So I had a get-together in Poland...

i invited about 20ppl and 15 showed up for a Saturday afternoon start at 16:00 to whenever the last person leaves.

I fired up the grill and cooked chicken, veggies, a bag of sausages.

Prior, everyone asked me if they can bring sth. So to minimize the work and enjoy the party, I suggested that they must bring something, for 15 ppl to share. here's the breakdown.

a group of 5- brought 2 kielbasas and 3 beers

a group of 2- brought about 1/2 kg of salad

a group of 2- brought a 1ltr carton of orange juice

1- brought some cupcakes.

1- brought a bag of chips.

that was it.

By 22 everyone was gone.

I was quite disappointed how many ppl came empty handed or nearly empty handed.

I thought that when a host requests guests to bring sth for 15 ppl to eat after their offer....they would bring it.

I'm seriously considering not having another party.

Poland is not Canada and some people bring symbolic stuff to the party.

I would suggest that you just accept it as a learning experience.

You are always complaining about something in Poland. There must be something that keeps you there.

me ALWAYS complaining?? show me. I haven't posted in moooonths

Life in this country is a test of anyones sanity.

oh and i suppose you always have something nice to say about everything??

what was symbolic about any of the things brought to the party?

sorry. I just made an observations about your posts about Poland. I agree that it tests the sanity.


Were they students?

I don't mean to be mean to you. I hope you are having a good time in Szczecin regardless:)

Bunch of cheap bastards!!!!!!

I would of brought a case of beer for sure:)

In Poland a full responsibility to entertain guests remains on a hosting party. You asked to bring something to share , they did bring "something".

Probably they felt invited and expected you to provide anyway with their stuff being an extra. Unless of course you did change the course of event and all was clear enough to everyone that nobody but them would provide for the party.

That's how things work here. The local thinking goes: If I'm invited it is enough that I show up myslef and I excepct food specially but also drinks from the host to serve me.

All you get in exchange is an invitation but not always.

Bollocks, if I'm beeing invited anywhere I always ask what should I bring, and if it is a byob or is the host buying all the stuff and we just add some money later (which is a pretty nice thing but as a host you need to be sure that your guests gonna give your the proper amount of money afterwards). You should have clearly stated - hey I'm making a party every guest should bring few beers for himself and some food for grilling - thinking that people will be polite and buy everything is just naive..

Hahahaha... What a bunch of misers. :) I don't know how you do it up north, but in my friend circle everybody knows that they should bring something to the table when we have a BBQ party. Another thing is that everybody knows that we all don't sleep on cash.

Still we do have a fair share of misers. Two of my friends always come with few lame sausages and few Lech's and always manage to bring them back home eating our grilled shrimps, shashliks, grilled chicken wings, champignons, etc... When they are asked to at lest take some mustard, ketchup, tartar sauce, or anything to the party, they say that they actually prefer to eat their sausages "plain", and yet they never object to have some of it eventually.

Still, a whole gang of misers? You have my condolences. :)

full responsibility of the host?? WTF?? I was at a NYE party a few years ago...there was about 250kg of food on the table and 30-40 guests, and I saw just about every couple bring in a big bowl of salad or some other dish. Myself i brought a 700ml of Zubrowka, 700ml of absolut & chicken salad. There was probably leftovers for 4 days for a family of 4.

I asked everyone to bring sth which was enuf to share with 15 ppl.

Some ppl even confirmed with me in the morning the day of that they were bringing sth. That was the group of 5 with 2 kielbasas.

only 3 of my beers were consumed and none of my spirits. I hid all the good stuff this time.

i was actually happy when they were gone @22. :)

duhh! i got you!

i'd feel bad if i came over to somebody's house empty handed... even if a friend invites me only for a coffee, i bring cookies or a cake...

but if i see people who don't bring anything to a party, they are usually Americans... Poles always bring some buzz...

:)

Sounds to me like you have got some tight friends...make some good buddies , people you can really talk to , and get it sorted as to what people need to bring to the party...My Polish friends always come loaded down with stuff , as they know i am a poor farmer , and we have a great time...There are some very generous Polish people , get out and meet some nicer friends....

You were lucky. What did you expect them to bring, a magnum of Chateau La Tour 1970? A lump of lard more like.

Strange. I would never thought about bringing food, but to come to visit someone without at least a flask of vodka is ridicules ;-) Unless the host expicitly bans any alcohol.