I find the concept of an engagement party to be ridiculous. I have been to a handful, and they've fallen into two categories: 1) the bride or the groom's family has a ton of money and they move in circles where this is expected, or 2) the bride is the last among her friends to get engaged and the friends are so relieved/excited that they feel a party is in order.
However, I fully acknowledge that my own experiences with these may have turned me off to them.
Is there any practical reason to have one of these other than calling attention to oneself?
Re: s/o engagement party
I've actually never been to one. They just don't happen in my area/ my group of friends.
At some point there needs to be a limit to how many parties are in ONE couples honor!
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Okay, I hadn't thought about having an engagement party so that OOT family could meet. Seems completely reasonable. And I would not have a problem with the combined house-warming/engagement thing. I would bring wine and/or a Home Depot gift card and consider it mostly a house-warming.
I think the engagement parties I attended left a bad taste in my mouth because many people brought gifts, which seemed weird to me. I'm all about celebrating, but both of these events really seemed to cross into "AW/gift-grab" territory.