A card from Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
Hosting
Whether it’s a backyard barbecue, potluck dinner, or any other get-together in your home or elsewhere, hosting often entails sending out invites, planning the menu, filling a vase with flowers, and setting the table (and maybe a separate one for the kids). The downside to holding this card: You may forget to have fun at your own shindig as you bend over backward to ensure everyone else does. The upside: no need for a workout on hosting days, as you will probably hit 10,000 steps before you sit down to eat (if you get to at all).
Holding this card means owning all three
Conception
You want to have people over
Planning
- Creating plan for the event
- Curating guest list
- Managing RSVPs
- Coordinating what guests may bring
Execution
- Sending invitations
- Purchasing/rentals: food, drinks, tableware, flowers, music, seating
- Decorating (streamers, balloons, flowers, place cards, centerpieces, confetti)
- Hiring servers/helpers
- Setting up
- Cleaning up
Suggested Minimum Standard of Care
Did your guests have a good time and were their expectations met based on the event?
A starting point. You and your partner agree the real standard together, and the holder meets it without reminders.
Holding it well
- The holder owns all of it: noticing, planning and doing. No “just tell me what to do.”
- Agree the Minimum Standard of Care together, then let the holder meet it their way.
- Not working? Bring it to the weekly check-in and re-deal it. Don’t take it back mid-week.
Put this card on your table
Deal it, agree its standard, and see who holds what. Free.