If you invite or are invited to come over at 4 for some and cheese and wine, by what time should you take your leave or expect your guests to?
Cheese Board: “why are you asking me, I’m the one stuck here with all these fruits and nuts”. Before dinner (6:30 / 7 pm).
Absent a prior history of lengthy engagements with my hosts or clear indication that they had planned for me to stay later, I would leave by 6 or 6:30
Depends if they’re close friends or just get to know sorts. Close friends of ours usually turn into cocktails and lets cook or go out. Really good friends we might skip dinner and end up cocktails in the hot tub. If you’re not sure, always have an out.
Since I like to eat/drink and run, however long it takes to do both. Guessing about 4:40 If they have go cups, 4:20
It’s a tricky one. My wife hates lingerers. Here’s the problem….if you’re a decent host, accommodating, thoughtful and interesting, many times guests won’t leave a good thing. It’s easy to open another bottle and then conversation grows more interesting. People will ineluctably stick around.
Need more info. For example, are these my friends? Or my wife’s friends who might, for the sake of argument, have pretentious, uninteresting husbands? If the latter, I’m looking at 5:10 as my clean exit expectation.
5:30. If conversation is going well and hosts keep offering food and wine it indicates hosts are amenable to a longer visit. I don't like inviting people over for wine or cocktails only. Invitations always include dinner. If we don't plan on cooking while our guests are here we have prepared a variety of cold and hot appetizers that people can graze on through the dinner hour.
