hey ,
halloween is coming up, and maybe you’re considering something truly frightening: inviting friends from different parts of your life over at the same time.
you like all of them. presumably they’ll like each other. but suddenly you’re wondering whether you can leave them alone long enough to get more chips.
will they hit it off? does “you both know me” count as a conversation starter? what if everyone just politely asks each other about work until you return?
before you reach for the ouija board, there are some easier ways to help everyone get comfortable.
for starters, your friends might have something wonderfully specific in common that they won’t discover unless you mention it. “you both spent over five hours making your costumes” gives them more to work with than “this is Alex. please enjoy Alex.”
this week’s blog is about hosting a hangout when your friends don’t know each other, without making yourself personally responsible for every second of everyone’s evening.
because you should get to enjoy the party, too. presumably, that was the idea before you appointed yourself director of making sure nobody feels weird.