Be My Guest (of Honor)
In recent years I’ve taken to a new tradition: throwing a party when a friend comes to visit. Hey, you gotta clean the house anyhow, might as well invite some people over! Plus, that way you can introduce an old friend to new ones, which is always entertaining to watch, and your friend gets to be the center of attention in a low-key, birthday-girl kinda way (as opposed to a public-speaking-to-an-auditorium-full-of-strangers kinda way). Announce the guest of honor in your invite and propose a toast to her during the party. Introduce her to everybody. Serve her favorite dishes or cocktails. A couple of years ago, I had a friend who wrote a baking cookbook for kids come visit, so I ordered her book (which I’d been meaning to do anyway), FedExed it to myself, and made cupcakes out of it to serve at the dinner party I was having in her honor the next night. A bit of extra effort, yeah, but how often do you get a good excuse to make a big deal over the people who are important to you?
Shindig It! 