Comments on: How to Be the Perfect Party Guest

By: Free Kids Games

Free Kids Games — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:17:26 +0000

I always write thank you notes and you wouldn’t believe the response such a small gesture gets. It makes the host feel special, people love to know their being thought of.

By: club penguin

club penguin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:38:46 +0000

I would like to mention that bringing flowers to a party only adds to the hosts responsibilities as he or she must scramble to find a vase in which to place the flowers. Additionally, the flowers may not compliment the planned decor and would make the host uncomfortable should she (or he) choose not display them. Although the same is somewhat true of the wine, as you already mentioned, the host need not feel compelled to serve it.

By: Dianna

Dianna — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:49:04 +0000

@Dick, I feel the same way, and I would prefer that guests merely stack up their plates, anywhere that is convenient. I am very possessive about my kitchen, lol. As to the idea that you should arrive late, I find this very off-putting. The later guests arrive the more that I feel that they don’t appreciate the importance of the invitation. However, I realize that this may be a western convention.

I was asked to play a duet at an eastern wedding. The bridal party showed up an hour after the stated start time. However, everyone appreciated my contribution and was very gracious. I guess your mileage may vary!

By: Hannes

Hannes — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:18:13 +0000

How to: be a great guest

1) An invitation is not a gift. It is an investment.

2) Never come empty handed.
Please remind me: Why exactly did I invite you? Ah, you don’t know, too?

3) Never go without compliments

4) Make the host relaxed by doing his time consuming work like doing dinner, dishes, candles etc. It’s the helping hands that make parties possible.
Having parties is hard work. No help strongly decreases the frequency and greatly increases the guest rotation.

5) Of course you give the host a call the next day to thank him if you liked the party.
If you didn’t like it, lean back, do nothing. There is no need to be invited again.

6) Issue reinvitations.
Hosts like to be guests too and as they know what it takes, they tend to be good ones.

—————-

This is what I wrote for myself so I can select the great guests from the normal or even bad ones.
I tend to throw a lot of parties, cooking parties and the like. And for a long time I had no clue how to spot great guests. I merely thought “I have to invite them again because I had invited them the last time”

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

One evening in my time in Hungary I had a terrible cooking party: the guests were 2, TWO, hours late and barely helped. I was furious and so I called one of my best friends Rabea. She said she just had a not so close friend have birthday party at her -Rabea’s- place. They left without helping to clean.

So we both had an angry minute to think about: how to select the really special ones. Those you can invite and you can be sure you will have a great time as a host. These 6 points you just read are what we came up with.

They are now on my facebook page and I even had them printed out and put them on a “not too obvious, not too hidden” place in my flat.
And what happened?

By selecting the crowd they knew I was looking for them. And they liked it a lot as this gave me the ability to make them many more compliments, I’d have not enough sensibility for before.

With all my best
Hannes

By: Diana M. Molino

Diana M. Molino — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:52:24 +0000

We often don’t include others, introductions would be helpful. Especially if you know that the other person is shy or they don’t know each other.

I looked at the picture on this article and thought of Norman Rockwell. It looks a lot like one of his paintings.

By: Ben Stock of Brainpower

Ben Stock of Brainpower — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:48:04 +0000

Flowers are not the greatest gift to bring to a home party. They invariably take some work to receive: finding a clean vase, cutting stems, arranging. If you arrive at the height of preparations and expect your flowers to fussed over, and displayed, it’s no favor, just more work at the worst time.

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By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 03:46:10 +0000

A very timely post! I generally seek out the people who seem isolated since I’m fairly comfortable approaching strangers and many people are not. Even if you are feeling a bit shy, you can make yourself useful by knitting someone even newer into a conversation you have struck up only minutes before. Also, if I am artful, I knit people of both sexes into the conversation and open up subjects that will allow a natural disclosure of their romantic availability eg: apartments, new in town etc. This will make meeting people much easier for everyone and hopefully they will barely notice it happening.
RSVPs, yes; some kind of gift, yes. I have never written a thank you note but now I think I will start.

By: rich

rich — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:55:52 +0000

To go off the established wine idea, if you know the host likes a specific drink buy them that. As a fan of Jack Daniel’s, I’m always flattered when my friends bring me a bottle of Gentleman’s Jack or Single Barrel as a gift. By buying a favored/special brand, it also becomes obvious that your gift is for the host’s enjoyment, not for the party.

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By: Clayton Roche

Clayton Roche — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:59:03 +0000

If it is the kind of party where bringing friends is appropriate, for heavens sake, introduce them to the host! I often go with other friends and find myself feeling a little uneasy when I’m in someone else’s house without explicit permission or acknowledgment. This may be more relevant for the kind of parties I go to (I just graduated college), but a general guideline will work: if you are someone’s only connection, help them branch out. Both your friend and the host should appreciate it.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:53:18 +0000

Although a small thing, I would like to mention that bringing flowers to a party only adds to the hosts responsibilities as he or she must scramble to find a vase in which to place the flowers. Additionally, the flowers may not compliment the planned decor and would make the host uncomfortable should she (or he) choose not display them. Although the same is somewhat true of the wine, as you already mentioned, the host need not feel compelled to serve it. That option is not as easy with flowers (unless the host simply disposes of them or lets them die).

By: stephen

stephen — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:29:26 +0000

I love the pictures gracing this article. I particularly note the prevalence of beer served and consumed in a pilsner glass – very civilized. It reminds me of the family parties of my grandparents. All this drives me to the point – when at a party, however formal or informal, be civilized – it is always the mark of good company.

By: Nicholas Hassebrock

Nicholas Hassebrock — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:03:51 +0000

Regarding number 3, I read once that for every hour you expect the party to last, you should show up ten minutes late. For example, if a party starts at 7, and you expect it to end at 10, then you should show up at 7:30. I’ve used this rule before and it seems to work very well, as almost no parties start on time anymore. I think most party hosts expect people to show up late; few have everything ready at the exact party start time.
How do we think about this?