Get togethers at your house

[Liz CA]

When we invite people over for dinner and board / card games, we routinely go till about midnight. Right around that time, someone usually says: "Oops it's midnight. Maybe we should make this the last round."

 

Does this sound unusually late of an evening or do parties at your house go longer... :laugh: ?

 

ETA: We are all past "children in the home" age. ;)

Edited February 20, 2018 by Liz CA

[Bootsie]

It would not be unusually late at our house, but DH and I are night owls and all of our friends know it.  

 

We cannot have cars parked in front of our house after 2:00am--we have one friend that we have invited over that we have had to tell that it is 2:00am and he will need to move his car or get a ticket.  

[Laura in CA]

That is pretty much what happens at our house. We do have some friends who are early risers, so they would usually leave by 11-ish. We are night owls too, but often have commitments early the next day (church, for example), so we don't like to go much past midnight!

[Arcadia]

Our HOA specify no noise from 10pm to 7am which I don’t mind since we do have inconsiderate neighbors and their guests who are loud past 11pm from time to time and gets warned by the security patrol.

 

So it’s 10pm at our home and most of our friends stay in condominiums or have young kids so 9pm is more their cutoff time. Traffic is still quite heavy on US101 in the evenings though. If it’s a block party then it does go on to a later hour since people just walk home.

[Liz CA]

When I mentioned this to someone they considered midnight very late and I can see that parents of younger kids would not want to be at someone else's house this late but I never thought it was unusual for adults - with no parking restrictions. ;) It can get noisy, depending on who is winning the game but we have no nearby neighbors other than a barn owl and some squirrels. :)

[J-rap]

Our social gatherings almost always lasted that late when we were younger, pre-children.  Nowadays (and no children at home anymore), it seems like most of our friends go to bed early -- by 9 or 10 anyway, even on weekends.  Maybe we just have boring friends!  :)  Actually, they are fun people who need to wake up super early (for jobs and such) so they go to bed early regularly, even on weekends.  I kind of miss those late night social gatherings though!

 

My dh and I are often up til midnight or 1am.

 

My parents, OTOH, always stayed out til midnight or 1am with their bridge group.  For years and years.

[momacacia]

Midnight?!? I'm long gone by then. You are way past my 10pm bedtime. 😴

Edited February 20, 2018 by momacacia

[DawnM]

It really depends.  Before I went back to work, things would go later.  Now that I am working full time Mon-Fri I don't have as many get togethers at all, but when I do, they end by 10 or 11.  

 

I do GO to other's houses, where I can control when I leave.  It makes it easier.  I leave by 10 or 11 typically.  

 

Before going back to work, midnight was fine.

 

 

[Pawz4me]

In our circle staying at someone's house until midnight, or expecting guests to stay at ours, that late would be considered a bit rude. Most adult gatherings around here seem to wrap up no later than 10:00. When we host things (almost always family) we tend to start early and end early, but we're a family of mostly early risers.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Not unusually late for me to stay up. But we have the same group of six of us, always. Everyone is usually done by 11, no matter whose house we are at. That is past the regular bedtime for two people in our group. It's part of the reason why I like being with the same people all of the time, it's very predictable!

[Bluegoat]

We have a baby, so at the moment if we have people over it tends to be a nine o'clock kind of night.  

 

If we go out, it depends.  Both sets of grandparents tend to be in bed early.  i also spend a lot of time with my sister, and she is a very early riser and insomniac, so she is done by 9.  

 

A lot of my friends also have elementary school aged kids, so again, they are earlier nights, by about 10.  I do however have a few bachelor friends I'll go visit or go out with and usually I leave dh home to babysit and we will be more inclined to be late - probably about 1am?  Though, if I am taking the ferry or bus, the last bus goes by my house at about midnight and I have to be on it.  I was at a conference last Spring where there were quite a few friends I hadn't seen in a few years and we stayed out until 2am, but I really was a wreck the next day.

[Rachel]

Definitely too late for me. If I was staying at your house I could push through. I would not want to drive home that late because I’d be too tired to drive safely.

[SparklyUnicorn]

As long as I don't have to get up too early it would be ok with me.

 

 

[regentrude]

Our parties never last that late. People usually leave around ten; at the big summer party maybe eleven.

My normal bedtime is before 10.

Edited February 20, 2018 by regentrude

[Soror]

We generally go to bed around 8:30 (all of us!). My husband has to be at work by 6:15 and leaves the house usually by 5:30 (he used to go in even earlier). I'm naturally an earlier riser, so staying up to midnight is a very, very rare occurrence for us. I'd say 10 is plenty late enough and if we have people over we want them out by 9!

[skimomma]

That, and significantly later, is common in my circle and most of us still have little kids.  It tends to be seasonal though.  In winter and school nights, evenings end by 10pm.  In summer, the sun doesn't set until 11pm and most of my circle are university faculty/employees who are either off in the summer or have reduced/flexible schedules.  Those nights can go on forever, especially if an epic game is involved.  You just pick up your sleeping kids from the puppy pile on your way out the door.  The older kids tend to be night owls and stay up playing their own games or watching movies together.

 

ETA - I frequently turn in and go to bed before the last of the guests depart.  That is also not unusual for our crowd.

Edited February 20, 2018 by skimomma

[marbel]

I used to love late nights, but can't handle them anymore.  I would say it's rare for people to stay past 10pm.  We sometimes have big groups from our church over so it's a very mixed crowd. The people with little kids leave first (even if they have a babysitter) and that starts the exodus.  I suspect the young singles or married-no-kids crowd leaves our house and heads to a pub or to the home of another young person to play board games.   :-)

 

Last week my husband sent me a photo of a kitchen set up for a party, with a hanging banner overhead saying "please leave by 9"  lol

Edited February 20, 2018 by marbel

[fairfarmhand]

In our circle staying at someone's house until midnight, or expecting guests to stay at ours, that late would be considered a bit rude. Most adult gatherings around here seem to wrap up no later than 10:00. When we host things (almost always family) we tend to start early and end early, but we're a family of mostly early risers.

Same here.

 

Our community (rural) are typically early risers so people just go to bed. When I say early I mean I know lots of folks who get up every day at 5 am. We’re sort of a suburb of a large city. Many people start their work shift at 6-7, so they leave Home at 5:30-6:30.

 

 

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[BarbecueMom]

 

Last week my husband sent me a photo of a kitchen set up for a party, with a hanging banner overhead saying "please leave by 9"  lol

 

 

This one?  It made me laugh too and think of all the "how do I get people to leave???" threads we've had here.

[marbel]

This one?  It made me laugh too and think of all the "how do I get people to leave???" threads we've had here.

 

Yes!

[mom2scouts]

I don't even remember the last time we had an evening game night at our house. Apparently I have no life! We tend to be night owls though so we would probably go until midnight if we didn't have school/work/church in the morning.

[Ellie]

It would be highly unusual for me. :-)

[SKL]

My family's get-togethers regularly go way past midnight.  Even when it wasn't planned that way.

[goldberry]

Late for me (I run people out at 10), but I would not say unusual for adults in general. 

[gardenmom5]

it's late for us.

 

even for my adult kids - they're rarely out playing games with other people very late.

 

going to movies . . . .

[Joyofsixreboot]

Honestly, most of my friends work full time and get up between 5-6 am. Parties break up between 9-10 pm.

 

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[scrapbookbuzz]

I think it all depends on your culture and the people. Where I grew up, gatherings wrapped up by 9pm.

Now I have Serbian neighbors who think nothing of sitting out on their patio, drinking coffee and chatting til at 

least midnight, even midweek. They're very considerate, though, and do their best not to be overly loud.

They're definitely much better than the previous neighbors who would seriously "party", with loud music and

"enhanced" refreshments.

[mellifera33]

When I get together with my mom friends we often stay out late. Sometimes at a restaurant, and sometimes at one of our houses. We're quiet though. No disturbing the neighbors or the sleeping kids. :) Even though I'm old I'm still a night owl.  :lol:

 

 

[mellifera33]

I think it all depends on your culture and the people. Where I grew up, gatherings wrapped up by 9pm.

Now I have Serbian neighbors who think nothing of sitting out on their patio, drinking coffee and chatting til at 

least midnight, even midweek. They're very considerate, though, and do their best not to be overly loud.

They're definitely much better than the previous neighbors who would seriously "party", with loud music and

"enhanced" refreshments.

 

 Sitting outside and drinking coffee until midnight with neighbors sounds lovely. :)

[cjzimmer1]

If someone had to work the next day, I would consider it late.  Assuming it's a Friday or Saturday night and no one has to work, I would consider that to be an average to early leaving time.  For friends we have a few that would leave at midnight, 1 is probably more typically.  If my aunts or uncles were playing cards, they would probably be here till 2 or 3.

[alisoncooks]

We (the girls and I) are very rarely out after dark. 
DH, on the other hand, works with college students and is regularly coming home at 10 or 11 o'clock on nights they have activities.

 

Once, we were all driving home from my parents house, and it was later than usual.  I commented to DH that I was surprised at all the cars out so late.  It was like 7:30pm. On a Friday night. LOL. :D 

[EmilyGF]

When we invite people over for dinner and board / card games, we routinely go till about midnight. Right around that time, someone usually says: "Oops it's midnight. Maybe we should make this the last round."

 

Does this sound unusually late of an evening or do parties at your house go longer... :laugh: ?

 

ETA: We are all past "children in the home" age. ;)

Most of our friends have kids and go home between 8:30 and 10.

We had some younger people over a few weeks ago and it was crazy. They stayed until nearly midnight and went through multiple bottles of wine (to be fair, they had brought more than we had bought for the event). The whole time was spent talking around the fireplace. Then they all took ubers home. It was fun, but totally strange for us.

 

ETA: 5-10 years younger than us, none married, none with kids, on a Friday night.

 

Emily

Edited February 20, 2018 by EmilyGF

[Rosika]

I think it all depends on your culture and the people. Where I grew up, gatherings wrapped up by 9pm.

Now I have Serbian neighbors who think nothing of sitting out on their patio, drinking coffee and chatting til at 

least midnight, even midweek. They're very considerate, though, and do their best not to be overly loud.

They're definitely much better than the previous neighbors who would seriously "party", with loud music and

"enhanced" refreshments.

 

Maybe we are neighbors :) Are you in a college town and is there a spit in the yard, for the lamb and pig? LOL

 

I come from this culture and it's typical for us to relax with good conversation, late into the night. When we immigrated, I had to learn that this was "rude" here. I had to be kicked out of some people's homes (gently, but still) because our expectations didn't line up. We are the kind to stay up talking well past midnight, typically to 2am even if we have to get up early the next day. People here seemed to wrap up around 9, maybe 10  for informal gathering and every once in a good while at about midnight for bigger events. Or if they were too nice to kick out people like me who didn't know.  :smilielol5:

[FaithManor]

Now that the kids are grown, I would say midnight is normal for us. I am a night owl, but not as young as I used to be so begin really winding down by then. Usually around 11:30, I leave the game/movie/conversation and start cleaning up. Usually within several minutes people begin the beginning of getting ready to leave so everyone is out the door by 12 a.m.

 

As a younger night owl, I could stay up much later. Some of my college game nights went until 2 or 3 a.m. We used to get into some crazy Pinnocle rounds.

[mytwomonkeys]

I can’t even stay awake on New Years Eve, so midnight would be very, very late for guests to stay over. My husband would probably enjoy it, but I’d have to politely excuse myself to go pass out. I wouldn’t mean it to be rude, but I just couldn’t stay awake that late and enjoy it.

[scrapbookbuzz]

 Sitting outside and drinking coffee until midnight with neighbors sounds lovely. :)

Come on over!  :D Monday and Friday nights are best! 

[regentrude]

I can’t even stay awake on New Years Eve, so midnight would be very, very late for guests to stay over. My husband would probably enjoy it, but I’d have to politely excuse myself to go pass out. I wouldn’t mean it to be rude, but I just couldn’t stay awake that late and enjoy it.

 

I struggled with New Years Eve all my life. It is very hard for me to stay up until Midnight - because I am unable to "sleep in". The idea of staying up late on weekends makes sense in theory, but my body clock wakes me at the same time each morning (OK, perhaps "sleeping in" until 7 may be possible sometimes). If I force the sleeping in, I get a horrendous migraine (as my mother always did on weekends when I was younger). Being sleep deprived was the worst thing about having babies and toddlers. I cannot function on little sleep.

Edited February 20, 2018 by regentrude

[sassenach]

No, not unusual. It doesn't happen as often as it used to. We're more of a 10pm crowd now. But we had a group of friends that we used to go into the wee hours with. Our kids would all fall asleep in my bed watching cartoons.

[wintermom]

I'd be fine, but my dh would be asleep by 9am. So if you could give me a lift home, I'd stay until midnight! ;)

[Liz CA]

:)  For those of you who commented on driving home - we do have a guest room and if you are lucky nothing is cluttering the bed. However, the dog may come in and lick your face in the morning.

Our friends are local so their ride home is about 5-10 minutes at the most.

 

Midnight is about my limit as well but we have been known to stretch it a bit if a game was almost over but not quite. If I go way over, I cannot sleep at all and then disaster brews for the next few days.

 

This was all a lot easier and less complicated when I was younger!

Edited February 21, 2018 by Liz CA

[Tsuga]

I feel like the "time to leave" times are 6 p.m. if they haven't already offered dinner, 9 p.m. if they haven't pulled out a specific activity or specified later, and 12 p.m. unless the hosts are going strong. Then you kind of have to say, "Oh my gosh is it x o' clock already? We'd better get going!"

 

Anyway, that's what people we know do. So i could totally see myself wistfully saying, "Gosh, it's late, we'd better go." Truthfully we're in no hurry but I won't stay past 12 unless the host clearly states that they really would love to play one more game, because they haven't stayed up in a while and are having a great time.

[Selkie]

I get up at 5 every morning and am dead tired by 9pm, so no late night socializing for me.

 

I was a night owl up until my mid-twenties, though. Back then, midnight would have been an early night for me.

[QueenCat]

For dinner and game nights, 11-12pm is the norm in our circle, but we don't usually start until around 7. None of us have young kids. We all have either young adults or teens or a mix of the two. 

[fairfarmhand]

What time do these gatherings commence? Here, 6 pm is a late dinnner. I know people who eat by 4:30 or 5!

 

 

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[regentrude]

What time do these gatherings commence? Here, 6 pm is a late dinnner. I know people who eat by 4:30 or 5!

 

If we invite company for dinner, it will be around 7pm. After dinner parties (no meal served, just snacks and drinks) typically start at 8pm.

 

I am always wondering how people manage to eat dinner at 5 - everybody I know is still at work at that time.

[JudoMom]

I'm an early riser (4:30) and my brain is done by 8. It's rare for me to be up past 10, and if I am it takes me days to recover (I like to blame my chronic illness, but don't know if that's true :lol:).

 

However, dh and the boys are night owls. They're welcome to have people over until however late, but it's known I'll go to bed when I need to. I often don't know what time guests leave.

[JudoMom]

What time do these gatherings commence? Here, 6 pm is a late dinnner. I know people who eat by 4:30 or 5!

 

 

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If we have friends for dinner, we typically eat around 6:30. That's about an hour earlier than normal for us.

[elegantlion]

Depends upon the group of people. one group will stay until midnight or later, occasionally then we will all go out for midnight breakfast. This group is all younger than me, so sometimes I skip the breakfast part. 

 

If I'm having different people over, we usually wrap up about 9 or 10 - but this is an older crowd. 

 

 

[marbel]

What time do these gatherings commence? Here, 6 pm is a late dinnner. I know people who eat by 4:30 or 5!

 

 

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Dinner at my house is usually around 6:30 as that's the time my husband typically gets home from work.  We are sometimes invited for dinner as early as 5pm, but have to decline unless he's able to leave work early. 

 

I like having people over for dinner, but prefer after-dinner dessert/coffee/drinks gatherings which would start between 7:30 and 8pm. 

 

When I was a kid, dinner for most in my neighborhood was at 5 because that's when most of the dads got home from work.