Humans are social creatures, and it is normal to receive invitations from your family and friends. This article is going to provide you with some useful tips that will help you to produce a good impression when arriving at a party and also when taking leave.
Arriving at a party, what NOT to do?
Generally, when people arrive at a party are recommended to start with a simple greeting before, it could be formal or informal greeting. This depends on the type of invitation.
Read more about: formal-greetings-vs-informal-greetings
Usually, when you get there, you will meet the host first, he will help you and let you in. Then invite you for a drink. Meanwhile, their partner is most often in the kitchen preparing the food.
It is good when you arrive at first while the host is taking your coat to give them a compliment about their house which is considered a polite gesture.
For instance, you can simply say:
- You: what a lovely house! Or That’s a nice house you’ve got.
- Host: I’m glad you like it. Or Thank you very much it took us some time to do it up.
What to do when meeting other guests?
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Note that after giving your coat to the host, you will probably be going to the sitting room, where all guests are there.
In case, this is your first-time meeting with most of them, you are not expected to shake hands with everybody. Just greet them nicely with a formal greeting.
Read more here: body-distance-how-to-avoid-embarrassing-yourself
Then the host will offer you a drink or snack, whichever you prefer. Bear in mind that this might not be the general case.
For example, if you know the host very well, they may simply ask you to serve yourself, showing you the corner of snacks and drinks.
Topics to discuss:
While sipping your drink, the best topics to talk about are: business, holiday plans, weather, etc. Make sure to avoid politics. Always pick light topics
Read more about small-talk-strategies-formal-vs-informal-small-talk
Dinner time:
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It is preferable if the dinner is ready within 30 minutes to 45 minutes. More than that will be a bit annoying for guests.
So when the dinner is ready the hosts will politely invite the guests to go to the dinner table. They may use the following expressions:
Format expressions:
- Come through. Dinner is ready.
- Dinner is ready, would you like to come and sit down?
Informal expressions:
- Dinner is ready. Shall we eat?
- To the table everybody
Very important to know:
If the party is informal, you can sit anywhere you like. However, if the party is a bit formal, then your host will tell you where to sit.
If you are interested to know more about formal invitations read this article: formal-invitation-how-to-sustain-your-network
Useful tips and phrases when taking leave.
This article is going to talk about the problems that you might face during your meal, and also a share some useful tips and phrases to use during your meal, after your meal, and when taking leave.
This article will be talking about the following:
- Phrases to use during your meal:
- What to do After finishing your meal?
- Taking leave sign and process:
Always bring your chocolate bar and let’s begin.
1. Phrases to use during your meal:
There might be certain problems, that you may face during your meal, in such cases you might need to use some of these expressions:
- Is there a serving spoon for this?
- I don’t seem to have a fork.
- Please, could you get me another fork because I think mine has been taken away?
- I got something stuck in my throat. Could you pat my back, please?
- Would you pass me the gravy, please?
2. What to do After finishing your meal?
![](https://nappot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/pexels-photo-5461664-1024x680.jpeg)
The usual thing in invitations is that after finishing a meal, the host will ask the guests whether they prefer a coffee or tea.
Please note that this will be served in the living room, where you can continue talking about several topics.
However, be careful what topics to address. To know more about the topics to avoid read more here: 5-taboos-to-avoid-in-europe
While the host is serving this, they may ask you if you want to put some sugar and milk in your coffee or tea.
Read More: 5-good-gestures-to-apply-when-visiting-someone
3. Taking leave sign and process:
The tea or the coffee stage is considered the last part of the invitation. Therefore, after finishing, You should know that it is time to prepare for leaving.
So, to take your leave politely while you are still seated you might say:
- I really must go now. I should be home by now. The kids are alone.
- Gosh, look at the time. I must be going.
- It’s been a lovely evening, but I’m afraid we must go now.
Pay attention to this detail, once somebody leaves then that indicates that things are coming to a close and you should follow fairly soon.
Usually, the host will give you your coat and show you to the door. When you are at this point you can say:
- Thank you very much, it’s been a lovely evening. We really enjoyed ourselves.
- Or Thank you very much, it’s been a nice evening. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Your host may reply with:
- It was a pleasure to have you. Do come again, please.
- Don’t mention it. It was nice to have you.
That’s it for today thank you so much. You might be also interested in reading:
- Best-practices-what-not-to-do-at-a-dinner-table
- 5-good-gestures-to-apply-when-visiting-someone
- Formal-invitation-how-to-sustain-your-network
- What-not-to-say-at-the-dinner-table
picture source: pexels.com