Hobby Swap

[cjsmith]

Here's a swap meet I'd love to go to. Hobby swap! Bring your old hobbies and go home with secondhand hobbies you get from someone else!

I'll probably never make candles again, so I'd bring my books and molds and paraffin and colors. I'll bring my rollerblades with elbow and knee pads. I'll bring my cake decorating books and my collection of fancy icing tips. I might go home with pliers & dowel & a bunch of thick wire to turn into chain mail, or perhaps a power sander, or a beginner's archery bow and arm guard.

Comments

[firecat]

Well. That sounds like a lot of worries!

Here are my IMOs about hosting:

Food:
We do potluck gatherings. We ask people to bring a few servings of a food they can eat, and if we were more on the ball, we would ask them to include a list of ingredients so others could decide whether they could eat this thing too. We also provide some basic snacks of our own, or more if we're feeling ambitious, but we don't try to please everyone.

My cats have never run away, but they aren't the bolt-for-the-door types, either.

It's acceptable to specify "no children" or "no children under X" on a party invitation. We've always said "children are welcome, but our house isn't childproof." This has led to some minor damage to our stuff, but no damage to any children so far.

It's acceptable to specify that the hot tub will not be open for the gathering. Just because you're inviting people doesn't mean you are inviting them to use everything in your whole house. Same goes for people snogging in bedrooms.

I don't know how to control for people who make snotty comments about paper plates, though. And of course you can't pick a date that will please everyone.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Potluck with ingredients specified seems like a very good way to go. So does "children are welcome, but our house isn't childproof."

Hosting is something I've never really done much, so it's outside my comfort zone. Having specific answers like these makes it... well, not completely inside my comfort zone, but not quite AS far outside it!

Thank you.

[eichin.livejournal.com]

As my party invitations say - "My house isn't child-safe... it isn't really *adult*-safe, either". This was emphasized by Nancy's kid making a beeline for the rechargable circsaw :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That's really amusing! (Well, the part about Nancy's daughter is amusing 'cause she didn't get hurt.) I wish I could steal that line, but my house is fairly adult-safe. Adults who are awake and not too drunk, anyway. :-)

[firecat]

May you host comfortably someday, then. If you wanna.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :-)