Celebrate Your Engagement with an Engagement Party

Many engagements occurred during the holidays and more will occur on Valentine's day. Perhaps you received a ring and now your family wants to celebrate by hosting a party. Having an engagement party is a good way to introduce your fiancé or fiancée to your family and friends. Today, in our mobile society, you or your fiance may not live near family or old friends. Therefore, making a quick trip home for an engagement party is one way to introduce a future spouse to a number of people at one time. The following tips will help you plan a successful party.

• The parents of the either the bride or groom usually host the party, though grandparents, an aunt and uncle, a close family friend, or a godparent may host instead.  If both sets of parents live in the same community and are acquainted, they might co-host a party.
• It is socially acceptable to have more than one engagement party, each hosted by one set of parents, if the parents live in different communities and have different friends. If both families live in the same community, only one party is held and both sets of parents are invited.  However, only the friends and relatives of the hosting family are invited unless both families co-host the party. If parents are divorced and they would be uncomfortable attending the same party, you may decide to have a second party in the same community with a different guest list.
• Because the purpose of the party is to celebrate the engagement, it is held shortly after the groom pops the question and several months before the wedding. If most of the guests don’t yet know about the engagement, the hosting parents might announce it at the party.
• Invite only close friends and family who are also friends of the bride or groom and who will be invited to the wedding, not just the parent’s friends. Anyone invited to an engagement party should receive an invitation to the wedding.
• Keep the party simple and relaxed. A barbecue or a cocktail party at which guests can mingle, visit and get to know the future family member is preferable to a formal dinner.
• Gifts aren't usually given at engagement parties; rather, they are given at showers. If someone wants to bring a gift, a bottle of wine, gift card to a restaurant or a wedding planning book would be appropriate. The couple can put gifts aside to be opened at a later time.  Gifts of wine or food do not need to be served at the party.

Having an engagement party is one way to officially kick off the wedding planning process. From this point forward things will be hectic, so enjoy the time to relax and celebrate while getting to know future family and friends.