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But will anyone appreciate this: why you should no longer host home dinners with a crowd of guests?

I think you've noticed that people are increasingly celebrating birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and other holidays outside of their homes. For instance, in cafes or restaurants. Although it might seem that this is much more expensive, and one needs to behave more reservedly in a cultured place. You can’t just snack with relatives at home anymore.

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Nevertheless, we see that the trend of home gatherings is fading into the background. And here’s why this is happening:

❌ Someone will definitely get drunk and start causing a scene

We are all human, but due to alcohol, sometimes the brain completely shuts down and only starts working the next day—when you realize what you've done.

A classic situation is when someone misbehaves and starts arguing with all the guests. As a result, there’s a bad mood, broken dishes, scratched furniture, and other unpleasant consequences.

A bunch of losses, nobody reconciled, and the guests are dissatisfied with such a “great” gathering.

After such an event, the desire to do something nice for the guests completely disappears.

❌ Restless children

I don’t know who is harder to deal with—boisterous guests or their unruly children.

At least it’s possible to keep an eye on the adults. Everyone is sitting at the table and is in view. But with the kids, you have to be constantly watchful.

And most often, it’s impossible to keep track of them because the hostess cannot be everywhere and pay attention to absolutely everyone present.

Children quickly get used to the fact that no one is monitoring them and start behaving in ways that their parents would definitely not allow them to in the comfort of their own home.

Knocked-off baseboards and torn walls are one thing. But if some child falls and injures themselves, that’s when a whole drama will begin.

Who is to blame, who didn’t keep an eye on them, why on earth did they bring children, and all that sort of thing. This is how a gathering turns into a conflict resolution.

❌ Guests don’t appreciate the hostess’s efforts

Imagine how many groceries need to be purchased to feed at least 10 people? Not to mention that everything needs to be prepared.

This is usually done by a woman: she struggles in the kitchen all day and hopefully is free only by the time the guests arrive.

Of course, they enjoy that they came to a fully prepared meal and will have a great evening. But they give no return in terms of gratitude or help.

They come, eat, drink, and leave. They neither help to clear the table nor wash the dishes, nor tidy up.

All the hostess's hard work is instantly devalued. Then why even bother if the guests take it for granted?

❌ You can’t please the guests

Usually, the hostess decides what to treat her dear guests with.

However, these esteemed guests become overly selective and picky when they sit at the table.

I don’t eat this, I don’t eat that, I’m allergic to this, and that’s too fatty—I’m on a diet now. And there are thousands of excuses to avoid touching the culinary efforts of the hostess.

As a result, no one even touches half the dishes. And in a couple of days, all of it goes bad and ends up in the trash because it's impossible for one person to eat it all.

❌ Depressing cleaning

When the guests leave, the real hell begins. If it took a day to prepare, it will take two days to clean up.

Everything needs to be washed, scrubbed, tidied up, vacuumed, and wiped down. Doing all this alone is genuine torture.

And speaking of help, we've already discussed that—it’s extremely rare for a volunteer to step in and assist the hostess with the cleaning process.

It’s sad to realize that people have become so capricious. After all, gatherings used to happen exclusively within the walls of a home.

And there used to be many more guests, more than 10. And no one complained: everyone was full and happy that they finally managed to gather at one table.

Therefore, of course, one wants to ask oneself: have gatherings become so impractical, or have we just become spoiled?