21st erm... Century? No... 21st Birthday Parties in the 21st Century
IQ question: What's the similarity between a typical wedding banquet and a typical 21st birthday party?
Answer: They are both social events with 70% of the people on the guest list only there due to social and political responsibilities and not because they truly want to be there not unlike a CNY visit to the house of a distant relative but that is another story for another post...
Why do people still spend so much on their 21st birthday parties inviting acquaintances then? (by now, it's pretty obvious that this post is not so much on wedding banquets as it is on 21st birthday parties but I suppose the parallels are easily drawn)
Many people love holding birthday parties because they've never had such a big birthday party. They seek to be the centre of attention which close friends will probably never begrudge the birthday boy/girl of. However, it's probably not considered a birthday PARTY if you only have a couple of close friends sitting around with their food and usual chit chat. A party involves people. Lots and lots of them. So what do you do? You spend a fortune inviting people who probably thought 'har why you invite me... must go and buy present again' when you called to invite them to your birthday party even though they said 'sure i'll be there~!'
Of course I'm not standing on a moral high ground and saying that every other human creature on earth is like that except me myself. The fact is I find myself going to some parties as a social obligation too. Not very often though. I usually say 'no sorry' to the birthday parties of people whom I'm not very well acquainted with. Just can't see the rationale really.
The reason why I have written this post is due to a recent debate with one of my best friends as to who she should invite to her 21st birthday party and not intended to be a rebuttal to all the nice people who have kindly invited me to their 21st birthday party... To others, please don't strike me off your future guest list because of what I have said though. I may be being an ass. Besides, a 21st birthday party is a joyous occasion. Ideally, everyone invited should feel happy attending and sharing the joy of the birthday girl/boy =)
Answer: They are both social events with 70% of the people on the guest list only there due to social and political responsibilities and not because they truly want to be there not unlike a CNY visit to the house of a distant relative but that is another story for another post...
Why do people still spend so much on their 21st birthday parties inviting acquaintances then? (by now, it's pretty obvious that this post is not so much on wedding banquets as it is on 21st birthday parties but I suppose the parallels are easily drawn)
Many people love holding birthday parties because they've never had such a big birthday party. They seek to be the centre of attention which close friends will probably never begrudge the birthday boy/girl of. However, it's probably not considered a birthday PARTY if you only have a couple of close friends sitting around with their food and usual chit chat. A party involves people. Lots and lots of them. So what do you do? You spend a fortune inviting people who probably thought 'har why you invite me... must go and buy present again' when you called to invite them to your birthday party even though they said 'sure i'll be there~!'
Of course I'm not standing on a moral high ground and saying that every other human creature on earth is like that except me myself. The fact is I find myself going to some parties as a social obligation too. Not very often though. I usually say 'no sorry' to the birthday parties of people whom I'm not very well acquainted with. Just can't see the rationale really.
The reason why I have written this post is due to a recent debate with one of my best friends as to who she should invite to her 21st birthday party and not intended to be a rebuttal to all the nice people who have kindly invited me to their 21st birthday party... To others, please don't strike me off your future guest list because of what I have said though. I may be being an ass. Besides, a 21st birthday party is a joyous occasion. Ideally, everyone invited should feel happy attending and sharing the joy of the birthday girl/boy =)
yeah... i can save some money by inviting one less person.
Posted by
Anonymous |
10:46 PM
Hmm I was really referring to people I spoke less than 10 sentences to in my life and not great friends like you =) Hope you wouldn't take it in a negative way
Posted by
Valerie |
10:06 AM
jokin la...
Anyway my birthday song has to be in tamil. =)
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:51 AM
why tamil?
Posted by
Valerie |
9:21 AM