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Original poster

Do both sides of your families get together?

50 replies

FamilyReunions · 14/09/2022 06:19

Just that really. Other than weddings do the two sides of you and your partner/spouses get together for occasions or just because?

OP posts:
SilverLiningPlaybook · 14/09/2022 06:21

No.

Thethingswedoforlove · 14/09/2022 06:21

Yes. Every Christmas and the parents meet up in between. We are all watching the fu real together.

JaninaDuszejko · 14/09/2022 06:27

No. We live 100s of miles away from all our family and they don't live near each other, we've been married over 20 years and they have met 3 times.

GettingOrganisedNow · 14/09/2022 06:30

Only for DCs birthdays. Otherwise, no, it wouldn't occur to any of us!

Robinsonsquashedme · 14/09/2022 06:33

Good God NO!

autienotnaughty · 14/09/2022 06:33

No only if there was an event we planned and included both sides. In 15 yrs they have met 5 or 6 times maybe.

Esteemed · 14/09/2022 06:34

No - they have only met once at the christening of our DC

Albgo · 14/09/2022 06:34

Our wedding was the only time.

HouseOfGuineas · 14/09/2022 06:37

No. Live too far away and very different people. My idea of a complete nightmare whilst individually are lovely.

EspeciallyDivided · 14/09/2022 06:45

No, they live 100+ miles apart.

Redhandgang6 · 14/09/2022 06:55

Yes about twice a year when the inlaws come to visit us (they live about 500 miles away).

Always a bit awkward as my parents are very religious and his are not. His Dad "blasphemes" a lot without knowing he is doing it. MIL always tries to avoid meeting my DP because of this but my parents always insist.

Lullabies2Paralyze · 14/09/2022 06:59

Nope. Never met at all even though they share a grandchild. They do live a few hours apart though.

not sure how they would get on as one set of parents are nearly old enough to be the parents of the other set, and are therefore closer in age to the grandparents

Luredbyapomegranate · 14/09/2022 07:00

Yes from time to time. It’s quite jolly and amicable

felulageller · 14/09/2022 07:00

Yes DC's Grans do often. But on reflection it's probably because they are both single.

We try to have family meals out etc and invite both.

They don't meet up independently though.

MrsDThomas · 14/09/2022 07:01

There is only my dad as a parent.
Brother lives 200 miles away.
BIL lives 250 miles away.

Brother has been in my area but has failed to tell me, which is odd but im fine with it.

BIL visits every Christmas (for a few days early December). Dad will pop up to say hello

that is it. We’re more than happy about it!! We have friends which is better. They have become grandparents a few months ago and i love that little boy. I see hime 3-4 times a week. I can count on two hands how many times iv seen my nephew and niece.

family isn’t everything

Numbat2022 · 14/09/2022 07:01

No. They live quite far apart and a very different people. In 15 years they've met twice.

Jammydodgerlove · 14/09/2022 07:02

No, never but my BILs in laws and my DM often meet independently

GiantTortoise · 14/09/2022 07:02

No. We tried it a couple of times early on in our marriage and it didn't go very well (no massive falling out or anything, but no one seemed to enjoy it that much).

User642986540 · 14/09/2022 07:03

No, only on our wedding day

Chasingsquirrels · 14/09/2022 07:08

H1: both sets of parents 100s of miles away from each other and from us.
Not really.
A party when we went to live overseas, our wedding.
A few years after we came back my parents then moved to be near us, and we'd host Christmas for both but that was it.

DH2: my parents still live close by and his mum was too.
Yes.
Christmas, Easter, DHs birthday, occasional Sunday roasts, summer bbq's, the odd meal at MILs.

DP: my parents still live close by but his live abroad.
Never.
I've stayed with them, with DP, twice - might have been more if covid hadn't happened. I've met them once when they visited DP (he lives an hour from me) - but again their visits over have been restricted due to covid.

PutinIsAWarCriminal · 14/09/2022 07:09

Yes, they get on like a house on fire. DH and I were young when we got together, and I was still living at home as a teenager, so they got to know each other really well. My grandparents too. They always invite each other to family parties. They don't have an awful lot in common, but they are all family oriented people.

FourChimneys · 14/09/2022 07:14

All our parents are dead. Only met at our wedding.

I doubt if one side even know the names of the other but we're not close to any of them and the two sides live hundreds of miles apart.

NinHuguenAndTheHuguenNotes · 14/09/2022 07:14

There has only been my mum on my side for a few years and she was very kindly invited to most things by the in-laws (who have not always been kind to me, but see elderly parents as deserving of consideration, so fair enough!) My dad wasn't invited when he was alive as he would rather have boiled his own head and nobody was under any illusion about that. Mum no longer comes as she has quite advanced Alzheimer's and finds social occasions very confusing and stressful, no matter how careful everyone is.

Sniffypete · 14/09/2022 07:23

No.
However my grandparents families would often be together as they both spent lots of time at my grandparents house. It was lovely.

Gronkle · 14/09/2022 07:26

A few times over the years, obviously the usual wedding and joint celebrations of birthdays but also an occasional invite. We hosted MILs birthday in our garden this year and my parents popped in. IL's love my dad but I suspect they don't like my mum, although they know better than to voice that to me.