Tacky Party

keb270 · May 2010

I have a family member, we will call him B. B got married last summer into a very close family. Every summer this family has a New Orleans themed party in which they fly in a band from New Orleans and serve Cajun food. I have never been invited to this party (nor has anyone in my family) even though B and I are super close.

Fast forward to this year. I get invited to the party, as does my whole family. The catch? The party is "too big" for their house so they rented out a hall and are charging people $20/each to see the band and eat. Is this as tacky to everyone else as it is to me? I'm surprised they didn't charge us to come to the wedding. I wasn't special enough to be invited when it was free but I can come and pay $20. No thanks, I think I have plans.

stephriz · May 2010

It definitely means the only place they could find to hold the party charges a fee (which they don't want to pay) and justified it by having their "guests" pay admittance.

It'd be like deciding to have a bridal or baby shower at a restaurant, but not be able to afford it, so the host has the attendees pay for their lunch.

hawkilady · May 2010

Yeah i think that's pretty tacky - it would be one thing if there was a big group of friends who wanted to see this band, etc and they all decided to do this and chip in. If they just want to throw a party but are too cheap to pay the fees, they should limit the guests as in the past. I would convenitently have alternate plans as well.

LarkNow · May 2010

Yeah, I have an acquaintance that hosts house parties, where they get travelling musicians to come and play in their living room. They have a heavily suggested donation, which goes to the musician, but it's all upfront like that. Not like they want to throw a party but not pay for it. I'm not sure how I feel about this. How good is the band?