Fun & Famous

PARTIES THAT COST MONEY MAY FIND THEIR SHARE OF

My aunt Mies always visited her great-aunt twice a year. That great-aunt was old. And rich. Together they drank a cup of coffee with a splash of milk and there was always a pretzel served with it.

When my aunt Mies left and was helped into her coat in the hallway, the great-aunt always came with a little scribbled note. “I still owe you 1 guilder 75. You consumed two cups of coffee and a cookie.” Yes, I was shocked too. Especially since dear great-aunt could easily hand out a million cups of coffee, she looked so cozy.

If my friend could pay 350 euros upfront for the hotel

Of course, we all find this ridiculous and can attribute it to an old aunt who lived in a different era. But if you pay attention, there are plenty of parties where we are asked to empty our wallets.

Let's start with the phenomenon called marriage. For many people, a ceremony at Estate De Olmenhorst is simply not enough. In the Netherlands, it rains and there’s a chance someone else is already married there, and you don’t want that. So it becomes a foreign wedding.

Now, I find weddings abroad the most fun and I am also willing to come to you and I would even pay for my own ticket. But I found it particularly thoughtful (and also a bit normal) that our friends S and M offered the hotel night. And my best friend A and her husband T simply took the whole crew for four days to a resort in Turkey. That is of course pure pampering, but on the other hand; if you want to get married abroad, you can't ask all your guests to spend five hundred euros just like that. I think.

Sorry, sorry sorry if I offend you, but I think that if you want to throw a party at a location that is far away, you can't count too much on a contribution from the guests.

But still, my friend F had it recently too. A dear acquaintance is getting married in Barcelona and is planning three days for it. Even before the invitation was sent out, my friend was asked if she could pay 350 euros upfront for the hotel. That was separate from the plane tickets for F and her partner, the bachelorette party, and the days off she has to take from work. And oh yes, we haven't even talked about the outfits yet. Three days of marriage means about five cool outfits.

Another friend has a neighbor who is turning forty soon. She thought it would be nice to celebrate that in Texel and here too, there was a nice little hotel. Which she indeed had to pay for herself. Just like the ferry and the gasoline.

Sorry, sorry sorry if I offend you, but I think that if you want to throw a party at a location that is far away, you can't count too much on a contribution from the guests. One hundred fifty euros seems to me a nice limit. They would have given you that differently for a gift.

And if that’s not an option, we can just celebrate your party in the backyard? Real friends have a good time anywhere.