Last month, I tried my hand at a crappy dinner party.
We’ve been battling some minor illnesses, fatigue, and overall low morale. We are knee-deep in a busy schedule that I imagine will only get busier as our third (and final) child starts his own activities.
We haven’t had as much downtime as we would like and we definitely haven’t seen our friends as much either. We keep trying, but plans seem to fall through.
We’d just bustled through another weekend and I was craving a day where we could do nothing. As luck would have it, Monday this week had nothing on the calendar except for school/work. I thought about what I needed to fix for dinner that morning before work and found my fridge stuffed with leftovers. SCORE. No need to cook either.
Then I had a bright idea. It was FINALLY time to have a crappy dinner party and invite our friends.
I had heard about the “Crappy Dinner Party” before through an article on facebook. The message in the article was that the house doesn’t have to be clean. The meal doesn’t have to be homemade. The pressure should be low for everything to be perfect. You can and should take the time to get together and you should do it often.
In the spirit of doing actual life together, I came up with my own rules and throughout a simple text message to see what I could catch.
I think my friends like to humor me, so they obliged and agreed to come to the crappy dinner party.
I sent them my menu items.
You don’t need me to tell you how great it was. You all are busy people, and realize the amazing part of not having to fix a meal on a weeknight. As a whole, that is why people go out to eat so often, even when it is so expensive. It is such a chore to fix a hearty meal for the family while doing allll the things needed to manage work and your household.
It was great. The kids went off and played, the adults caught up, and no one had to fix any food.
And the best part? No cleanup.
The food was…… decent…….
So here is my mantra in 2020.
DO: Open your doors. Call your neighbors. Invite people, to your house to Wendy’s, to anything.
DO LIFE TOGETHER.
DON’T: Wait for others to invite. Wait for the exact right time. Wait until the stars align and you have sitters. Wait for an event. Wait for perfection.
DON’T WAIT.
To quote one of my favorite movies, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” -Ferris Bueller
It’s true. I am resolved to not miss it.
Love,
Stef