To think it slightly stingy for a couple to bring *one* bottle of Tesco half-price wine with them when invited to dinner?

[oliviacrumble]

Recently had a dinner-party (went to lots of effort, lovely food, lots of wine, blah blah). Two couples came bearing a bottle each of that weeks Tesco half-price offer (plus in one case a bar of chocolate), then proceeded to drink the house dry, in one couples case til 3am. Please don't get me wrong, am def not the penny-pinching hostess, and most certainly will always keep the drink flowing, just thought it a little mean.Maybe the fact that there was a slight element of "duty" involved, ie returning hospitality to guests has coloured my view. If dh and i are invited anywhere, would always bring two bottles. Is one (cheap) bottle per couple the new black?

Why are they friends with you?

There are two types of evening dinner parties(?)/events

A kitchen supper type which is casual and a bit of a late drinking fun night - in which case bring plenty of nice bottles.

A formal dinner party which is dressed up - you take one nice bottle of wine or a bottle of champagne plus a nice gift for hostess (posh chocs/plant/flowers/or proper home-made gift like sloe gin/candles/chutney/choc truffles)

YABU
you invited them for then
not for financial recompense

It's just a token gesture not representative of what they will consume.

I can't believe people ask for unopened wine back.

Although it is a bit gutting when you take a nice bottle and have to drink something nasty all night, you don't do anything other than say "Thank you very much".

I would never take wine as the hosts will have chosen the wine to go with the food.

I will always take a bottle of fizz, and flowers and then send a handwritten thank you letter afterwards.

What really pees me off is when guests call a few days before and say that they cant get a babysitter and they'll be bringing the kids!

I have had that recently so i called the other guests and asked them to bring their dcs as others would be there and brought forward the evening to start at 6.

Cheap wine is only a problem if it is lousy wine.

How well do you know this couple? How do they entertain when they are hosting?

Is it horrible to bring home made wine? Dp is very proud of his and we usually bring a white and a red.

surely it's about having a jolly evening together. Let's not get all Hyacinth about it.

oh crap.

I always buy the wine on offer when I'm heading around to someone's house. I was under the impression it'd mean I'm bringing a better quality of wine than I can usually afford (and yes i get it from tesco because my normal wine comes from lidl)

I geddit, I geddit, ABU. Sorry, realise I may sound like some kind of mentalist, calculating value of each guests gift as they walk through the door. Don't know this couple well at all really, maybe scrutinising their gift so closely indicates a certain ambivalence on my part? completely agree that the company is what counts. Always provide tons of booze, don't expect guests to bring their own drink! However, will still always bring two average or one really nice bottle when invited out.
Btw, does anyone else think that the "half-price" offers are a scam? These wines always seem to be on offer, apart from a brief period when their price is doubled to avoid contravening consumer law. Nerdy tangent.

YABU

Why have people round if you are going to resent catering for them?

I agree! The whole thing made made me reconsider what the hell I was doing! Used to be a lot of fun, maybe was just me on a bad night.

i think you are being a bit ungracious to assess their wine contribution in this way (altho god knows most people do).

however, I think if you know it is going to be a big drinking night you do bring 2 bottles.

Maybe am getting old and cranky

Bloody hell you lot are the same people that pull out a calculator in restaurants aren't you?

aaargh! Am so NOT! Am actually the person who despises the person who gets out the calculator in a restaurant (unless of course someones had an extra side-order ...

You're deffo BU but you know that. Agree about teh 1/2 price offers being a scam though. Think they've been exposed as that in teh press. Still fall for them though

A bottle between two for a civilised dinner party strikes me as eminently reasonable. Surely they'd have been ratted if they'd had a bottle each? Sounds hideously indulgent to allow a bottle each to me.

I think because you were hosting a dinner party, there could be no expectation that your guests would bring anything, although most people would bring a token something as a gesture of thanks - which your guests did. So YABU.

I don't do formal dinner parties, and I'm not loaded enough to supply the alcohol for friends when they come over with kids for an informal meal and sleep-over. I think they understand this, and they'd struggle to pay for loads of booze, too. So when I organise a get-together, I ask them to bring what they'd like to drink, and sometimes we each make a different dish/course too. This shares the preparation burden and cost, and works well, I think. Maybe try something more co-operative next time, and more casual, with everyone being clear on who's bringing what? But if you want to keep hosting posh-ish, sit-down dinner parties, I think you should be supplying the bulk of the drink.

YABU. I wouldnt expect anyone to bring anything, If they did who cares how much it was....

ooh I would love homemade anything - homemade wine would be great- another friend used to always bring homemade chutney and jam and it is lovely so always nice

oh and the champagne remover also did things like wear different types of shoes - ie if they were both black and vaguely alike it was ok so she was a bit eccentric in lots of ways so probably not a good example of normal behaviour