Not being a woman of high society myself, I’m a bit flummoxed by this invitation I’ve received. The hostess said that the level of dress for the night would be “country club casual.” It’s a surprise 50th birthday party for my husband’s old boss, to be held at the Radisson hotel downtown.
And now that I’ve noticed that line on the invitation, I have no idea what to wear. And it’s tonight.
Help!
For men: sportscoat, no tie.
For women: much more flexible, depending on the host’s expectations. Will they expect you in a nice summery dress? or will a sophisticated trouser ensemble work? No jeans, no miniskirt. Open-toed sandals OK, specially with a little heel, Birkenstocks not OK. Patent leather pumps too much. What would you wear to your grandmother’s birthday?
I hate these bizarre designations. However, I did a google on “country club casual” and came up with this. If it were me, I think I’d wear a summery party/ cocktail dress with dressy sandals (this is based on my own wardrobe). If you have a good old ‘little black dress,’ that would work too so long as it’s short-sleeved or sleeveless and not in an exclusively winter fabric (velvet or something).
I would submit polo shirts and slacks or khakis for the men, a nice light summer dress or slacks for the ladies. No jeans, no shorts, no t-shirts.
That link was really helpful, Jess, thanks. My husband was planning on wearing a suit, so I’ll tell him to skip the coat. Because it’s going to be evening, I think I’ll wear a skirt.
I have one that sort of looks like this, only it’s solid black with the flowers along the hem. The hem is scalloped and beaded, which makes it a bit more formal, but with a simple cream-colored top, I think maybe I’ll be OK.
The schedule for the evening is:
6:30 Cocktails in ballroom
7:30 Dinner at the Fire Lake Grill (high-end restaurant in the hotel)
Followed by music, dancing and cake
At least the food will be good! 
Yep, this is correct in my experience.
IMO (not carved in stone by any means), from the agenda you listed, Bead, I’d suggest your husband wear a summer sportcoat; evening stuff is a hair formaller.
And again IMO, a black skirt and cream top strike me as a bit too formal, or at least not very seasonal. Won’t your country club pals be wearing all kinda sherbetty colors?
Hmmm… you might be right, lissener.
In that case, I’ll switch to a little back / floral number that should do the trick. I’ve never seen women from this set in anything BUT black, so I don’t know that they’ll bust out and wear sherbety colors tonight. But the skirt is a bit heavy, so I’ll go with the dress.
It’s this brand, and a very similar shape, as this dress, but with a light blue and cream floral pattern over the black.
That with dressy black sandals (with heels).
When I hear “Country Club Casual,” I think loud, plaid pants and a powder-blue sportcoat. But you might not want to listen to me.
Me too, SanibelMan. Or maybe riding gear and a crop. Aw yeah.
It means “This is not a thing I want to go to.”
Who said you were invited?
My girlfriend wears a lot of clothes from Lilly Pullitzer http://www.lillypulitzer.com/about.html.
They have a kind of flowery Stepford Wives country club look about them.
Guys can wear an admirals uniform or a seersucker suit (or nearsucker if money’s tight).
Or maybe just some nice pants/shoes w matching belt and a white Oxford will do.
That dress sounds perfect; I hope you’re able to post pictures somewhere for us!
And I’m back! I’m so glad I switched to the dress, because it wound up being perfect. Thank you so much for the great advice! Only three women out of about 80 guests were sherbety, all the rest were in various iterations of black or red. Worked out well for me. 
You guys are the best!
Thanks especially for all the help lissener.
… and after many glasses of wine, I am ready for bed. So mwah! Mwah! <–high society kisses. Hee hee.
Glad it worked out – I never got back to the thread last night (there’s no chance of me getting online when my son or husband are home!), but I would have voted for the dress. When we go to these things I’m always practically the only one in sherbetty/ summery colors – black is always ‘safe’ anymore!