Attending a party

Had to attend a b'day party of my friend yesterday.
As usual, I started getting a bit nervous about attending the party. And that too a birthday party.

If you notice, attending a b'day party requires preparation on many fronts - gift, attire, timing, wishing, food and finally the right time to slip out of the party.
Believe me every one of these requires thinking - way more thinking than what I am ready to do on a weekend! But, I had to do that as it was my friend's b'day and moreover parties are an incentive to meeting different people and generally good food.

Here are the golden rules that I follow:
Gift: Club my gift with others. This way my money would go farther and would get something more useful to the recipient. How many times we have gone to marriages with the same old Clock or a silly little poster! This time, we were able to get an IPod Shuffle.

Attire: This is tricky. A party among friends always warrants casuals. But I had once been to a house-warming party (of a Swede) with a formal shirt and a trouser. Every other guest there had come in blazers and suits!

Timing: Never be on time for parties. It would be totally unsettling to be early for a party with the host running around preparing the place for the guests to come. For a 3 hour party, I would always go 30 minutes late.

Wishing the host: Get done with this first thing you reach the place. Wishing requires you to be very formal and polished. It is prudent to get this fone first because you can get going with other important stuff - like food!

Food: Eventhough this is the most interesting part of any party, I will always be patient till the fag end of the party to be able to sink my teeth into food. I am never shy of going for the second serving or even a second round. After all we all live to eat and survive!

Getting out of the party: Never get out of the party just after finishing the food. Loiter and bore a few other attendees before leaving the party. If the party is a late night party, then I always think up credible-sounding but never verifiable reasons for leaving the party. "Have to call my parents" never raises any eyebrows. This is by far the safest reasons for leaving a party early.

As I said in the beginning, attending a party in itself is a strain one's social and mental abilties!