It all starts here. It is not enough to shout a cry like: “Hey, I have an 8 pack of rice ready, come to me tonight
” to make an evening succeed. Inviting turns out to be an art full of subtleties. You will have to take into account many factors with which to juggle: the type of evening you want to organize, the choice of the day , the gender and number of guests .
Aperitif, lunch with friends, “social” dinner, barbecue in the garden, masked party. You have many opportunities to invite guests to your home. Depending on the case, you will have to be more or less precise on the number of guests: for a seated dinner, as many guests as there are comfortable chairs available or the service of dishes that you use for similar occasions; for a barbecue you can’t go on a rampage if he invites his full-fledged soccer team at the last minute.
The improvised do not require a formal invitation: come and have a drink with you, improvise a ” pasta party ” after a night at the cinema, have a coffee. All occasions that happen suddenly, in complete spontaneity.
The more “serious” invitations , on the other hand, are prepared in advance so that you can organize yourselves.
Sometimes it takes two months in advanceto be able to find a day available in the busy diaries of your friends. Among those who are already invited everywhere, those who work up to an unworthy hour, those who never go out during the week, those who have babysitting problems or those who go to the mountains every weekend, be able to bring together six or seven people can sometimes prove to be a challenge worthy of Wonder Woman.
Looking at the calendar, make sure that the chosen date is not:
- the day before a bridge;
- the period of school holidays;
- the day the national team plays;
- the final evening of “Amici”;
- a religious holiday celebrated by your fellow practitioners.
When to communicate the invitation
It’s up to you to judge how long it takes for your guests to organize themselves. For an impromptu evening or an aperitif, just a short notice is enough: the day before or the day itself is enough. For a dinner or a party, however, it takes a week or two of notice. If it is a more distant date, remember to ask for confirmation a few days before.
For an event that cannot be postponed (wedding, New Year’s Eve dinner, anniversary), plan many weeks in advance, even months , to ensure the presence of those guests you really care about. The time of the appointment
You will establish the most suitable time according to the type of evening and how long you need to prepare it:
- for an aperitif, usually at 12:30 or 19:30.
- A welcome lunch is around 1pm.
- Coffee or tea is usually taken around 4:30 pm.
- A buffet starts from 20:00 onwards.
- For a seated dinner, 8:30 pm and the traditional time.
Of course, if you or your guests finish work late in the evening, or if you have a categorical imperative (your guests have just got off the plane, you have to go fishing for the trout you will cook, etc.), you can change the time to 21:00. Scheduling a dinner too late is not correct (you will all starve and within an hour you will only think about going to bed).
Taken from: Olivia Toia, “The new rules of etiquette”, Morellini Editore Source:
