| No you do not take it. You don't think of taking it. |
OP did not ask them to bring food; they offered or asked what they could bring. She had planned to provide all the food. That is not a potluck. |
| I never assume i can take it back. I sometimes ask. As a host, depending on the amounts, i love when people take food home. |
| We do in our friend group. Leaving all of the leftovers feels like a burden for the host. It's a lot to pack, clean up or clean out. |
| I usually want people to take home anything they brought. Otherwise I will likely throw it away. |
| What, no? The food you bring is for the host. If you want the container back, you ask what to put the food in. |
Then tell them that, but never ever take back something you brought. Do you expect people to take back unopened bottles of wine? |
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| I would feel really weird taking food back. |
| Typically you bring it back because 1) its in your own dish or 2) less for the host to clean. |
Ha!! This episode was on last night. |
| It depends. Clearly, it doesn't make sense to for multiple people to leave large amounts of remaining food at the home of someone who is single and living alone. So in that instance, I would offer to take it home. Otherwise, I would probably leave it. |
OP did not tell them no. So this is a potluck. “Just bring yourselves” is what you say if you provide all the food. |
Dibs on food that has been sitting out? If it’s been out more than 2 hours, it’s going straight to the trash. In fact if a bunch of people have been serving themselves with it, it goes right in the trash after the event. |
| Was the host just going to toss it? When we host, I usually offer people to take home what brought because we really don't want all all the leftovers and I don't want to waste food. Our get togethers are also super informal because we've all been friends for decades. |