How was your t-day dinner ---any hits or misses?

wagirl · ‎03-09-2010

I went to my brothers for dinner--it was a pot luck--he cooked the meats --we had lamb and ham-- I know-- not the usual--not sure why he did those-- but I like both-- I do like the traditonal turkey as well-- there was 10 people who brought something as well --and we ended up with way too many desserts. If I were to host a dinner, I would like to assign dishes per person and not let everyone bring whatever--- now I say that because most people ask what to bring anyway and my brother always says bring what ever you want----being the sister--I brought 2 kinds of potato dishes and gravy and fresh veggies and salad and rolls and 2 desserts/ ice cream--needless to say, that was alot to bring but if I hadn't there would be lamb, ham and many desserts only---

My question--do you think telling people what to bring is out of line? I personally, like being told--makes my life much easier. Maybe posting a list of sides to choose from? I like that idea.

ninjawife · ‎11-15-2011

My sister in law hosts Thanksgiving every year and she askes me to bring stuffing every year. I host Christmas and I ask her to bring a salad every year. It works out well and none of us are offended by being told what to bring. I am changing it up this year for Christmas. The Eagles play the Giants at 4:30 so I want to have a tray of cookies for our dessert that we can enjoy while watching the game. I asked SIL to bring cookies and told her it would be fine if she bought them. She had no problem with the change and insisted that she would make cookies.

songbird · ‎03-21-2010

I hosted. We had turkey, dressing, gravy, peas, corn, cranberry, etc. The whole works. My sister helped me. The surprise was the wine. Very nice, white and French. From my husband.Guests were my family & my husbands. About 7 of them. Everything was great. It all worked. In the confusion and excitement, I forgot the rolls I bought. Didn't remember till we were almost finished.

I have off from work. In fact everyone has off today. Yes, I got very sleepy. My husband helped with the dishes

Effie54 · ‎09-08-2010

I don't think it's out of line for the hostess to ask guests to bring specific food items. I think it's wise. If guests brings what they want to bring, you're going to have too much of certain foods. In our family, my niece asked each of us for two food items. This way we had the right amount of appetizers, meat, vegetables, deserts, etc. I noticed though that there wasn't as much leftover as previous years when we had no clue what to bring and there was too much of everything.

DrakesMomma · ‎06-02-2010

My son and I stayed home and didn't go to my mother-in-law's (his grandma). She isn't very kind to either of us. We had chicken, homemade mac and cheese and butternut squash. Sweet potato pie, too. It was nice.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@songbird wrote:
I hosted. We had turkey, dressing, gravy, peas, corn, cranberry, etc. The whole works. My sister helped me. The surprise was the wine. Very nice, white and French. From my husband.Guests were my family & my husbands. About 7 of them. Everything was great. It all worked. In the confusion and excitement, I forgot the rolls I bought. Didn't remember till we were almost finished.

I have off from work. In fact everyone has off today. Yes, I got very sleepy. My husband helped with the dishes

@songbird Your meal sounds wonderful!

When my family was alive we always forgot the rolls. They would get cooked during dinner, nobody ate them, but they would be little leftover sandwiches sometimes for snacks.

songbird · ‎03-21-2010

@Sooner wrote:
@songbird wrote:
I hosted. We had turkey, dressing, gravy, peas, corn, cranberry, etc. The whole works. My sister helped me. The surprise was the wine. Very nice, white and French. From my husband.Guests were my family & my husbands. About 7 of them. Everything was great. It all worked. In the confusion and excitement, I forgot the rolls I bought. Didn't remember till we were almost finished.

I have off from work. In fact everyone has off today. Yes, I got very sleepy. My husband helped with the dishes

@songbird Your meal sounds wonderful!

When my family was alive we always forgot the rolls. They would get cooked during dinner, nobody ate them, but they would be little leftover sandwiches sometimes for snacks.

It was good! That wine really made though. Yes, I totally forgot the rolls. We'll have them tonight! Along with left overs.

Harpa · ‎03-10-2010

Clearly, we are not imbibers! But my hostess DD brought out something and poured it into her tall, pretty wine classes. DH took a sip and promptly spilled his into the platter with the turkey! Then I took a sip, and don't know what I reached for, but mine also spilled, only my glass shattered!

Needless to say, we were flagged!

Other than that, it was a wonderful time, good dinner, walks & games.

@wagirl If someone asks for something specific, I usually oblige, but I'll also add something that I think no one else is bringing or doing.

vermint · ‎04-05-2010

When we used to go to MIL for holiday dinners, she always told us what to bring. She did the meat, dressing, gravy, bread & rice. We brought desserts & vegetable. One SIL always brought mac & cheese. When we started hosting, it had kind of gotten where everyone brought the same thing every year--we continued with that tradition. Just makes it easier.

Leaving people to their own devices as to what to bring almost never works out well!

zitawins · ‎02-28-2017

@songbird I read your post three times and finally got it!

"Guests were my family & my husbands. About 7 of them."

First time around I read it as your having all 7 of your husbands there. And then I said, nah, she's not Elizabeth Taylor. I think you forgot an apostrophe -- husband's (family).

Must be my post-turkey haze! Gave me a laugh, anyway.