I have been inspired to entertain more next year but in the past I have got fed up because of inviting too many people and cooking too many dishes. I have decided just to have lunch or dinner parties for 8-10 guests and only to invite 1-2 other families with children at the same time, so there would be some company for ds but not the whole flat running wild and no chance for parents to talk. But, I am totally new to having such small numbers of guests because previously have always gone for huge drinks/buffet parties. I want to invite guests from different areas of my life who don't all know each other, eg mix up work colleagues with parents from school with old friends. My friends divide into these categories in decreasing order: couples with children; divorced women with children; couples without children; single women; single men. If I am not inviting people with children all at once, then I am left sort of wondering whether they are going to feel odd if the other guests are all childless and tending to be younger than them? Given the high number of divorced or single people does that mean that I should give up having equal numbers of men and women? Conversely, if I had all couples and then a single male friend, to make up the even number, would he feel that it was pointed (viz because I am single) and feel embarrassed?