Back in the middle to late '70's it wasn't that popular for young couples to go to the bars to party. That was mostly left for the single people to do. So the young and I guess older couples would have parties that were held at their homes on the weekends. My wife and I were friends with about ten couples making the attendance to all the parties around twenty people. (sorry just showing off my math skills, 10*2=20). Now what I thought we did that worked out pretty good was to have the parties at each others house each Friday or Saturday nights. We each (as a couple) would bring our own favorite bottle of Booze. That's alcohol for you younger people. Then when the party ended all the booze was left at the home of the party, giving that couple a good start on a nicely supplied bar. Then we would repeat the process the next week end at the next scheduled party house. Once the bars had been stocked it was up to that couple to restock the bar when it came time for the party to be held at their house again, or the next time.
In preparation of the party being held at our house the wife and I had gone out and purchased the best wet bar we could find back in the day. It had a refrigerator, sink, a storage compartment for holding ice shelves for storing the booze and of course lights and mirrors so it looked nice. Yes you could say when the party would come to our house we were going to be "Styling". The time finally came and the people started to arrive bringing their snacks and booze, and of course I was enjoying showing off the bar. You have to keep in mind that by today's standards it was the dumb things that made us cool back then. What made having the parties at our house especially fun was not only the fact that we had a nice bar, but I think more importantly we didn't have and children and our closet neighbors we a little ways off so we didn't have to worry about the noise level all that much.
What did we do at these parties you may be wondering. Well I'll tell you this from the start, we never did any drugs. We drank and played games like Twister, Charades, Who, What , Where Am I, and we played records and of course drank and danced. As time went on we found new ways to amuse ourselves, understanding by today's standards we must have look pretty boring. But hey, back then it was our way of having fun. Now problems started to arise as the parties went on, because of the other couples having children. Sometimes when the party was scheduled for their house they would or could not find a babysitter to take the kids away for the night. This meant that we had to tone the party way down to a dull roar or whisper.
The Monday before it was our turn to host the party most of our friends showed up at our house as a group to talk to the wife and me. They had asked how we felt about having the parties at our house. A worried look came over the wife's face and she asked if everyone was displeased about the last party we had or had she or I offended any of our group? No, they said you don't understand, we are trying to ask you two how would you feel about just having the parties here at your home. I didn't say anything, I just looked at the wife and I saw the sparkle in her eye. I knew it was all over, you see my wife's mission in life was to entertain as many people as humanly possible. And I learned a while back when I bought the rather decorative Chamber Pot thinking it was a serving dish for soup, then using it at one of her fancy sit down dinner with all of her friends in attendance. How when they saw the Chamber Pot with our soup in it, as I was preparing to serve them they just slid their chairs back away from the table as if to say that soup will never pass through these lips and the wife seeing what I had done and her falling to her knee in sheer horror, No I would never stand in the way of my wife's chance to entertain anyone. All that week she was walking on cloud 9 as the old saying went. She was making all kinds of plans for doing different things. The night of the party came and went and again she was just in seventh heaven getting ready for the next party. Several times I offered to help with the planning but I think the Chamber Pot incident ruined my chances for that ever happening. So I just sat back week after week letting her make all of the plans for the parties.
After the third party in a row at our house , the wife and I were in bed cuddling and talking about the party that had just ended. We giggled about who was trying to look down whose blouse and who was getting a little too flirty with the wrong husbands. Then things got a little quiet and the wife asked if I had noticed anything different about our friends. No, was my reply everyone seemed to enjoy themselves just like they do every week. She said that's it,Ithink they are taking advantage of us. She said have you noticed no one is bringing any booze or snack to the parties anymore. I said I had notice we were spending a lot of money every week keeping the bar stocked, didn't notice the food thing. well it's true she said. OK, Do you want me to cancel next weeks party or just talk to everyone. Hell no we can't cancel next weeks party, it's the fourth of July week end. OK I said I just talk to everyone about it. No,she said, I think I will handle this one on own. I hesitated for a moment before saying anything, wondering just what she had in mind for our friends. I said to her, you are not going to bake any cakes for thparty, My God there will be at least twenty people here and we only have two bathrooms and I am NOT going to clean up anyone accident!. She poked me in the rib cage, chuckled and said don't be silly, I wouldn't do that to our friends. I mumbled under my breath, But you would do it to me in a heart beat. She snapped back with what did you say, Thinking quickly I said Thank God you made my heat skip a beat..... She reached over and patted me on the chest and said feeling pretty lucky are you, nice save. I laid there wiping the sweat from my forehead thinking how I had just dodged the bullet.
To be continued in Part 4 of Trail Mix and Blue Ice......