You all are crazy. I don't care what I was asked to bring if I wanted to spend time with the people. I would even bring the grill! Life isn't that serious, people!

Anonymous wrote:I'd just cook and eat at home and show up much later for conversation and socializing. Of course, I will BYOB of one bottle of wine and a couple of paper cups.

OMG. I beg of you, make sure they are BPA-free.

Anonymous wrote:I recently had to explain to a friend - 40 something mom with 2 preschool age kids who is as American as apple pie - why it would not be appropriate to have a bday party for one of her kids duing an open play time at a kids gym where she would provide snacks and cake but require parents to pay their own fee for the play time.

So yes, there are some people in this area who would in fact issue an invite like the one OP got and not see anything wrong with it....

Apples to oranges.

I recently had to explain to a friend - 40 something mom with 2 preschool age kids who is as American as apple pie - why it would not be appropriate to have a bday party for one of her kids duing an open play time at a kids gym where she would provide snacks and cake but require parents to pay their own fee for the play time.

So yes, there are some people in this area who would in fact issue an invite like the one OP got and not see anything wrong with it....

I'd just skip it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had cookouts where I have provided the meat, buns, and drinks and asked guests to bring a side or dessert. I have never asked guests to bring all of their own food and chairs.

THAT is a potluck. This invite is not a potluck. This invite is a shakedown, LOL.

Lol@ BBQ shakedown. These people are going to have to pay a cover charge next and rent spots for those lawn chairs. And a huge guy named Brutus is gonna serve as the BBQ bouncer. No chair. No service.

And Brutus has to pay himself to be the bouncer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had cookouts where I have provided the meat, buns, and drinks and asked guests to bring a side or dessert. I have never asked guests to bring all of their own food and chairs.

THAT is a potluck. This invite is not a potluck. This invite is a shakedown, LOL.

Lol@ BBQ shakedown. These people are going to have to pay a cover charge next and rent spots for those lawn chairs. And a huge guy named Brutus is gonna serve as the BBQ bouncer. No chair. No service.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had cookouts where I have provided the meat, buns, and drinks and asked guests to bring a side or dessert. I have never asked guests to bring all of their own food and chairs.

THAT is a potluck. This invite is not a potluck. This invite is a shakedown, LOL.

+1000 lmao

Anonymous wrote:People shouldn't have to bring that much food, but I don't understand why people are upset at being asked to bring chairs. I suppose it should have been worded better, but I don't expect everyone to have enough chairs to seat everyone.

Exactly. The chair request is perfectly normal; the rest of it is what's weird (unless it were a potluck, which isn't how it's worded). We've hosted up to 20 people before but we have only four regular chairs and one folding chair. Also, we didn't have a car until 6 months ago. So we ask friends to bring their folding chairs if they have any. No one minds. Heck, I usually sit on the floor anyway. We do plan to buy 3 more folding chairs but we simply don't have room to store more than that, so in the future our big parties will still be BYO chair. Of course, we do supply the food!

I'd just cook and eat at home and show up much later for conversation and socializing. Of course, I will BYOB of one bottle of wine and a couple of paper cups.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't waded through all 11 pages, but I've got the gist.

You people need to smoke a joint or drink a glass of wine and chill the hell out.

True friends could not care less what you ask -- or don't ask -- them to bring. They would show up and have a memorable summer evening.

+1

I can't believe the frenzy over this. Is Violet Crawley posting here?

Is this party on a weekend?

What is a "week-end"?

True friends could not care less what you ask -- or don't ask -- them to bring. They would show up and have a memorable summer evening.

That's silly. Unless it is your friend's birthday or some special occasion where she really needs you, if a friend invites you to do something that doesn't sound like a good time, you should feel comfortable saying, no thanks. Should you mock the inviter? Hell no. Should you feel free to say, not for me, maybe next time. Absolutely.

I definitely would not want to attend, sounds like too much effort for somethign I don't feel like doing. I'd rather just eat my own food at my own house and sit on my own furniture. I don't have any folding chairs or beach chairs, and don't feel like going out to buy them, or bbq appropriate meats. I can just meet up with the host at a park, coffee shop, for a playdate, or whatever some other time. I don't think the invite is something to get outraged about, but it doesn't sound like fun to me, and so I would not go. I wouldn't cross the inviter off my list of friends, though!

Anonymous wrote:I haven't waded through all 11 pages, but I've got the gist.

You people need to smoke a joint or drink a glass of wine and chill the hell out.

True friends could not care less what you ask -- or don't ask -- them to bring. They would show up and have a memorable summer evening.

+1

I can't believe the frenzy over this. Is Violet Crawley posting here?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Earlier this summer a friend invited me to a cookout at her place and asked that anyone who had chairs bring one because there would be swimming afterwards and she didn't have enough deck chairs.

I immediately unfriended her on facebook and blocked her number on my phone. The nerve.

Are you the same idiot trying to post these sarcastic responses. You are an idiot and not funny.

I know, right? Because everything is so goddamned.fucking.serious. that a simple invitation would create such a maelstrom of judgement and self-righteousness.

And you're not fucking self-righteous? Puh-leeze!!