...to not want to take my shoes off...

[BetterGetTheKidsTeaOn]

when I've arrived at someone's house for a dinner party having spent ages choosing what to wear, including footwear?
Surely you can't expect people to get dressed up to come round for a meal and then ask them to wander around in their socks/tights (or even worse, popsocks hiding under knee-length boots!)

and i reckon they put cream carpets in rented houses so they get more money out of you

Oh I agree Elle! Its infuriating.

I don't ask people to take their shoes off but most do so voluntarily - the pile by the door is a rather large hint.

I grew up in a shoes off household and think it is v. strange the large degree of ire that this topic always causes.

Most of my friends have shoes off houses too. Whilst I have a few asian/ scandi friends most of us are boring old indigenous Brits so this appears to be an evolving cultural phenomenon

Just to add to the whole debate... I don't allow people to wear shoes upstairs in our house for reasons that are nothing to do with class. DD and I are both asthmatic and she hasn't had an attack since we made various changes including no shoes upstairs (where we have carpets) and we don't wear shoes indoors. I never insist that people take their shoes off downstairs but we have a big bucket of slippers (many from hotels) and people can choose to wear them if they want to and I wash them regularly!

I don't mind taking them off, although I would rather not, but I really object to the idea of wearing someone else's slippers-washed or not.

Surely it's respectful to remove your shoes & why would you have stinky feet

How would you feel if you ruined someones floor though ? I would be horrified & neither do I want dirty marks on my (pale cream) rugs.

I do actually think its quite rude not to remove shoes & if you're bothered by your outfit, wear 'outdoor' shoes & put 'outfit' shoes (with clean soles obviously !) on when you arrive.

Easy !

(I recall going to Mil & Fil house, where it was expected you took your shoes off...however, they couldn't quite bring themselves to do the same at our house .....I used to hiss at Dh to ask them, now they bring their slippers )

Yes, I am a piece of work.

If it was a formal dinner party then I would expect to have guests keep their shoes on if they wanted to. And would expect to clean up in the morning. But if someone was coming round to spend the day so would be lounging on the sofa and have ds playing around them I would say take the shoes off and provide slipper socks.

YANBU

Its so bloody rude.

I don't traipse around mud and hills with my shoes on, in fact they'll only have graced my hallway and the paths to and from my garden and the persons I'm visiting.

I've also been in houses were I wasn't prewarned, and wasn't given anything to put on my feet. I really dislike having to take CLEAN expensive shoes off to have to walk barefoot around someones house. I don't like getting my feet out at the best of times! (no idea why, people say they're cute, i just have a 'thing')

It isn't polite to ask guests to remove their shoes. Especially not a party in the evening. Perhaps if somebody came in Wellie boots in a snow storm. But they'd probably take the boots of anyway.

Zombie thread folks

Why the bloody hell do people need to drag up 2 yr old threads?????

I would like my home to be shoe free but am blatently ignored by Dh and various others, the worst offenders are those who are completely anal about it in their own homes!

I wouldn't be upset about taking shoes off for dinner party, I would expect it, so go prepared with my fanciest socks on

How do you even do this? TWO ZOMBIE FREDS TONIGHT! I HAVE PMT AND NO WINE DAMMIT. I DONT NEED THIS PEOPLE!

What Echt said in about the 3rd post.

Not that we'll ever get MN to agree on this - bit like children at weddings

What's with all the zombie threads? I thought Halloween was over

Did you know that by the time a child is two they will have ingested 8 different types of faeces!

How the chuffing hell did thread get dug up? it's almost 2 years old?

YANBU. Dressing up then having to take an important part of the outfit off looks stupid. A host should either have flooring that isn't so precious or let people know there's a no shoes rule so they can dress accordingly. Evening dresses and stockinged feet is not a good look.

Meh zombie thread, I'm going to get involved anyway :-)

Posh dinner party - would prefer to keep shoes on (but you should be considerate with shoe choice if wood floors)

General hanging out at friends - happy to take shoes off but you'll need to get me a pair of warm socks out your drawer.

If you have a strict no-shoe rule it would be polite to tell people before a gathering in advance so they can bring slippers or clear shoes.

Clean, not clear!

I would consider it rude not to offer to take your shoes off when entering someone's home. Shoes have all sorts of dirt and germs on them. If you don't like my rules, don't come to my house.