party planning

Sunday Love List

Pizzazeria’s new entertainment book has me swooning.  Beautiful photography and great inspiration.

 

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Land’s End’s new scalloped loafers are the perfect accent to a cute outfit.  From casual friday to school drop-off, you’ll look super cute in these.  Now to decide which color(s) to grab….ummm.

 

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Anyone that’s known me for a while knows I’m fascinated with Seth Godin’s writing.  He doesn’t disappoint with this blog post.  Click here to read it.

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Are you looking for an easy and delicious appetizer or weekday lunch recipe?  This is your answer!  My recipe for sundried tomato crostinis are del.i.cious. Seriously, make this your got to appetizer for potlucks and you’ll become the queen of the party!

 

5. 

Emily Ley’s new Simplified Planner will soon be released and I plan to be in line to order mine. Last year I switched to the Simplified Planner from my longtime planner and I was very happy I did.  The handy size, superior paper weight and super, simple design make the SP easy to use and fun too!  If you’re in the market for a new planner for 2018, check it out!

Summer Etiquette Series: Can I ask for leftovers?

I’m back with the summer etiquette series and today I’m tackling a situation I’ve run into many time over my years in the hospitality industry; is it okay to ask for leftovers at a cookout?

As a hospitality management major I started my hospitality career as a server for banquets before becoming a catering assistant, a catering manager at a college and eventually owning my own catering business. I cannot count the number of times a guest has come to me and asked, “can I take a plate to go?”  In the beginning it was the little old ladies who dared to even bring their own aluminum foil but then it became just about any guest who enjoyed the meal or didn’t want to make lunch the next day.

So is it okay to ask for or expect leftovers when attending an event?  You should follow the lead of the host or hostess.  If the hostess offers leftovers then by all means, take advantage of the offer if you’d like.  If there is no offer, consider that there could be a number of reasons why one wasn’t extended. You should not attend a party with the expectation of taking home tomorrow’s lunch. I’ve also seen guest ask to take plates home for relatives who didn’t attend and this is not okay especially if the relative was invited and didn’t attend.  It is not the hostess’ job to feed them.

As a hostess I’m always obliged to give a guest a to-go if they ask since it’s my job is to be gracious and accommodating whenever possible. However, there have been times when I did that at the detriment of my plans for the leftovers.  If you are not inclined to be overly gracious as a host, it is perfectly okay to thank the guest for their compliment and politely decline the request because you already have plans for the food.

The goal is considering the feelings of others.  In most cases the host would LOVE to unload extra food so they don’t have to store them or eventually throw them away.  BUT, if they don’t offer, do your best not to ask and put them in an uncomfortable situation and for goodness sake, please don’t ever attend a dinner with your aluminum foil and bowls in tow!

 

Kindly,

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Is it okay to ask who will be at an event?

Quite often I get questions about etiquette from friends and family and this summer has been no different. With all the cookouts happening this time of the year, I’ve gotten many questions that I thought were worth sharing in case they might help others out.  Over the next week or so, I’ll be sharing some of these etiquette conundrums with y’all.

First up, I was recently asked by a friend who was attending one of my events if it was rude to ask who else would be coming to an event. To set the scenario up, this friend had already rsvp’ed that she and her family were attending the event when she asked me the question.

Here is my answer:  Yes it is rude and no it isn’t.  It really depends on when you ask the question. If you ask before the event, yes it is wrong.  I’m a hard core introvert and when I go somewhere, I LOVE to know who will be there so I can plan my escape socializing game plan if necessary so I understand the desire to know who will be at an event.  However, this isn’t always possible.  Asking before the event  indicates that you might be basing your decision to attend solely on who else is there or not there.  This can be hurtful to the host as well as those who might be attending a party you decide to decline the invite for.  Also, asking before the event indicates that you are trying to decide if the event is worthy of your presence and let’s be honest, that is self-centered and inconsiderate of the host who cared enough to invite you and their other invited guests.

I get it, you want to know who you can hang out with. If you can find out quietly by doing some investigating on your own, then by all means, go for it!  Maybe the host set up a Facebook event or sent online invites and you can see who else was invited.  However, if you can’t be discreet about it, decide on other merits and remember that we often get out of an event what we put into it.  If you want a good time, attend and be a part of the good time.

On the other hand, it is not rude to ask who will be at an event if you’ve already accepted the invitation.  There could be many reasons why you might ask who will be at an event; you might want to carpool with one of the other guests or you want to avoid talking about the event to someone who might not have been invited which could also be insensitive and cause a stir.  Nothing is worse than talking to someone about a party they were intentionally left out of (which is totally at the discretion of the host, by the way) only to realize they’re not on the guest list.

So go forth and enjoy all the great bbq summer has to offer with your friends and build great memories.  Just remember to always be kind and considerate while doing it.

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