Wedding Invitations: 5 Tips for Responding
Since a wedding is a very special celebration for the happy bride and groom, you should consider it an honor if you are invited to share in this beautiful union.
Here are five tips to follow that will show them how much you care:
- Open your invitation immediately and respond as soon as possible, even if you will not be able to attend. A wedding requires a great deal of planning, so the sooner guests reply, the smoother plans will progress.
- The response should match the invitation. If you receive a formal invitation with a RSVP card and self-addressed stamped envelope, then that it the appropriate way to respond. An Evite, for example, would call for an online response.
- Who’s invited? Whoever’s name is on the envelope. Children are invited if their names are on the envelope along with the parents.
- If your plans should change after you have returned your RSVP, call the bride or groom immediately. It is best to honor your commitment, but occasionally unexpected circumstances are unavoidable.
- Once you have sent your RSVP, be sure to put the invitation in a noticeable location, such as the refrigerator, to use as a reminder of the upcoming event.
Super Bowl Party Etiquette
Tip #1: Do bring a dish to share to the Super Bowl party. Even if the host says not to bring anything, bring something anyway. More food choices and variety make the party memorable. Try to bring something you can eat with one hand and also consume in a few bites.
Tip #2: Don’t talk about diets, anything Fat Free, or Jenny Craig. It’s one of the year’s biggest sporting and social events — coupled with the year’s biggest buffet, so enjoy the Super Bowl food and have fun.
Tip #3: Don’t glance, paw or covet the remote control. It is only to be touched by the people who live in the house.
Tip #4: Do think Archie Bunker or Captain Kirk in regards to seating etiquette. Let the host have the seat of honor. They have been slicing, dicing, and prepping for a week so give them the Grand Poobah chair.
Tip #5: Do be a great guest. At the end of each quarter walk around and help with keeping things clean. Simply picking up orphaned cups, plates and napkins will be a huge help for the host and might even inspire other guests to do the same.
Tip #6: Super Bowl Party Conduct… If your team is trailing, NO acting crazy! Besides the team and the players probably aren’t a part of your family or contributing to your 401-k so no carrying on.
Tip #7: Do provide two rooms if hosting the party. One room for avid fans and the other for the guests who would rather converse and mingle with the game on in the background.
Tip #8: Don’t be overly talkative during the commercials. They are the most highly anticipated ads seen all year. Same goes for the halftime show. Even non-football fans love to watch all the new commercials and the exciting halftime activities.
Tip #9: Don’t over indulge in anything. Don’t splay yourself out over the entire sofa — causing others to stand — don’t siphon the entire keg, or consume all the honey rubbed, triple fried, extra spicy chicken wings, even if they do taste exactly like your mama’s.
Tip #10: Do depart in timely manner. When the game is over NO LOOMING AROUND. It’s not New Year’s Eve so GO ON HOME! BE sure to thank your host even if your team lost.
Regifting Etiquette: Is there such a thing?
Here we are in the middle of January with the holidays behind us and a pile of gifts that may just not quite be exactly what we wanted or needed but we received them from our favorite Aunt Gerte.
It’s time for regifting!
According to Wikipedia, the term regifting or regiving is the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift. There is an art to re-gifting. 80% of our population has admitted to re-gifting, and the other 20% that say they haven’t. Are they telling a little fairytale? Here are my top 5 Regifting Tips!
Top 5 Regifting Etiquette Tips:
Tip #1 – The number one way to be a successful re-gifter is to re-wrap and re-tag the gift. If you didn’t buy it and you didn’t shop for it, have the decency to re-wrap it.
Tip #2 – Make sure that the gift is something the recipient is interested in. If they are an art lover, re-gifting an an art book is great.
Tip #3 – It is best to give outside of the social circle that you received the gift in. If you received the gift from a friend at church, then only re-gift that gift at work or your neighborhood book club.
Tip #4 – Don’t regift anything that is hand made, like those socks that your Aunt Gerte knitted for you three years ago.
Tip #5 – Remember you can always donate that unwanted gift to chairity, or sell it on Ebay.
Did you receive something for the holidays this year that will be on your regifting list?
Leave a comment below with your best regifting tale!
Top Tips for Navigating Holiday & Family
Getting together with family during the Holiday Season can be as wonderful as it is stressful. 
Here are just a few tips to help you get through the family reunion with loving memories (and without pulling your hair out!)
Tip #1 – ASK YOURSELF: How you might be an asset to the family Holiday dinner?
Tip #2 – MAP YOUR COURSE: Find the least caustic person. If your wonderful Aunt Yvonne is peeling potatoes, ensconce yourself with her and peel potatoes.
Tip #3 – HAVE AN ESCAPE PLAN: If Uncle Henry Walker the close talker gets you in his grips, listen for a respectable 10 to 15 minutes then make a graceful exit by saying "I've got to check on the pumpkin pies then make a bee- line for the kitchen.
Tip #4 – FIND YOUR INNER CHILD: Children are full of wonder and innocence so when they look up at you grinning, with their teeth all half grown in and ask you to join them in a game of football or hide and go seek- oblige them and yourself and regain a tiny slice of your childhood.
Tip #5 – LIMIT TIME WITH THE FAMILY "COOTER BROWN": Get to him early in the day before he's had too many cocktails so you can enjoy his real essence.
Tip #6 – DO YOUR PART: Come to the table with something topical and interesting to talk about that doesn't include gossip or your little Johnny being gifted.
As you watch the parade and listen to the game and anticipate the pumpkin pie, the bottom line-the real truth is:
All the characters are our special family and they make their own distinctive deposits into our hearts- they are the ones we cherish because they make the memories and storytelling colorful, funny, and unforgettable.
Happy Holidays!
PATRICIA ROSSI is the Nationally Syndicated Manners Correspondent for NBC’s “Daytime” where she hosts the popular Manners Minute segments. Patricia is a renowned etiquette consultant and author of “Everyday Etiquette Made Easy”.
Visit PatriciaRossi.com to browse manners clips, find her event appearances and workshops in the Tampa Bay area or to order your book! Contact Patricia directly at: 727-457-0070
The Skinny on Holiday Tipping
12 Tips For Holiday Tipping
Here are some basic guidelines to help navigate the confusing world of tipping, gift giving and showing gratitude throughout the holiday season.
WHO: The people who grace our lives with their talents
WHEN: Holiday Tipping Between Nov. 25th –Dec. 25th. (The earlier the better!)
WHAT: Money, gifts or sometimes both
WHY: To show appreciation to those that have made our lives easier.
HOW: If possible give the gift in person. If you are giving money never give it in the raw form like your greasing the palm of a Mafia Don. Enclose it in a card with a hand written note of appreciation.
Back to School Tips for Success
1. Do a test run: Map out how long it takes to get to school. Pick up their new class schedule and do a walk through of your child’s day. Locate the library, lunchroom, restrooms etc. Find their locker and practice using the combination padlock.
2. Don’t Skip Open House: The teachers and support staff have spent hours mapping out a route for your child’s success, so jump on board.
3. Do keep your emotions in check on the first day of school: No looming around and going into the ugly cry when it’s time to say goodbye. Save your tears for the girls at Starbucks. A simple and brief goodbye is best.
4. Do make the most out of back to school shopping: We all know you could buy a small Island near Fiji with what you shell out for school clothes and supplies. So you might as well make an adventure out of it. Take just one child at a time turn it into a Mommy or Daddy date day. Enjoy lunch, school shopping and one-on-one time before before summer ends.
5. Don’t forget the importance of open house: Even though you are sitting on small chairs doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask big questions. The parent teacher conference is like a business meeting. So dress in a respectable manner. Go in prepared with open ended questions and take notes on what the teacher shares with you.
6. Don’t Make a log jam during dismissal:The car line is for picking up . It isn’t for gifted testing or science fair explanations. If you have to ask the teacher a question that requires an answer longer than 10 seconds, then email the teacher or book a conference.
7. Do communicate often and early with the teacher: Let them know about your child’s interests, allergies, test anxieties, etc. If your child blows up like a float at The Macy’s Parade after exposure to nuts, the drop off line on the first morning of school is not the time to alert the teacher.
8. Do start back to school rituals 7 to 14 days before school starts: Let your children do dry runs of laying out their clothes, preparing lunches, as well as implementing the “back to school bedtime drill”, so they can adapt their body clock to school wake up hours.
9. Don’t let backpacks and lunch boxes ferment in your 100 degree SUV: When you all get home from school have the kids clean them out and hang them up, before they hunker down to enjoy their afternoon snack.
10. Don’t forget to put your child’s teacher on a pedestal: They are building the childhood hopes & acedemic health of your little one, so be supportive, ask them how you can help, what they need . Even if they ask for a kidney — Give it to them. They deserve it!