I'm confused Rob - crumpets steeping on top of the cup? As a teenager, a friend and I decided to hold a 'proper tea party' for a larger group of friends, in all the style our mothers would have known but no longer bothered with. i.e. Hats. A lady Always Wore a Hat to Tea. We borrowed lace tablecloths, my mother's finest china tea-set (inherited). 1. finger sandwiches 2. fruit loaf (buttered slices of this kind of loaf were a classic) 3. then you get the dainty cakes and stuff. It was a riot (my mum came and loved it). Linda's quite correct: 'high tea' was something for the workers, who had their main meal in the middle of the day, but needed something more substantial when they got home, so had tea and a hot dish, as well as the cake. (Also what you gave children who weren't old enough to have a formal dinner at 8.00pm) So, 'high tea' is technically definitely not posh . . . :)

I agree with ljpother - I think you'll always get a person asking off topic questions. I don't mind when people come to the WS forum with off-topic questions. I think it's a great chance to inform them about wintersowing and increase our numbers. I don't think anyone should ever respond to an off topic question in a mean way. We definitley won't get people to convert to WS'ing that way! :) As for the reasons one might ask an off topic question on this forum: I personally would prefer to ask an off topic question to those that I speak with often on GW. I myself have had some nasty experiences on other forums (where my question was absolutely on topic) and will never visit those forums again for that very reason. It seems that some people get so into their passion that they forget that others are still learning and will often "bite their head off" for not knowing something or asking it in the wrong way. I understand seedmama's approach in moving it to the convo side, but I still doubt that will work in the long term simply because you'll always have new people coming to the thread that don't have a full understanding of wintersowing or the true purpose of this forum. There are off topic posts here all the time anyway. It wasn't on topic when I posted the story about drilling a hole in my hand just because I was wintersowing at the time. That had nothing to do with my containers, seeds, etc. - it was just a tragic/funny story to share with my fellow wintersowers. I guess that should have been placed on the convo side too, but do we really want to regulate everything that way? My two cents....Diana

Thanks Lindac. Yes, I think some people will bring skates if the ice is good (they may call ahead of time to find out). We have several friends with children, and they might want to have the kids skate awhile and burn off energy, and then come in to eat. DH would probably be outside for some of that. I'll think about Bloody Marys. I don't drink tomato juice (I'm a cranberry person!), so I wouldn't have thought of that. I do have Champage and OJ (for Mimosa) on the list. I guess my primary concern is that people don't know what an "Open House" is. They don't seem to be very common in New England. I don't want people thinking they have to arrive at 12:00, and I don't think they will "get" what Open House means. Right now the menu is: - Ham, quiches, salmon pie, New England fish Chowder, rolls and cornbread muffins - Spanekopeta, lobster in phyllo, hot crab dip with toasted pita, cheese fondue with bread cubes - Cheese board, crudite platter, olive platter - Pies, cakes, cookies

It's standard in my husband's family. We had practically the same guest list for my first 2 daughters, but their birthdays are in Nov and Dec, so we used our Community center and limited the party to 3 hours. My son's birthday is in June and we held the party in our yard. And that was where we went wrong. Yeah- some guests lingered till the wee hours of the morning. Really, I can't believe DH survived, b/c I almost lynched him when the baby woke at 2am, and my 4 year old woke up crying at the same time and he was still partying it up in the yard with some friends. I sent my 4 year old to the window to call him crying-lol. It has been settled it will be our immediate family and local aunts and uncles and close friends (which is 2 families). DH finally listened to my voice of reason. Thanks for all your input. I will update and let you all know how it went Mid-May.