So as you can see in the picture, I threw a party last year. AEW is a pro wrestling company, much like WWE. They had this big outdoor show at Wembley Stadium in London. Sold something like 80,000 tickets. We watched live on PPV.
It’s the first time I ever threw a wrestling watch party. I invited 4 people. I bought cheese, soft pretzels, bought chips/queso. I had vodka, whiskey, beer, and 3 different THC vape pens along with edible gummies. I also had coke (the soda), barqs root beer, and one of the special novelty mountain dew flavors.
I cooked chicken, and cut the cheese into cubes with individual toothpicks. I got out my good plates. And used the projector to make the screen 90 inches.
Only 2 people showed up. Nobody ate hardly anything. Nobody drank anything. Hardly anything was said. This picture was taken AFTER the party. We went through 1 bag of chips, and 1 1/2 jars of queso.
I literally could have just bought 1 bag of chips, 2 jars of queso, and saved $100 and 2 days of prep work.
I even had 2 different styles of BBQ sauce for the chicken.
Yes, it’s a year later, and I’m still mildly infuriated over it!
Looks like a tasty spread. Aside from other comments on why people may have not partaken, I didn’t see this: health. Id love to chow down on this but couldn’t because of forming health conditions and weight, and that is becoming a lot more common. Every item here has a high fat content which you need to avoid if you have high cholesterol/ is high calorie which you need to avoid if trying to lose weight
I have the wrong friends.
Jokes aside, that’s way too much food for 5 people.
Secondly, from a guy’s standpoint, that’s way too much prep work for a guys gathering/sport watching, it’s almost weird. It’s not a house party, all you need is something casual like chips and beers, then if anyone feels hungry you order some pizza or wings delivered (based on what everyone preferred at the time).
When planning a party, I assume about 1/3 of the people I invite will RSVP and only 3/4 of them will show. I plan with that in mind. I also explicitly state the plans around food, drink, etc., and if they should come hungry or just expect snacks. And I make sure that I understand what other events or competing parties might be going on to help adjust expectations. Also, planning an annual/regular thing so that people get used to it being something they do every year helps, but it takes a couple of times to get it kickstarted.
Since I started doing that, I’ve had a lot fewer disappointing events. Event planning is a lot of work.
General rule of thumb, plan on less than half the people you invite actually showing up for any gathering.
Also… Wrestling…
I’m not a wrestling fan, in fact I’ve never gone out of my way to even pay attention to it, but it does seem to be growing in popularity. There is a local wrestling event that happens every month in my town that’s getting quite popular, and I hear and see about wrestling events passing through town quite enough. Not my bag, but it seems like it’s having more than just a passing moment
Sorry man. Feels like 2024, no more no less. Friendship and willingness to be around people (in person) is an old fart thing. Nowadays I only invite or make plans with my really close friends. Friends that are more family than friends.
Those casual friends we used to have are gone for good between laziness and socializing on-line, whatever that is.
If you were my neighbor and invited me I would’ve totally attended and decimated those delicious quesitos!
That sucks, but the good news is that most of that can be refrigerated so at least you can eat it.
Oh man, I did not need to read this now ……
I have people coming over today. They cancelled on a previous weekend and are hemming and hawing. The event is that I have a smoker and and want to make all kinds of new foods. I have $100 of meat, an elaborate salad and sides. Dessert also goes on the smoker. I just want someone to help eat.
This weekend’s feast is duck. Dry brined, stuffed with oranges, and smoked. Or chicken, to bribe a picky eater to come.
But it’s cold and rainy so the outdoor seating is out and I don’t really have space inside . I have an afternoon of cooking ahead that I was so excited for but have lost my motivation, dreading wasted time and money if they don’t show up
Where do you live? I love smoked food and will eat just about anything you set in front of me. And yes I’m serious.
Boston. I’m serious too
Damn, at the airport now - wish you threw this yesterday 😅
Shit. Too far to drive. I would’ve if i was within 3 hours.
I literally could have just bought 1 bag of chips, 2 jars of queso, and saved $100 and 2 days of prep work.
Don’t forget the beer, but YEAH! You way over prepared for five whole people. If you had invited 10ish, maybe 15 (because then 10 show up), then yeah, but this is waaaay too much for 5. Especially depending on your ages, they may not have expected such hospitality and ate beforehand if they weren’t warned “hey come hungry and sober, there’s food and libations abound,” etc.
Don’t give up, learn from this and adjust a little for next time! Just invite a few more, warn ‘em of the full plans (food, booze, ykwim), or make less food. If you do it regularly (like say Football Sundays at your house) the event will grow and more food will be necessary, but start small! This looks like a good hang, I’d have joined for the food and I don’t even like wrastlin’, just needs some restructuring!
At least the booze and weed don’t go bad!
i don’t know why but i feel strongly about this topic and the comments are not helping either, if i were to host a function and invite people over and they refused to show without previously telling me they won’t be able to make it, i would hurt them so much they won’t get over it and that’d be the end of whatever friendship existed between us
in my part of the world, social events are to be honored, if you can’t or don’t want to go, that’s fine and you should say so before hand, if you can’t anyways, you’re expected to reach out to the person and make amends for that
I’ve experienced stuff like this.
I think the last time I tried being above and beyond type of host, had a bunch of people coming over for a big weekend. I thought I do something really special and make steaks. But this wasn’t just going to be like any grilled steak no no no. These steaks were going to be prepped the night before and then sous vide. But before I even started this plan I reached out to everyone and said what I was planning to do and ask if there were any issues with it, any requests, etc. I describe to everyone and great detail what I was going to make. Not one person said anything other than the “sounds good”.
If you’re unfamiliar with sous vide the short of it is it takes a long time to cook. Generally it’s measured in hours I’d say. As such I need to cook all of the steaks at the same temperature for the same amount of time I don’t have the setup at home to do individual orders.
One of the individuals once they got here, asked if I could make them a hamburger instead. Like I was a fucking restaurant.
And another one slathered it with ketchup without even trying it without. Claimed it was overcooked and dry. 🤨
Thankfully everyone else thoroughly enjoyed their perfect steaks.
Other times I would buy up a bunch of stuff so we could have breakfast. Like a proper breakfast, not just a handful of carbs in calling it good. But people would wake up late despite knowing when breakfast was going to be on. And then say they weren’t hungry. And not 30 minutes out the door, talking about picking up something or swinging by somewhere to quick grab a bite.
cut the cheese into cubes with individual toothpicks
Jeez, next time just use a knife my dude.
You needed to invite a lot more people and at least a few people who didn’t like wrestling.
I would have went just for the food haha
To be honest, a 50% attendance record sounds pretty good. I’m really sorry to hear about this though, the spread looks great, and anyone that puts a watch party on for All In is going to put on a good time.
What time was it on for you guys? I went the first year and had an amazing time, but sadly had work this year. Perhaps you should make the pilgrimage over next year for Forbidden Door?
Are those things in the middle at the back soft pretzels? They look like conkers (horse chestnuts), confused the hell out of me!
This is why I always eat all the food I can at a party. Everyone else is being too polite and someone’s gotta eat all that food.
It’s a tough job
