I watch a lot of television shows about houses. Buying houses, renovating houses, building houses, decorating houses, etc. In every one of those shows, people are wanting to buy/renovate/build/decorate so they could “entertain” more. Have dinner parties, barbecues, whatever. They want big open kitchens, fancy patios, large dining rooms, humongous family rooms…all for the sake of entertaining.
My brother is getting married and his gift registry (his and hers, actually) is mostly stuff for entertaining - large bowls, sets of glassware, serving stuff. I have seen this on other wedding gift registries too (granted, they are both older and established and not in need of much “first home” sort of stuff).
Am I missing out on something here? I have never been to a dinner party. I have never had any friends that had regular party nights. I have never been to a party for a party’s sake.
Do people really entertain this much? Or…do they say they want to and just never get around to it? Is it something only rich people do? People with kids? Married or co-habitating people? People older than me?
We have people (family, mostly) over maybe twice a month. I like having a house big enough to accommodate that. It’s also nice on holidays to fit 12 people around the table or whatever.
More important than that, though, is “entertaining” ourselves. We like our house. We like the space, the view, etc. etc. That’s enough for us to justify having a nice pad.
My wife and I “entertain” fairly frequently. Sometimes it’s just for a couple of friends, or it might be a dozen people. It’s nice to be able to host people and cook for them. It’s fun.
My parents are huge into entertaining. My mom’s actually considered buying a set of 100 plates and silverware so she won’t have to rent them so often. They bring it to a whole different level. They’ve got the house for it, and like having 50 or 100 people over for a party.
To the OP: You’ve never been to a party before without a reason?
What’s the weather like on Vulcan these days, anyway?
I don’t think people do it that much. It is just one of those things that sticks as a dream in their head. We have actual parties about 3 - 4 times a year usually on holidays. We have had a few dinner parties as well in the past 5 years. We have about 40 crystal wine glasses, crystal punch bowls, and lots more. You get the idea. A lot of that stuff sounds and looks much nicer than it is useful.
We “entertained” a lot after we moved back to Iowa, reconnecting with friends and relatives. Nothing formal though --buffets or a chili feed or a potluck. It helped that our first house was good for that kind of thing. Large rooms, huge kitchen with an island.
The rooms are small in our present house (especially the kitchen) and having any kind of gathering is difficult. So all we do is the required holiday dinners. Plus, I’m tired of those people.
I can understand wanting a house with a layout that’s conducive to having people over, if you’re the sociable type.
We never called it “entertaining” though. I’ve only heard that term used on TV.
I have some friends who have “parties” a lot. I say “parties,” but it’s more like a casual get together for poker, or to watch the oscars, or whatever. Probably not really “entertaining” in the full sense of the word.
My roommates and I like to cook, and we actually have people over relatively often for meals. We eat off of cheap, mis-matched hand-me-down plates, and don’t really have room for more than 10-12 people, and to accomidate that many we need to spill into the living room.
Yeah man, you heard me I’ve been to lots of parties - but you know, Halloween parties, New Year’s parties, birthday parties, someone-is-moving-out-of-state parties, stuff like that. But never “it’s Thursday and we have a lot of nice stemware” parties.
I entertain quite a bit. Sometimes for holiday type events (eg, Thanksgiving, Easter, X-mas) but usually just for fun. I had an Iron Chef night where everyone brought a dish ala pot-luck and we hogged out and watched a bunch of taped episodes of Iron Chef (the original, not the America one). I’ll have Superbowl, Grey Cup, Stanley Cup parties, etc.
I really like cooking and I really like having people over. I’ll be able to do it more now that I’ve finally finished school. It will be nice to not feel guilty about not studying when I’m menu planning.
We “entertain” at the very least once a month. Nothing terribly fancy, about 10 people (2 or 3 couples plus children, not always the same), no special occasion. We meet just because. We cook something (menus vary greatly from hot dogs to fine dining to bbq), talk some, let the kids play, everybody goes home.
Disposable plates are sometimes used, but not often.
It is all about seeing the people in a no stress situation (work, holidays, funerals)
If you entertain, do your friends entertain too? Like, do you spend every friggin day going around to parties at different peoples’ houses OR is entertaining YOUR thing and everyone enjoys coming over?
See I think what I am thinking here is that if everyone (on TV) likes to entertain…who is left to be entertained?
My husband and I have friends over at least once a week. I’m not sure I’d call it entertaining though. Wednesday night at my house is pool night, which is anywhere from 5 to 20 people in my basement, drinking beer and eating snacks and deserts, potluck. Every Friday we go to R&S’s house for board games and every Saturday is K&C’s house for Texas hold’em.
We just frequently (once every week or two) seem to have a lot of people in the house, planned or not. Neighbors will stop by, friends will want to stop in when driving through town, relatives in for holidays, to see the grandchild or going to the med center, etc. So we just keep things ready to entertain at a moments notice. The living room has plenty of seating, same for the patio. The grill is extra large, tons of plates, glasses, etc. Lots of champagne, beer, whatever in the fridge and scotch, mixes etc in the cupboard. And there’s never a time I go to the store when I don’t load up on hors derves (sp?); cheeses, hard meats, chips, spreads, caviars, juices and kid snacks, etc.
While we like our downtime and privacy, it’s pretty easy to stay in sudden party mode.
My wife and I are minus any children, and we like to entertain. In reality we probably entertain every other month, unless it’s summer and we tend to have more people over. We have a big house and a decently large back yard - we’re preparing for the brood - and we like to have friends and family over. Like Lieu we’ve got the goodies in the house in case people stop over…and I love grilling so we do quite a bit of that, and we have a fire pit with a well maintained firewood area…if I do say so for myself. And there’s just something about fires…
We like to entertain and our group of friends all do it a lot. We kind of take turns hosting, sometimes it is a dinner party, sometimes it is something like a baby shower or a book club. We recently had a wine tasting party and that was fun. In the summer we get together and grill a lot. One of our projects this summer is to build a deck and finish the back yard so we can host more. We don’t do tons of formal dinner parties that involve lots of prep or expense, but once in a while we will do that too. We are hosting a dinner party this Sat, actually. I just got a Raclette grill and we are going to try that out.
We have a pretty wide circle of aquaintances and a smaller tight circle of a few couples. We all mix together well and know each other’s friends so it is fun to get together for stuff. We have a few couples we know from college, we all live within a few miles of each other and all have small toddler age boys so we do lots of stuff together, and even vacation together every summer. So we have people over a lot and go to people’s houses a lot. It helps that we are all kind of food and wine lovers and like to try new things together.
We usually have a big Christmas party every year or two. I had a party for my 40th birthday, also. My parties are usually pretty casual, bring-a-dish, beer-and-bonfire, adults only kind of things. I have part of my family over for dinner near Christmas every year, too, and I cook for them. I love having people over, but it exhausts me (I’m an introvert and like to have lots of down time/time with no one around).
We have one couple we’re friends with who do a New Year’s party every year that’s very similar to ours, except inclusive of kids.
And another couple has a party every couple of months using the pay-per-view UFC fights as a basis. They fix foods and a buncha guys come, and sometimes the wives go, too. I like those parties because I like the couple and most of their friends (but not so much for the fight).
Other than that, it’s mostly family gatherings at my mom’s house, or his sister’s.
I entertain once a week or so, but almost never at my house. No matter how nice my kitchen, dining room, or entertainment center, I just don’t see the appeal. I’d rather be out and about. If I entertain at home, it’s my hope that it’s in the bedroom.
The same people who normally come to our house, normally have us over at their places. Not everybody hosts with the same frequency but it does rotate around.
