Monday, February 1, 2010

Mom says, "Don't Forget to Knock"

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      We spent Saturday evening attending a progressive dinner. A progressive dinner is a fun event that includes food, friends and moving quickly from house to house. Generally, there are 3 or 4 meal courses, each served at a different home. Our party Saturday night included appetizers and drinks at one home from 6-7 pm. We all jumped into our cars and moved to a second home for soups, chowders, chili and salads from 7-9. Finally, after another move, we ended the evening with desserts at our final stop.

     I have been to progressive dinners that offer four courses; appetizers, soups at the second house, salad and a main course at a 3rd house, followed by dessert. That generally is too much food, and the soup and salad course tends to be a better option. Each couple takes a food item to one of the houses, and the hostess also prepares an item or few to serve. It is really a fun way to spend an evening. The food is usually fabulous and the changing of houses generally means the changing of your seating partners with each course.

     Are you still wondering about the title of this post? I'm getting to that. One thing that is fairly common at a progressive dinner, is walking into the homes without ringing the doorbell. Generally people are coming in groups, the hostess is very busy and the noise level tends to cover the sound of knocking or ringing. On Saturday night, our first two houses we were familiar with. The dessert house belonged to a couple that I don't know well. We asked for directions and we were told to "turn right on this street and then just watch for all the cars". Easy...right?

     I was with my husband and a close friend who was the hostess for the soup course. We were the last car to leave house #2, because my friend had to turn off lights, blow out candles etc. We drove out towards the lake, found the street and turned right. A few houses down the street there was obviously a party...lots of cars in the driveway. You can see where this is going, can't you? I was the first one to the door, followed by my friend and my husband. I opened the front door and immediately saw two women sitting at the foot of the stairway just inside. I did not know them, but it still didn't "click". After all, some people only go to certain courses and I don't always know everyone. I did realize that there were kids in the next room and my brain was slowly processing that fact. The women said, "come on in" at about the same time my girlfriend stopped behind me and said, "oh"!

     Needless to say, wrong party...wrong house. I crashed my first party at 50-something. We all realized at the same time what had happened. The women pointed us down the street about 3 houses, our phones started ringing with the rest of our group who were watching from the correct driveway and laughing their heads off, and we were apologizing and laughing our way back to the car. We did find out that the party we "crashed" was a memorial birthday party for the homeowner's young husband who had passed away months before. We had noticed the women had on matching t-shirts with crosses on them, but we assumed it was someone's 40th birthday. Finding out the party theme made us feel even worse. In all honesty the first party seemed to be fun and the women were very gracious to us. After all, we did walk in without knocking. That will never happen again! Lesson learned.

This is my 99th post! You know what that means...my next post will be a giveaway!

23 comments:

Stephanie @ Bona Fide said...

Great story! I don't recall that ever happening to me. I would laugh it off, but my husband would have been mortified!
Fortunately they were good sports about it and they were nice to you. It could have gone in another direction all together! Can you imagine?

Unknown said...

Oh' Man Sue~ I am sorry!!! that stinks, but to funny too. I have always wanted to do one of those hop dinner parties. They sound fun! Have a good one! JGG

Roberta said...

Funny and embarrassing at the same time but it gave everyone something to talk about! Sounds like a good time.

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Funny story! Thanks for sharing it with us. I always knock. I have had people say You did not have to knock - come on in, but I do anyway.

Cindy (Applestone Cottage) said...

Good story Sue! I love progressive dinners, my parents used to go to them a lot when I was little. I need to find some friends who would like to do one with me! Hugs, Cindy

Mid-Atlantic Martha said...

Oh my Sue! Thanks for a great laugh! I love progressive dinners too -- what fun -- glad the party you crashed was with some nice folks.

Three Rivers, Michigan said...

Oh my, how embarrassing! But you must live in a very social neighborhood, with lots of parties!

J Rodney said...

Oh my Sue, I can just imagine how embarrassed you must all have been. I have never heard of that kind of dinner party before, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun.

Anita@Theycallmejammi said...

That's a great story. Look at it this way, it was a mistake, you made a great story for the participants of the party you crashed...and you made a couple of new acquaintences. All in all, a fun night.

Debbie said...

Thank you for the laugh... I have been to progressive dinners and they are fun.. :)

Yvonne @ StoneGable said...

What a funny and cute story! My freezer is huge, as well as having the freezer in my outside refrig/freezer and the inside one. My freezer is looking pretty bare right now, so I can probably eek by on chicken for a little while. I can't wait to do a full grocery run!
Yvonne

dee dee said...

Sue,
Whoops! I'm glad that I'm not the only one that these things happen to! I like the idea to have soup and chili for the main course. Congrats on 99!
Dee Dee

nannykim/spindlecottage said...

I haven't been to a progressive supper for years--but they are so much fun.

We were going to a Bible Study the other night and I had forgotten to look up the address. I had the directions someone had told me , but I thought what if we walk in to the wrong home! I did ring the bell HOWEVER and it was the correct one ;-)

Julie@beingRUBY said...

haha Sue
I think you cheered their night up!!! nothing like the unusual to make it more fun!! You know a friend and I once walked into a wedding reception mid speech... the party we were suppose to be at was the other side of the hall...

Thanks for popping over.. my week started wonderfully with the Blue Moon coming out to shine all over Sydney.. it was fantastic... xx Julie

xinex said...

LOL! That is so funny, Sue! But what a fun kind of party!...Christine

Jackie said...

Great story! I've heard of progressive dinners, but never been to one. Sounds like fun!!

Unknown said...

Wonderful story! I have never heard of progressive dinners before, sounds like fun! Have a sweet day!

Holly Lefevre said...

That is a fantastic story and pretty darn funny! I have always wanted to do a progressive dinner...at the right house of course!
Holly

Tammy@InStitches said...

oh, that sounds like something I would do !

Angie said...

At least you'll have something to laugh about at the next progressive dinner :) What a neat concept; sounds like a great way to have fun with your friends.

Lyneen said...

OH MY GOSH YOU HAVE ME LAUGHING!!!!!!! I don't know what I would have done!!!!

The dinners sound like a ton of fun!
Thanks for stopping by!

BrightenedBoy said...

Now there's a story! Boy, that's funny.

And the progressive party thing sounds very fun, though I worry I'd get full two houses in.

Shellbelle said...

They'll probably tell that story for years to come and it will make them smile. You inadvertently inserted a bit of humor into a sad occasion.

I know I'm late responding to this post, but I'm glad I didn't miss it. When I was married in 1970, Progressive Dinners were very popular and I loved them. Nice to see they are still around after all these years!