Anonymous wrote:Indian American here - so grew up with plenty of formal gatherings (if women draped in silk and gold and gems is formal) with no shoes.
No shoe house now - but my midwestern husband wears his shoes in the house sometimes, it only annoys me because of the grit that gets dragged in on the treads of his shoes.
If we have people over, I don’t care - all hardwood and throw rugs, but 90% of the adults who come over take their shoes off without prompting - 100% of the kids. Most of our friends have no shoe houses and the only common factor is their age (younger GenX-older Millennials). We often bring indoor slippers to wear at house parties!
The only time I’ve been strict about it as an adult was when we had a crawling baby/new walker.
Anonymous wrote:I suspect shoe free cultures are those in which humans are defecating and urinating outside and there is a lot of poverty and hovels.
Anonymous wrote:We're a shoes-off family. When we host we don't make guests take their shoes off. We used to do massive summer parties and no shoes were taken off.
It's funny though, when my DD first had high school friends come over, they must have asked her if they should take their shoes off, and I guess she said yes. So now when they visit, it's a habit, they greet us parents while simultaneously taking their shoes off and leaving them by the front door. I get a kick in seeing 10 pairs of shoes in all these sizes lined up in the foyer.
I do know one family that is middle eastern and are very strict about it. They hosted a corporate dinner, 10 guests, we were asked to take our shoes off. Thank god I had gotten a pedicure that week. One work friend was mortified bc she wasn't prepared and had worn sandals to work and didn't have socks to cover her unpedicured feet. If you're going to do shoes off give adequate notice so guests can be comfortable.
Anonymous wrote:I suspect shoe free cultures are those in which humans are defecating and urinating outside and there is a lot of poverty and hovels.
Anonymous wrote:Question: if you have a formal dinner/cocktail party where people come in nice high heels and dress shoes that are part of a dressy outfit do you still ask them to remove them? How strict are you with this rule?
I grew up in a house where we all wore shoes all the time and were a very outdoor focused family in a temperate climate, we were in and out all day long, gardening, taking walks, tinkering in a workshop in the backyard, etc. and taking them off every time would have just been a lot of times.
As an adult my husband and I generally don't wear shoes in the house and neither do our kids, out of comfort mostly and maybe a little bit that it helps us keep track of them if they are all by the door.
I don't really care if someone wears shoes in our house because when I'm hosting I mostly care about my guest's comfort and I'll probably clean the floors after an event anyway. But curious what others do. I'm not disgusted by the idea of someone wearing shoes indoors but it seems like a lot of people are.
Anonymous wrote:I suspect shoe free cultures are those in which humans are defecating and urinating outside and there is a lot of poverty and hovels.