Scruffy Entertaining?

One of the strategies that I have always used to encourage PanKwake’s socialization is parties.

Actually, entertaining has been a huge part of my life even before PanKwake was born. With my adult children, I had an open door policy for friends…and food was always available. Halloween especially was a major deal at our house…wherever that was.

But with PanKwake I used food and entertaining as one way of attracting other children and of maintaining friendships. Her birthday is right after Christmas and New Years so no one is ever around to come to her party. One year I made her birthday cake and all kinds of party food and took it to the local soft play area. We had a party with total strangers and she was cool with that.

More than once we have taken a huge picnic to the park and shared with everyone there…whether we knew them or not. Heck, the fun ones were the times when she decided it was Billy’s birthday (her favorite doll). Sometimes it seemed like he had a birthday every month. We usually used pretend food and bought him presents at £Land. Then we set up for the party with all her dolls…or at least the favorite ones.

Over the years the size and number of her ‘official’ parties have grown. These days it is close to one a month….

• Valentine’s Day
• Easter
• May Day (mine and Cookie Monster’s anniversary so also adult party)
• 4th of July
• End of Summer party/half birthday
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas.

But since moving into #HomeCrazzyHome, we have kinda slacked off a bit. What with electricians, builders, and trying to decorate and organize everything. Even six months after moving in, the house and gardens are FARRRRRRRRRR from being done. But skipped Valentine’s completely. Easter, May Day, and my birthday were tiny with only a handful of our closest friends.

Tomorrow of course is the 4th of July. And while it is NOT going to be full on…the massive come-one-come-all open house that we wanted for the reveal of #HomeCrazzyHome, it will be the biggest event this year.

Then I saw this blog the other day. It talked about what Rev. Jack King (no idea who he is but always give credit, folks) calls SCRUFFY hospitality.

Scruffy hospitality means you’re not waiting for everything in your house to be in order before you host and serve friends in your home. Scruffy hospitality means you hunger more for good conversation and serving a simple meal of what you have, not what you don’t have. Scruffy hospitality means you’re more interested in quality conversation than the impression your home or lawn makes. If we only share meals with friends when we’re excellent, we aren’t truly sharing life together.

And I thought…that’s it. So even though #HomeCrazzyHome is FARRRRRRRRR from being ready, we are throwing open our doors and our hearts to our friends. PanKwake and I are sharing part of our American heritage with some of our home ed group.

Of course, ‘simple meal’ may not quite describe the dozens of foods I am making…including experimenting with some vegan ones since several of our friends don’t eat meat.

We will share photos and let you know how it went later…but now I have to run. I have loads to do today…cleaning, cooking, and a bit more shopping too.