shoes off in the house?

[EllaElla]

We are firmly shoes on in our house (dogs, wood floors, etc, it's practical- except for soiled shoes on the cream carpet upstairs obviously, we don't go that far). One of my best friends is firmly shoes off in her home. That's fine not a big deal, and we respect that and we all happily comply when visiting.

That said, one thing that's never made sense to me is when they host a fancy, grown up adults-only cocktail party, she still expects all guests to remove shoes. (They have tile and wood, carpets in the further lounge). So there is a pile of like 50 people's nice shoes carefully chosen to match outfits etc in the entry.

In my opinion the point/ benefit of regularly not wearing shoes when casually visiting is so that your floors look lovely when you have fancy parties?!

opinions welcome, I'd really just love to know the thought process without accidentally offending my friend!

We have a no shoes upstairs policy in our home. This is just for us though, all guests and visitors are never asked to take of their shoes.

There's another thread of this type which seems to firmly divide people...AIBU to be pissed off with shoes in the house... I'm a shoes off , slippers on person and take my que from my host whether they want shoes off or not .... I didn't realise how many people keep their shoes on.
It's hard at a party thou as shoes are part of the outfit at times!

Yes that's the thing- taking shoes off for a cocktail party is odd in my opinion.....

A good host makes their guests feel at ease - they shouldn't ask people attending a party/dinner/drinks etc to take their shoes off imo - and should keep their own on too in those circumstances.

Strange. Guests do what they like at our house but for us we are shoes off upstairs and we tend to take our shoes off when we come in as just more comfy that way. Do you keep your shoes on all the time?

Pretty much - or I put slippers or flip flops on.

Definitely shoes on, well, they don't come off the minute I open the door, I change into slippers eventually. I won't ever ask guests to remove shoes especially at a dinner party as I believe shoes are part of the outfit.

I don't think you could really ask your friends to take their shoes off for a party could you? Depends on how OCD the hosts are I suppose

Sorry have been away! So when we went, there were 2 clear boxes on the front porch with a massive sign asking people to deposit their shoes before entry even inside the house. I knew it...,. I love them, just find this so odd! To the degree it makes me angry. We were all standing around barefoot in cocktail attire. just glad I anticipated and took off the old toenail varnish that looked crap!!