Who is throwing fancy cocktail parties?

[Meredith from Merchant Ships]

I don't know, because I've never been to any like I've seen in magazines and on TV.

Granted, I'm not really in the social scene here, but most of the entertaining I see are simple family and friend gatherings: cookouts, birthdays, etc.

I'm over 30, and I've still never had a proper dinner party with adults only and candles yet!

(And Mrs. Fussypants thought I was fit to write about entertaining here!)

So, tell me the truth. Is everyone else throwing elegant soirees, and if not, what kind of entertaining do you do on a regular basis?

[Darla]

I'll pass. Can I just have a PB sammy?

[Crystal]

I made a point of throwing one for my best friends birthday...granted it was just the four of us but I pulled out all the stops! It was SO fun and much easier than I thought it would be...plus she LOVED it!! :)

[M3]

I've been to ladies' luncheons done in an elegant fashion, but I don't think I would do it for a mixed crowd. Too many of the men I know would wish they were more comfortable, the moms I know would be worried their children would break something (or worried about how much babysitting was going to cost), and, as Darla said, would much rather be part of the action than watching me do all the work.

[Ivy]

I've always wanted to throw a formal dinner party. I love planning parties.

This is a little off topic, but I wanted to do a formal get together for my cousin who is getting married. There will be a lot of different aged people coming including children, so we went in another direction and turned it into an 80s-style shower (the decade she was born in). The colors are hot pink and zebra. We wanted to make it fun for everyone, so we have 80s grab bags, 80s-themed games and I'm putting together facts of the 80s to put on the tables with things like lingo and fads from the 80s. It should be fun. I'll post some pictures to show you how it turned out. The shower is at the end of the month.

[M3]

That sounds so fun! Someone born in the 80s is old enough to be getting married? OMG! I guess they would be...darn, I am getting old!

[Mrs. B]

On a regular basis we don't do any real entertaining, other than family and kids. Most of the time we do a casual buffet style dinner when we have people over. However, we do from time to time have real, sit down dinner parties with candles, "dinner" music, and everything. These parties are sort of a hybrid between a casual get together and formal dinner party. We have a group of friends that we get together with every couple of months for these dinners. They're casual in that every one is so comfortable together so we can really laugh and have a good time. But the food is usually fairly gourmet and we usually sit at a nicely set table. My hubby is a total foody (ie?), so he really enjoys when we have dinner parties. We just don't get to do it very often!

[Darla]

I've been to several elegant banquets (long sequened dresses and all). I was in MK for 15 years and was a director and attended many of the events. Most of them served rubbery chicken and cold veggies. PLUS we had to pay $40 a plate and sit through long boring evenings that last til way late o'clock.

And NO LIQUOR (LOL). Not that I even drink much but dang, give me a glass of wine to make the evening go faster if you're going to keep me there for 5-6 hours and want me to be a captive audience.

[M3]

Ah, the famous "mystery chicken entree"! My husband and I met over one of those meals! Such fond memories...

[Darla]

ROFL! I think I drug (I'm sure he wishes I would have "drugged" him first) my husband to a few of those....

[Jessica]

Noooo but I want to! :-) It just sounds like a LOT of work. I think it's an accomplishment to make ANY type of dinner at all. Until I have a lot more "experience" in the kitchen (like when I can cook more than 2 things at the same time - speghetti + sauce + bread = stress for me) , there will be no such dinner parties.