Claire
Master Chef
Do you find yourself more often one or the other? What is your group's entertaining style (potluck, or one person does it all and take turns?). What hints do you have for being the perfect host or perfect guest?
Karen, I do miss it sometimes . I can't even have company inside the house, too much stuff , no space, from hubby's late brother's house. hubby too cheap to rent storage space to put it in.Oh, LC - you sound a little wistful about it. I'm sorry - do you you miss entertaining? I know I would. My parents loved to have friends over for informal dinners, and my sister and I are the same. DH and I have people over often, and folks here seem to reciprocate pretty quickly, so we get invited to others' as well. Next Sunday, I have 20 people coming to dinner to meet my son/DIL/grandkids who will be visiting from China. Only problem - we are now in our rainy season, and may have to move the whole party inside. Yikes.
Karen, I do miss it sometimes . I can't even have company inside the house, too much stuff , no space, from hubby's late brother's house. hubby too cheap to rent storage space to put it in.
I am most often the host. I do have a few friends that enjoy cooking and do host dinners. One family member of mine occasionally hosts but it usually requires the rest of us to bring most parts of the meal/drink.
It is pretty much just us, so neither host nor guest. Occasionally we have the Pastor and his family over, but no one else ever excepts our invites, no family in the area, and lost most of our friends when we moved from the northside to the southside here.
Oh isn't that the truth, June! The best incentive for keeping the house clean is to have frequent company. Sometimes I plan a party just so I can get DH to tidy up the yard and patios...LOL.besides, it helps me keep the house a little neater.
Being the host/hostess does not necessarily mean supplying all the food, drinks, etc. My brother and his wife host many of our family events as well as other social functions because they have a large home conducive to entertaining, and they also have horses which many guests enjoy riding. They frequently host large parties where everyone brings a dish to compliment the theme of the meal, and nobody complains that everything was not made by the host family. Actually, we find that each family member and social member have certain specialty contributions that everyone loves, and that few others of us ever make, like Aunt Char's Pretzel Jello and my DW's "Company Beans" (Green Bean Casserole). Everyone contributes to the food as well as the cleanup, with my twin brother and me standing in front of the sink doing dishes until they are all done. Everyone goes home with a clean dish.
Impromptu gatherings in our neighborhood often occur at our neighbor's home because they have a great deck, patio and fire pit to enjoy late into the evening. Again, the covered dishes come from every direction, and cleanup is always a joint effort which lessens the overall impact.
Lastly, many of our favorite recipes have come from "covered dish" parties, where we had the dish for the first time. Sharing recipes is also part of the fun of these gatherings. Being the Host/Hostess does not mean you have to shoulder all the responsibility, unless that's what you WANT to do or what you HAVE to do.
Personally, I feel awkward when I go to a dinner or other party where we cannot make a contribution, even if it's a bottle of wine or other beverage. Usually the shirts are so stuffed at those events that we don't stay very long anyway, if you know what I mean. We're ordinary folks and don't try to impress anyone with anything other than our friendship.
Joe
That is not what I was talking about. Didn't say I don't want to contribute to the host/hostess. I never arrive empty handed. Nor am I talking about potluck/cover dish type gatherings. I was simply sharing something about a family member who when it is her turn expects guests to bring everything while when she is the guest contributes nothing. Don't be so quick to correct me.