I don’t know the last time my  4 year old daughter and 7 year old son were invited to so many birthdays.  We get written invites, e-vites or simply an e-mail inviting them. But I have found that some of my peers are unaware of basic etiquette. Did I get influenced by my parents’ ‘olden day’ etiquette stories or what is the missing link for some of my peers?.  When an invitation is addressed, the guest (or in this case…the parent) should understand that only the mentioned individual on the envelope or in the invite is invited.  This goes for ANY type of invitation, but it drives me nuts when I invite my son’s friend to a party and suddenly the friend plus his siblings come to the party.  MOMS- please pay attention to the envelope. It is one thing if it is to the ‘Wilson Family’ or to “Friend and Brother Wilson”.

Now evites and e-mails- that’s a tough one for me unless it specifically states who the party is for.  I always assume it is JUST for the child whose friend it is. It’s another cringing moment when I read RSVP’s that ASK ‘is this for Friend and siblings’or ‘Can Friend’s brother come- we can pay for his entrance to the bounce house’.   The party is, afterall for the friend and not a playdate for siblings.

But the thing all invites have in common is they usually have some sort of RSVP.  Now MOMS- ­R.S.V.P. stands for a French phrase, “répondez, s’il vous plaît,” which means “please reply”.  This means you reply whether or not you are coming.   REPLY.

Last thing to get off my chest today- now this one I’m a bit weird, but giving my 2 cents on the subject of gift giving- I feel that if you can not attend a wedding or baby shower, it would be nice to still give a gift.  These people were willing to spend time and money on your presence at such a unique occasion.

I also feel if it is a nice gesture to provide a  gift even if you don’t attend a birthday. But wait- before you pounce on me- this is where I get really strange-  I only provide a gift to my kids’ good friends or for any written invitation we recieve. Think about it- these good friends in boyscouts or classmates are going to be in his/her everyday life for years! They generously considered him important enough to invite so I teach my kids to still buy a gift (maybe not spend the full amount we usually do).  I also think that written invites shows they really took the time to think of my child and spend the time and energy to send a written invite so we provide a gift.  BUT with bulk e-vites or e-mails that are from pepole we don’t know well then no gift is needed.

Well, that was it…my 2 cents.  What  is yours?

I find myself talking to my mamma-friends and my own kids about how today’s technology and social media are bittersweet. Remember when not that long ago (well, maybe 20 years ago is long ago)  we were introduced to the concept of e-mail, as we signed up for our hour at the ‘computer lab’ since only a handful of us owned a computer. Moving to the boing-boing noises of connecting to a dial-up-modem, we have now fast-forwarded to a time that we can get in touch with old friends or instantly post pictures of what we see wherever we are.

However, with the amazing opportunities social media provides I find myself scratching my head at my mamma-friends use of social media. I am not referring to the typical ‘etiquette’ of asking someone to be tagged, but more of the personal sensitivity when using media such as Facebook or Instagram.

Am I stuck in ‘the olden days’ when I think of my childhood and how our parent’s told us not to talk about birthday parties at school to avoid hurting someone’s feelings?   Yes, I know my kids and myself included, won’t be invited to every event, nor do I want to be,  but seeing a posted picture showing the world the group of kids YOU invited or in essence excluded, seems insensitive and actually rather arrogant.  Why does posting every event appeal to my fellow peers? Is this part of the self-entitlement the media speaks of?

What I find most ironic is when friends ask me not to mention a birthday party since another mom from my playgroup or in our neighborhood was not invited, but in turn, post a picture of the event with everyone in it! It’s one thing to post a picture of your immediate family in the picture and mention you celebrated something, but mom-to-mom, what are we now instilling in our kids by these posts?

I would love to hear your two cents on the subject.

I’m a 38 year old stay at home mom of 2 kids, “Arty” and “Spunkette”. I live in Orange County and am interested in posting my 2 cents about everyday experiences that have me pondering, happy or leaving any kind of meaningful impression. First and foremost,  I’ve been feeling that I need an outlet to express my 2 cents and to hear from other people for their perspective.  My first blogs may consist of some issues that fall under the category of ‘pondering’ or ‘leaving an impression’ and I won’t lie- some of the issues are peeves of mine that some mamma-friends I have confided in agree with, while others think I’m over reacting. 

But on a positive note after talking with my friends, I also wanted to share some resourceful things that have helped me get through motherhood:  fun outings, great vendor recommendations, and amazing simple recipes (that of course were handed down to me 🙂

While I’m not cleaning up spilled crumbs, driving the kids to their sporting events or volunteering at school and on our community’s Social Committee, I love working out,  travelling, watching most anything on tv, finding new books to read and trying any EASY dinner recipes.

I look forward to sharing my 2 cents on subjects and hearing yours!