And for a barbie, BYOMeat (or veg substitute in my case) is usually assumed unless otherwise mentioned. Again, a host would normally provide something, but each guest would bring what they want.

I like this – it means people eat/drink what they like, and often provides an ice-breaker for conversation.

As for BYOB – oh…my…gosh. I cannot even believe how controversial this is! I can see a BYOB wedding reception being considered as bad form, but a little party? Jeepers.

Now, though…if we throw a party, people usually bring something. Depends on how big the party is. We really love to host. But when it became clearer that our friends were too busy to host (but not too busy to come to our house), we slowed down. Because it got pretty expensive, $150 to $200, unless we make everything ourselves. I’ve never hosted a party that said “BYOB”, but I wouldn’t be offended by it.

I did get offended in my 20′s by an invite to a BBQ. The hosts were providing the grill, ketchup, and mustard. The guests were to bring their own meat, a side dish to share, and their own booze. Um, no thanks!

I guess now that I’m in my late 30′s…I can’t (and shouldn’t) drink more than 1-2 drinks. My friends are the same, or are non-drinkers. For a dinner party with 6 adults, one bottle of wine would just about do it. Maybe 1.5. No need to BYOB for that.

I don’t think anything’s inherently wrong with potluck dinners (including BYOB), but I do think some hosts lazily use the concept of potluck to shove their costs off on others. Potlucks are really communal gatherings with no true host, very informal, among people who know each other well. If you want to be host and have people who are only acquaintances over, pay your own costs.

Ha ha, Happy New Year everyone!

Also, it’s rude to never host, so if everyone takes turns buying the liquor, it should work out about as evenly as BYOB, and more evenly in my experience.

We’re having dinner at a nice restaurant with 3 other couples. Afterward we’re coming to our place and I’m making molten chocolate cakes (in ramekins) for everyone.

Then we’ll have a blind champagne tasting (4 bottles ranging in price from $8.77 to $51.99) to see if anyone can correctly ID the cheapest and most expensive bottles – or perhaps all of them. (I’ll probably pick up some sort of gag gift prize for the winner tomorrow.) And then we’ll watch the ball drop.

Dinner won’t be cheap – dessert will – and the champagne is a bit of an extravagance. But my wife and I have never been into big drunkfest-type parties for New Year’s Eve… we just want to have a good time and some quiet fun with a few close friends.

Is it the most frugal thing we could do? No. Sometimes we just stay home and have a late dinner and watch the Times Square festivities. This year, we’ve opted for what I’ve described here. It won’t break the bank.

And by the way, I don’t see anything wrong with BYOB – usually in my experience the host or hostess will say something like, “We’ll have beer and some basics, but if you prefer a certain drink, please bring some along.” No biggie.

I’m going to be lucky if I even remember that it’s New Years… it’s pretty much just a normal day at our house. Kids in bed at 8pm-ish. We might watch a movie after that and go to bed sometime between 11 and 2. If I remember, I’ll watch the ball drop, but honestly the New Years celebrations haven’t held any excitement for me since a couple years after college. Not sure why. Maybe I’m just getting anti-social as I approach 40.

This is especially important and valuable with wine drinkers, as most of them do not enjoy drinking wine they do not fancy, which is most other wine they don’t bring.

Last year, we went to a party with some friends and played Wii all night. It ended up being tons of fun without spending tons of money.

This year, I’m 30 weeks pregnant and on bed rest, so my husband and I are going to stay home. He’s making a trip to the grocery store tonight to buy some fun snacks we don’t usually splurge on (shrimp cocktail – yum!) and we’ll pop open our bottle of sparkling cider sometime around 9:00 and turn in for bed, confident that the New Year will arrive safely on its own, without any help from us. ;)

As usual, we’ll likely have a few glasses of wine, play rummy or yahtzee or backgammon, and probably be in bed by 11:00…New Year’s? …