A CLASSY GESTURE

Gone are the days of simplicity and style. Entertaining has become ostentatious and grandiose and it is such a relief when one is invited to an unpretentious function where you know all of those invited rather than to these loud affairs with a rent a crowd guest list.

Celebrating weddings, significant anniversaries, landmark birthdays and many such functions is very common among us. By nature, Sri Lankans enjoy celebrating most occasions and it is a great time to meet and have fun, especially when it is with close friends and family. Recently, I have received many invitations from those who are blessed with good fortune as well as from those who have enough funds to live on. The classy gesture of the invite is the line at the bottom just before the RSVP: “Your presence is much appreciated and not your presents. If you feel that you should give something, please write a cheque in favour of such and such a charity.” Some even say: “no gifts please.” This gesture, apart from being stylish, means that the invited guests do not have to rack their brains on what to buy and for the host who receives them deciding on what to do with some of the gifts they get. Gifts are fun to give children as they tend to enjoy whatever is given to them, even though I have been told that some children in Colombo tend to price most of the things they get; parents too have issues when their teenage children invited to a birthday bash insist that an expensive item be purchased since the cost of the gift will be discussed by the birthday girl or boy with others. Some parents also seem to discuss the gifts their children receive and bad mouth them. Obviously, days of appreciating the thought and gesture are gone. This also applies to where or who did the birthday cake. Trixie always says that some of the parents who host grand weddings often hope that they can recover the cost of the lavish wedding they throw, especially when the invitation is tagged with “no boxed gifts, please” at the bottom. On the other hand, a gift list at a store identified by the couple is quite acceptable. Gone are the days of simplicity and style. Entertaining has become ostentatious and grandiose and it is such a relief when one is invited to an unpretentious function where you know all of those invited rather than to these loud affairs with a rent a crowd guest list.