Everyone seems to have a great time and they ask periodically, "When are you having another party?" I think to myself, "Why don't you have a party and invite me?"

That is the catch 22 . We get invited to parties and then you have to reciprocate and then you get invited to more parties . We usually entertain about six times a year and that is plenty .

 

[youbet]

We've had quite a few parties in the past few years. Everyone seems to have a great time and they ask periodically, "When are you having another party?" I think to myself, "Why don't you have a party and invite me?"

That is the catch 22 . We get invited to parties and then you have to reciprocate and then you get invited to more parties . We usually entertain about six times a year and that is plenty .

There ya go...... When deciding whether to accept an invitation to someone else's shindig, consider the fact you'll now owe them a return invite somewhere along the line.

Our crowd tends to get together at each other's homes quite a bit in the summer when it's easy to cook and gather outside. In the winter, we tend to meet at restaurants/clubs and go dutch, of course.

 

[freebird5825]

LH and I used to have annual Halloween parties, attended by as many as 50 people, primarily co-w*rkers. We would also have a summer volleyball party on a smaller scale.
The rule was everybody brought something for food, even if it was just a bag of chips and storemade dip. The result was a heck of a food spread.
We supplied the meat, beer, soda, party supplies and house. These parties were a lot of fun. Also involved a lot of prep and cleanup, but what the heck?
I can't picture myself hosting big parties anymore. I just don't have the right spirit to do them.
These days, I prefer to meet folks out at restaurants or attend group events elsewhere. dh2b and I always arrive early to help out.

 

[FIREd]

I love entertaining, but it doesn't happen all that often because DW suffers from CHAOS too. But I prefer small gatherings (3-8 people). I like formal entertaining so even small gatherings are always a lot of work.

 

[Purron]

DH and I have family get togethers at our place a couple of times a year. We also have friends from out of town visit from time to time. While we truly enjoy having those we love come visit, we are always happy when it's just the two of us again.

 

[Moemg]

I love entertaining, but it doesn't happen all that often because DW suffers from CHAOS too. But I prefer small gatherings (3-8 people). I like formal entertaining so even small gatherings are always a lot of work.

I suffer from the is the food okay & is there enough of it , the house clean enough and are people having a good time syndrome .

 

[bbbamI]

One of the best parties I ever had was just thrown together. It was our first Christmas in TX and many of our coworkers had relocated here as well. A few went back to MO for the holiday, but several remained here. We were kind of blue, so I thought what the hell.

Thursday afternoon I sent out an e-mail, byob and come on over tomorrow night after work. The first one arrived at 6 p.m....the last one left at 3:30 a.m. About 60 people came and went that night. We had a blast!

I didn't have time to freak out or work myself to death....I just let it roll.......

 

[FIREd]

I suffer from the is the food okay & is there enough of it , the house clean enough and are people having a good time syndrome .

LOL! I didn't know it was a syndrome, but yeah I am like that too especially before guests arrive! Once the party has started I try to enjoy it.

 

[ERD50]

It depends. We took over T-Day, and while we enjoy doing it and the tradition and all, it is stressful getting that much stuff ready for a big crowd. To the point that I think my stress shows through a bit, which is not good. I barely taste the food, but I love the leftovers.

However, we totally enjoy having 1 to 3 couples over, and maybe their kids if the same age as ours. Dinner that size is much more manageable, and DW usually has a good enough repertoire of recipes to draw on that there isn't much stress in doing something familiar. Or it's fun to try something new - no one is going to hate us if it doesn't turn out as well as hoped. Beer and/or wine with dinner, sparkling juice for the non-drinkers, lotsa talk and laughs. Priceless.

Sometimes it's even more fun if one of the couples has an out of town guest or relative that we include - throws something new in the mix.

Sometimes we need that push to and deadline to do a more thorough cleaning. It's all good.

DW used to be really nervous the first few years having her mother over. I was always like - it's your Mom, not the Queen of England! She got over it, pretty relaxed now.

-ERD50

 

[ziggy29]

We used to entertain a fair bit when we had a large house in Houston, but since we moved into a 2/1 we don't have the space for it. At most we may have one couple over for dinner but that's about the limit of our space.

 

[Walt34]

Problem solved when we moved to WV. Even though it was only an hour and a half away, nobody wanted to drive "all that distance". Maybe it's something psychological about crossing a state line?

Now three of the closest family have moved to Delaware, 3.5 hours away so that pretty much makes an overnight stay a requirement.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Problem solved when we moved to WV. Even though it was only an hour and a half away, nobody wanted to drive "all that distance". Maybe it's something psychological about crossing a state line?
....

Or even moving cross town. At my old address which had lots of parking, friends would meet there on the way to other places and events, stop in for tea. The new place has "difficult street parking" which scares most of them away. And some of them don't like to climb four flights of stairs.

 

[FUEGO]

Very rarely do we entertain. Sometimes we will have a couple over, sometimes a couple with kids. I'll occasionally invite old friends over to have a beer or three and sit out by the lake instead of going out to an annoying smoky noisy bar. It helps that I live "in town" in the middle of things too.

And we'll do a big b-day party for one of our kids usually once per year or so, and have 30-40 members of our family come over, and sometimes a few friends.

It is somewhat of a hassle, but we try to keep it simple. Getting pizza is ok if we are just having a few friends over to hang out - doesn't have to be really fancy. For many dozens of folks, we'll cook something that will feed many - burgers and dogs or lasagna. Our house is small by today's standards ("only" 1800 sf ) but the layout is great for parties and we usually set up seating outside on the back porch and it spills over into the yard down by the lake.

The main things to a great party are cold beer, hot, reasonable quality food, and good people.

 

[omni550]

And some of them don't like to climb four flights of stairs.

Plus, that could be a long way to fall after a few drinks. <vbg>

 

[ziggy29]

The main things to a great party are cold beer, hot, reasonable quality food, and good people.

See, I would have looked at it like this:

The main things to a great party are cold beer, hot [-]chicks[/-], reasonable quality food, and good people.

Which reminds me of an old Marx Brothers quote: "You call this a party? The beer is warm, the women are cold and I'm hot under the collar."