Log in to become a member of Shari Vaudo's Fan Club!
I still read newspaper reports on how the rich entertain. I'm not sure why; maybe it's because after moving to this area three years ago, I still don't know many people, and the ones I do know don't entertain and don't want to be invited out for dinner. One thing I do know is that people here have no problem calling you up mid-morning of the day they're supposed to come for dinner and cancel because they got a better offer. Who cares that you've already done the grocery shopping for the dinner and started preparing the items that could be prepared early?
Just last week I read in the New York Times that the Baroness Maria Chase had given a party for one thousand of her "closest friends" at her weekend chateau. She now realizes that, "one thousand people are just too many at one party".
Now, I would have already known that without trying it out first. In a previous weekend house, which also just happened to be our weekday house (funny how that happens), we have entertained as many as eighteen people and I had trouble keeping up with all their food and drink requests. I was once saying good night to a guest who was actually just arriving. Oops!
How do you say good night to one thousand people? I guess when you finally get rid of the first five or six hundred, you could sit down, put your feet up and play Uno with the remaining four or five hundred guests. One thousand people does not a party make; that's the size of a small village.
Another well known New York socialite recently had an "intimate get-together". Mrs. Taylor-Adams has an estate in The Hamptons and an apartment in 'the city'. It seems Mrs. Taylor-Adams asked her cook, from her estate, to pack a modest dinner and bring it to her apartment in the city. Apparently there was a miscommunication. After everyone had enjoyed small talk and finger foods, it was time to sit down for dinner. Uh-oh, twenty guests and only ten meals! Mrs. Taylor-Adams had to keep the guests friendly, talking and distracted for another thirty minutes or so while Cookie called the nearest restaurant and had them deliver ten more meals. Aaaaahhh, the dilemmas of the rich.
Maybe another reason I read the social pages is because I still have a lot to learn about entertaining. Actually, I would host elegant social affairs except for one or two little glitches. The first being that we live in a very small cottage. If we tried to put more than six people in our living room at one time, the 'overflow' would have to eat dinner in the bathroom. Sorry about the pun. Then, there's the fact that we live out in the boonies and of course you have to consider that this far from civilization, there is no social life.
Hidey Hole Hollow is a long way from any city so the few times we have invited people out here, it's like we've just invited them to Siberia but haven't offered a trail guide.
When we lived in the city and hosted parties, I always got the feeling that people accepted our invitation because they felt sorry for us because everyone knew how I fretted over making everything perfect; they didn't always feel sorry enough to actually show up though. I just didn't have the right attitude. To me, having a party was like closing my fingers in a car door. First, I would worry about which people to invite then I'd worry about if they would actually show up. Then, if they did come, did I invite the right combination of people, or would they just sit and stare at the walls? Would I make food that everyone would like? What if everyone ran out of things to talk about and they all left at eight o'clock? I got stressed out just thinking about it.
I remember reading somewhere that President and Mrs. Roosevelt entertained the King and Queen of England once at Hyde Park and served them hot dogs on the front porch of the cottage. Hot dogs! I wish I had read that when I was younger and doing more entertaining. Now that I've remembered that, I think I'll be serving hot dogs and macaroni salad whenever we do entertain. Hey, if it's good enough for a president, first lady, king and queen, it ought to be good enough for my guests.
The author of this article has chosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
We don't entertain ... for many of your reasons and some more. People who are invited and then decide at the last minute not to show up are more than just rude, they are immature. Aargh! And that's not pirate-speak!
I did enjoy the peek into the world of the haves and more socially inclined. You wrote it up well.
Thank you, Dianne. I still torture myself thinking I will someday be the "hostess with the mostess". At my age and lack of ambition to entertain anymore, I don't think it's going to happen, but it's fun to read about it. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
