*Raises Hand Slowly*

[quidditchgrrl]

Yes, it's me.  I am the one rainpuddle13 speaks of.

Well, not literally, of course.  But I am one of those people who invites everyone and their brother to anything that I am in charge of.  I admit it, I'm a party pimp.  We are a dying breed in this age of digital snobbery and smaller offices.

In our defense (or at least mine specifically), we are usually not fishing for gifts or starved for social interaction.  The goal is to fit as many people as acceptable into a space for food and fun.  Gifts are nice, but I have never (well, okay, I did send a wedding invitation to my sister's inlaws knowing that they are wealthy, but I always send them Christmas cards too) sent an invitation "fishing" for a gift.  Ever.

The reasoning behind inviting even the most tenuously-linked people to a get together is as varied as the type of party you're giving.  Sometimes, there *are* a lot of people to invite (weddings, GO receptions).  And other times you don't know how many people might be able to come on a popular night (like Halloween), so you over-invite to be sure more than 3 people show.  Then there are the times when you know you'll have to deal with people who don't like each other, so you try to create a buffer zone of other folks to keep everyone cheery.  At work, there are the usual office politics, so inviting everyone is an easy way to maintain the status quo.

I thought I'd let you all know that 99.999999% of party pimps don't mind if you don't send a gift.  We just want everyone to share and have fun.  So long as you give us a yay or nay to showing up, it's cool.

That other 0.000001% are just rude.

/Cultural Service Announcement

Comments

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

This doesn't really have much to do with your post (though I'd love to go to one of your parties) but I was wondering how you're feeling tonight? I hope much much better! <3333's

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm better. Right now I'm just trying out different foods to see how they react and keeping a close watch on the er, bodily functions. :B

Now, if I could only sleep, all would be well!

[poconell.livejournal.com]

::Snerk::

When I first read that, I thought you were saying you were pregnant, and had sent her an invite.

Why didn't I get an invite to you baby shower, eh? I love parties! I always make an appearance at weddings, stag&does, showers, retirement bashes, you name it. Any reason to get dressed up, enjoy some company, eat lots, is cool with me.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

See, and why not invite someone who just likes to go to parties?! I am all about 'the mores the merrier', man. :)

[azurerose.livejournal.com]

Heh -- I, too, am a party pimp. Maybe it's something we pick up from Rainbow??

The last bash I threw, for Hubby's black belt presentation, was a pretty big event (which, I admit, I loved to stress over to make everything 'perfect' as could be). We invited quite a few people... friends and family, fellow aikido people... he tracked down the people who inadvertently started him on the path towards his aikido training and invited them...

... but it wasn't a gift grab, for sure. I told people who asked that it wasn't a "present" type of thing, but if they felt they needed to give him something, give him a card. They still brought gifts...

But it was all just supposed to be a big, fun party. And it was. :)

I have been invited to a few "gift-grab" baby showers before. Not very many, thankfully... one of them was one of my sisters-in-law (the baby machine, 3 kids in 30 months). First kid, yeah, I sent something. Second kid a year later? Nope. Third kid? Nope, tho I was tempted to send a package of wire hangers both times. My feeling was that irresponsible behavior shouldn't be rewarded. (At least she was preparing to marry the father of #2 and #3 when she found out she was pregnant with #3.)

I think, for some of the "everyone in the office is invited to the shower" type of parties, it's a mentality left over from school rules/conditioning... you have to invite everyone in your classroom, or you won't be allowed to hand out invitations.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

I definitely picked it up from Rainbow...cause you know the first time you pare down an invite list, *someone* gets their pantaloons in a knot over it.

And I really hate to say to someone, 'well, we really had to keep the list short.'

I don't like to hurt people indirectly. I much prefer to cut them off right at the knees. :>

[blue-eye.livejournal.com]

Nobody I know has parties anymore...at least not good ones :-( I haven't thrown a prty in ages as I would have to fly most of my friends in.