If someone invites you for 'nibbles' what would you think was being offered?

[Makemineacosmo]

I was invited, along with some others, to 'nibbles and drinks' at a fairly recent friend's house last night.

Everyone did the usual and asked if they could bring anything and everyone took a bottle and a little gift for the host.

The 'nibbles' was a small ramekin handed to each of us with peanuts in it. So a nibble if you will. What would you serve if you invited people for nibbles?

The French know how to do nibbles

they have such a good selection in their supermarkets

its one of the reason I like going to france

nibbles and wine before supper

Cheese and pickled onion on a stick and lots of different types of crisps

Lots of hostess gowns, doilys, little dishes shaped like playing card suits and quilted loo paper in the downstairs cloakroom. Because I would be in Surbiton in the 1980s.

Nibbles is just nuts, crisps, olives
canapes - something more substantial - smoked salmon blinis etc

I wouldn’t take a gift for the host for drinks and nibbles or canapés, just a bottle. A gift if it’s dinner eg a bottle and flowers/chocs

But that kind of invitation would be for before dinner.

Maybe a cheese board, some sausage rolls and some crisps. Not a full buffet but definitely more than a ramekin of nuts

Sure but my question was, if something had come up so that the host had been unable to buy crisps and olives as planned, would it have been better to cancel or to go ahead and ‘style it out’?

I think I’d have been more disappointed if it was cancelled because the social interaction is more important than the snacks.

I would add that to me, drinks and nibbles is ‘drinks party’ so pre-dinner. It’s not a light supper / replacement dinner.

Nibble(I hate that word)=plural, nibbleS (yes I know they didnt get just one nut per person but nuts are one 'thing' in this case.

So more than one thing to eat, in other words. Crisps, dips and nuts could just about qualify.

I'd never call it nibbles but if I invited people round for drinks I'd do crisps and nuts (and hummus/salsa).

OR I might invite for a get together with a few bits of snacks and step up to different kinds of breads, pitta/foccacia etc, dips, crisps and nuts, olives, cheeses and flapjack/traybake or such.

Any more than that is a buffet to me.

It seems your friend has just followed someone else's (incorrect) concept of what 'nibbles' means.

Exactly, if you’re invited for nibbles not knowing what the nibbles are the guest would let the host know beforehand about a nut allergy (close friends though most people would already know if you’ve eaten together before)

We literally did this last night. Probably over specced a bit but we had

4 different types of crisps
Cheese straws
Sweet chilli rice cakes
Jacobs thins crackers (spicy ones)
Home made guacamole
3 different types of Houmous
Philadelphia cheese and sweet chilli sauce dip
Mini bread sticks
Big tray of Crudités (peppers, carrots, cucumber)
A sweet plate of chocolate fingers, jaffa cakes, oreos etc

It wasnt fancy but everyone kept diving in and it all went 😀

@3luckystars that’s pretty much a full buffet, I wouldn’t expect all that for ‘nibbles’

I think some people on the thread have some very odd ideas about this invitation. ‘Drinks and nibbles’ is clearly telling you it’s not a meal, but the kind of thing you might go on to dinner afterwards from, so you certainly aren’t anticipating a buffet, the equivalent of a full meal that’s going to leave you full, or dessert!

I see nibbles as a bit like canapés. I’d have expected nuts, olives, posh crisps, dips, cheese, deli meats, sun-dried tomatoes, mini stuffed peppers, feta cubes, etc - some selection of those at least.

If I was just going to offer nuts, I would just have called it ‘Drinks’.

A few things like crisps, savoury snacks etc, with drinks. Serving just peanuts is weird anyway these days as so many people have allergies.

Nibbles - nuts crisps and veg sticks with dips - peanuts only would be a nibble

im getting second hand embarrassment for the host. What on earth were they thinking? Seriously if you offer just nuts then it’s not nibbles.

What time was it at?
You say “last night” so was it like an after dinner thing? If someone specified to come round for nibbles I would massively expect more than just nuts. I would’ve had my dinner, but maybe a smaller dinner than usual. I’d expect crisps and dips, nuts, and maybe a cheese board with fruits and crackers.

See, I’m getting secondhand embarrassment for the guests who show up for drinks expecting an elaborate buffet with desserts.

Sausage rolls. Pork pies.

This is so puzzling to me. So she invited guests over ( not a spontaneous get together in the garden) who actually bring gifts of alcohol and something else and she hands you a tiny dish of peanuts? Are the bottles opened and shared? Or does she stockpile them as they are gifted to her as a thank you for the invitation?

sorry to me this falls right under don’t bother. Sure the company the people are the most important part of hosting but hosting itself has an etiquette on the part of the host and an expectation on the part of the guest otherwise it’s not an invitation. It’s possible she doesn’t know any different but honestly my DS at uni knows to buy hummus veggies chips salsa guacamole crisps and dip. Maybe not all of them but certainly not peanuts exclusively. He doesn’t eat cheese so that wouldn’t cross his mind.

if you can’t afford hosting then don’t do it.

I wouldn't go to somewhere for "nibbles". It would be too embarrassing.

There is a significant difference between a small bowl of peanuts and an elaborate buffet with desserts though.

Personally, I would find it slightly amusing and think that the host did well out of hosting.

Are people not allowed make mistakes - and maybe learn from them?

L’apéritif…. Which is only a couple of nibbles in a bowl before dinner/lunch.
un apéritif dinatoire (instead of a proper dinner) would be more substantial though with some large plates of food and it seems this is what OP expected

Nibbles puts me in mind of hamster food.
I'd provide crisps, nuts, olives, maybe cocktail sausages and bite-sized savoury pastries.