Day 3: Who to Invite to Dinner
Thanks for joining me in my “30 Days of Summer Entertaining” series.
Getting to know people takes effort. Friendships don’t just happen. It’s what we teach our kids: You have to be a friend to have a friend.
If you are a shy person, or you have a quiet family, challenge yourself to talk more to people. Encourage your kids to talk more to their friends and to adults. Kids need to be shown how it’s done, so it’s our responsibility as adults to teach them how to be hospitable.
Entertaining means that we have to put ourselves aside and be willing to ask others about their lives. It takes risk on both sides to forge a new relationship.
And when you’re not invited to a dinner party, or you’re not invited back, I wrote a post HERE on how to get out of your “pity party” and create your own party.
1. Discuss as a family which family you’d all have a good time with and invite them over.
2. Step out of your comfort zone of always inviting the same people over.
3. It’s okay to not invite negative/downer/gossipy people over.
4. If you want to grow more in your relationship with God and with others, invite people who can encourage you and your family in this area.
Usually when you’re invited to a home for dinner, it’s because those people want to get to know you. There’s just something about you or your family that they want to know more about.
Inviting takes effort. And summertime is an easy way to do it. People don’t even have to go into your house, if that is your fear.
Open the doors to the great outdoors and invite others in!
Are you planning a summer get-together any time soon? Would you mind sharing if you’ll be inviting family, friends, neighbors?
Feel free to grab my button and share it with your readers, too.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
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Thanks for the encouragement. We just moved into the first home we’re truly proud of, the first home we own. It’s hard, after these years of “hiding” behind the excuse of “we live in a tiny apartment” or “it’s too messy in here” to open ourselves up, open our new home up, to others. We’re excited and nervous at the same time to create relationships in our new home!
I’ve had that pity party so many times in the past couple years. It seems that every time I invite all of my cousins over nobody can come. Quite randomly I invited one couple of my cousins and they came over on the first invite and we had a blast. I think casual invites the week of the “party” may be the way to go!
Great advice Sandy! I like number 3, we do not need the downers. My hubby has been pretty good at crafting our party lists and we have had the most interesting groups of people over and surprisingly it works so well. The more mixing we do the better the party! This is a great series and I have been checking in daily from your reminders on FB. Have a great Sunday!
I am really just amazed at how days just fly by and how good intentions just fly by as well. Wow June 4 today! I always think I should have people over but it is just not happening. Pick a reason or an excuse and I’ve probably had it or used it! you make it look so easy to pull together . When my kids were in the highschool days the sports teams would have what they called a “Togetherness” night on Thursday night before the big friday night game and eat supper together together. I was thinking ok I should do that, have a “Togetherness” night on Thursday night the weekends are just not working. We had a group at church that kind of disbanded many years ago I was thinking we needed a reunion . I am going to try and not over think it and just do it :) I am not naturally inclined to entertain. thanks for your encouragement to open our doors to others. Janita
We are so inspired by your blog we started a “Social Dork Experiment” a couple months ago. We send out a general invite to a huge group of friends and acquaintances on FB and see who shows up. Today is experiment #2. For the 11 yrs we’ve been in this small 1970’s ranch house, we’ve only had a few friends and familiy over. But after finding your blog and others, we’re brave enough to try entertaining even though we have a far from perfect home. THANK YOU for reminding me we don’t have to be perfect or have perfect things to have fun!
http://socialdorkexperiment.blogspot.com/2011/06/experiment-2-here-we-go.html
I love this idea! Broadcast and see what sprouts!
We’re having friends over next weekend for coffee and dessert. We had friends drop over last weekend for a short afternoon visit and it was wonderful. Many times our friends and family have difficult schedules and lately we find it easy to catch-up over dessert or a large fresh fruit platter and iced tea -so easy and no fuss for the hostess and guests!
Thanks for a great series! Perfect topic to kick off the summer. We will be hosting our Supper Club this month (been together for 26 years!) and we have settled into a groove where each couple sort of has their signature
activity. One month we go bowling after dinner, another couple has us at their lakehouse in August and another
couple hosts us at their hunting camp in February. I started getting a tad worried that all we do when it is our turn to host is eat and drink at our home (!), but when I expressed this “rut” last month, everyone assured me that the relaxing atmosphere and delicious food is what they look forward to the most. Made me realize that some of the best memories are made when we keep it simple. Looking forward to some great inspiration this month!
I’m sure that we will have people over. The last few summers have been tricky because we had soccer tournaments almost every weekend and several of the evenings on the weekdays are already “booked” with soccer or some other event. But we do try. My girls love bonfires, so I’m sure we will be hosting a few of those. Today our youngest girls soccer team had a garage sale and I came away with 6 tiki torches and 3 planters…When it came to the torches, outdoor entertainment was on my mind!!
Through unfortunate circumstances (the economy) we will be moving very soon. I can’t wait to have guests in our new abode. I’ve already ordered the wall words to put up over the dining area. “Come Gather At Our Table” in a gorgeous font.
Hi Sandy! I’m really enjoying your Summer Entertaining series…hopefully I can visit around to the other participants over the weekend! Last weekend for Memorial Day, we had a family from a new church we’re visiting over, and it was delightful. We hardly knew them at all before, but they certainly left as friends. We did a Monday morning brunch outside by the brook, and I really loved the relaxed atmosphere that fostered. This Saturday (tomorrow) we found ourselves with a free morning, and so decided on another impromptu brunch, and just invited a few people today! Often I worry about the people we invite “mixing” well, but this weekend, we’re just leaving it up to Providence. We’ve invited some friends, some acquaintances, and some neighbors. Some we know well, some we barely know, but I’m sure we’ll all have a wonderful time. Thanks for the inspiration!
I plan on having my son’s graduation party, a get together with the moms from my son’s baseball team and I am thinking of several families I can invite. I make the mistake of thinking everything has to look perfect to have people over but I’m working on it!
Sandy I am looking forward to keeping up with your summer entertaining series. This post is wonderful & very helpful too :)
We are having families and a few single guys over from my hubby’ s station. We are all different ages from different walks of life…but we are excited about having them into our home…one guy we invited over last time e was so touched…he had never been invited to a family’s home for dinner! We are so looking forward to showering them with God’s love! Happy Friday, Sandy. Xo
As you have pointed out, it seems easier to entertain in the summer. We often invite both family and friends. They have gotten to know one another over the years. I think I need to add someone new to the bunch tho. It is easy to get in the habit of inviting the same people.
Darla
well, i’m planning a summer wedding if that counts! and we’ll be inviting people from literally around the world – i guess that’s what happens when a canadian and a kiwi meet and live in the UK and get married in canada…
but just last night a good friend asked if we wanted a barbecue for a wedding gift (ummm, yes please!) but what pleased me more, was this friend is completely intending to be invited over so that said BBQ can be used to feed him…i’m glad that we’re already seen as hospitable even though we don’t yet live together, and aren’t yet married!