Shaking up the guest lists

[breakinglight11]

So I tend to have the same people over for my dinner parties again and again. Of course the fact that I like those people and want to have their company is a big factor. So is proximity; people I run into regularly and who are close to me are much easier to invite and have travel the distance to come to dinner. But the primary reason is for ease of social dynamics. I really dislike it when the conversation doesn't flow between dinner guests, and someone either has to drag it along or there's lots of social awkwardness. So I tend to very carefully engineer guest lists for maximum positive interaction. That very often leads to groups with similar makeup because I know they get along and I like having them. But there are still many people I'd like to have over for dinner that I for some reason do not often end up inviting.

So I think this summer I am going to make an effort to shake up my guest list and have dinners for people who I'd love to see but have not managed to have over very often. At least every other dinner party I have is going to have at least a mostly unusual guest list. I think that will make things more interesting, as well as get to share my cooking with friends I don't as frequently get to see. I'll probably still do my social engineering in hopes that everyone has things to talk to each other about, but I want to shake things up in my social circle.

Comments

[lisefrac.livejournal.com]

If you're interested, I can loan you Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone. He has an interesting section on holding dinner parties for maximal social engineering :) Admittedly, some people have a visceral negative reaction to Ferrazzi (he can come off as full of himself; that was my reaction the first time I read the book), but there's some valuable information in there.

[laurion]

Shake, Rattle, And Roll.

[morethings5.livejournal.com]

If you ever choose to invite me to a dinner party again (I yearn for your approval) I was hoping you might let me invite the instructor from the class I tutored this year/am teaching next year. She is an English grad student and is really really awesome and a total geek, and I think she would get along with us people swimmingly.

Also, we should meet up post-haste so that you can give me a commencement ticket as ransom for your shoes and scarves. Maybe tomorrow evening after 6? Maybe anytime Saturday?

[(Anonymous)]

You, of course, have always been on my dinner party list, you, of course, will continue to be.

I will bring the commencement ticket to Matt's game (which should be happening at nine) tomorrow and trade it for my shoes and scarves. Sound like a fair trade to me.

[morethings5.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. I'll be there.