turn party fouls into fair play

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Party lameness. It's something we all fear, whether we're hosting or attending. Sometimes it can't be helped. Someone leaves the cake out in the rain; dancing on the ceiling goes horribly awry. You just go with it as best you can.

But when the party is tanking because some guests are being antisocial or rude, we find it especially annoying. And considering that 41% of you voted this type of behavior the biggest party foul in one of our recent polls, it seems you agree.

The good thing is, it's usually fixable. Here are our best tricks for navigating choppy party waters.

The sitch: AWWWkward or dullsville conversation.
The solution: Get out of it with a short-and-sweet "Excuse me. Nice talking to you." Making up an excuse could get you caught in a lie, and it leaves you open to a repeat bore-formance by the same person later. If you've already called scene on your conversation, when you see them again, you can just smile and keep moving.

The sitch: Making introductions.
The solution: If you know you're going to be intro-ing people, some pre-party prepwork will keep you from watching conversations spiral straight into crazytown. Before the party, come up with a few interesting facts about each person, as well as some topics they have in common with other guests. And be sure to memorize the names of spouses or dates so you're not left with the "Mike aaaaaand [awkward silence]" moment.

The sitch: Rude questions or comments.
The solution: Give a funny response or a quick "No comment" and let it slide. Rudey McCreep was either clueless or trying to provoke you, and either way, an argument just isn't worth your time. And it's really not worth wrecking the party for the people around you. This one goes out to you, lady at a party who said to me, "Wow, your sweater is so ... green." And to you, guy who told me he used mnemonic devices to remember people and then told me the crude thing he associated with me. Don't go changin', kids.

Comments

OMG, speaking of not memorizing the names of spouses and dates, I remember a truly awkward Thanksgiving where my Dad, in his pre-meal prayer, started saying something nice about every person at the table:

i.e. "I'm thankful for Christine and her delicious sausage balls ... I'm thankful for Grace and her creative party decorations ... I'm thankful for Eva and her hilarious 'MacArthur Park' reference..." Etc.

It was all fine and well until he got to my brother's girlfriend of two years and couldn't remember her name!

Truly awkward.

Okay, so what do you do if you're the host and see a fight brewing in the distance? I usually try to call one of the people over to help serve drinks, but sometimes it's hard once voices have already started to escalate.