A friend of mine recently went to a birth­day brunch noth­ing extrav­a­gant, but, it was a birth­day party so there were cen­ter pieces, thank gifts and games.   She also went on to say her heart went out to the birth­day girl as some of her guests lacked social skills. Kids were climb­ing on tables, one child threw some­thing at the birth­day girls grand­mother, another guest sit­ting at the table was list­ing to music from his phone with­out head­phones and another was list­ing to his ipod.  With the hol­i­day sea­son right around the cor­ner here are some things to remem­ber to insure you will be invited to the next Soiree:

Par­ents, if you have small chil­dren no one has the right to tell you how your kids are to behave in your own home,  how­ever, when you are the guest please remem­ber to remind your lit­tle ones the dos and don’ts when you are a guest.  Remind them to have “Respect” for other people’s prop­erty, ask per­mis­sion, if some­one is speak­ing to you main­tain eye con­tact , you get the picture.

It is not OK or cute for chil­dren to be pulling down on the cen­ter­pieces, they should not be stand­ing on chairs, climb­ing on the table nor should you expect them to be to be treated as adults, if the host­ess went through the trou­ble to have kid appro­pri­ate games and thank you gifts then that is what they get. But, most impor­tantly watch your own chil­dren! Kids are kids they are going to test you it is the par­ents job to teach them bound­aries. If you are not will­ing to set bound­ries do not be upset if a relative does.

When sit­ting at the table leave your ipods and cell phones in your pocket. Just because you do not like the music or your bored means you sit there lis­ten­ing to your ipod or on the phone.

I would love to hear from.… Share your thoughts, eti­quette faux pax sto­ries or questions… Jul

 

Jul Hirst is an eti­quette instruc­tor based in Los Ange­les, who believes it is never too late to make a last­ing impres­sion. She teaches classes for chil­dren, teens and adults. She is Pres­i­dent of For A Jul Pro­duc­tions, a wed­ding and event plan­ning com­pany. Learn more at www.Forajulproductions.com. She also is head of Hearts For The City, a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion teach­ing eti­quette and social skills to under­priv­i­leged chil­dren, fos­ter chil­dren and peo­ple re-entering the workforce.