How sociable are you?

We're sociable with family. Fulfill my husband's social work requirements without complaint. However, no excess - same as prior.

We have our daughters and theirs round often, GC and GGC over many times a week. Have garden parties and Holiday meals. That's it, really.

I think DH and I are quite unsociable.

No desire to go out at night, or have people in for meals.

Having said that, we both have our own interests in the daytime, but prefer to be at home, on our own, in the evenings.

I used to entertain a lot when I was in my 20s and 30s - dinner parties and such. Now I avoid people like the plague unless I know them very well. I just cant be bothered with people under my feet unless they come for some defined purpose.

Thats why I have a ring type doorbell. If I dont like the look of who is on the doorstep I can always pretend to be out or answer "on the app" so not at home.

I'm still working full time in hospitality which is often long, anti social hours and quite frankly knackering. I honestly don't have time to socialise but I meet so many people in my job and get to organise parties/events, so I suppose that fills a gap.

I was always a very social animal but if I did have the time, I really don't think I would have the inclination now, especially on cold dark winter's nights. Being a widow also puts a different spin on it. You no longer have that "ready made" friend and coming home to an empty house is a bit demoralising. I'm sure other widows will know what I mean.

I still enjoy social meetings, maybe slightly less so than years ago tho.
Work and commitments knock out much of it.We have longstanding friends and visit each others homes for coffee and cake more than meals out.
DP more sociable than me really.

I too enjoy the occasional get togethers but it's generally meet ups with girl friends. DH has his own friends he goes out with occasionally. We each know each others friends so its fun hearing the male side of his outing and I share my outings from the female side. Not a lot of difference really!!!

Since I've downsized I don't have many people to stay. I mostly meet people for coffee or lunch. Much easier.
I feel lucky as I love seeing people but am quite happy on my own. So maybe not very sociable.

I’m not madly sociable. I have maybe a dozen close friends who are geographically scattered; I see those who live closer every month or so for lunch, or an evening out, those who live in the US every year or two, usually for a few days travelling, and those who live somewhere else in the UK or Europe a couple or three times a year for a day or two. I have a few less close but local friends who I see once or twice a week for an activity and some socialising.

Most entertaining I do these days is informal, and in small numbers, and three times a year, I host 20 or 30 people for specific occasions.

I’ve been interested to read the replies. It seems that for a variety of reasons many of us have a more limited social life as we get older.

We have always welcomed people into our home, catering for ones and two’s, to one memorable event where we had 60+ people queuing at various doors in the house to collect their food. We still have a houseful of teenagers for a couple of months in the summer as we provide accommodation for the local language school students, but I’ve had several episodes of amnesia in the last two years and I’ve become much less inclined to entertain at home.

We still have a comparatively active social life, but it’s very different from two years ago. Our children and grandchildren visit often and some of them will stay over maybe once or twice a month - they’re easily catered for and often arrive with food they’ve prepared, or will help out in the kitchen; that’s really stress free and very enjoyable, but otherwise I’ve cut back a little on dinner invitations and having guests to stay. We go to the cinema often, eat out a déux or with friends and we prepare a weekly meal for my parents-in-law.

We used to regularity go 5 Mile walks with friends, then all return here to eat. We’d happily feed 12 or more, plus teenagers and various dogs.
Lockdown changed things and as we were getting our mojo back, my husband suddenly became very ill.
Since he died, I’ve cooked an occasional big family meal but tend to take friends out for lunch when they visit. I don’t seem to enjiy, or want to entertain groups of friends without him

We have never been big entertainers. Often used to do a meal on NYE for about 8 neighbours and we all enjoyed those. Now we have just one elderly man who lives alone and he comes for a meal about once a fortnight.

I have lots of friends I share interests with so I have friends who are always up for a walk, those who knit, those I meet for coffee or lunch and a few very close friends I started grammar school with ….. so really long standing friendships.

Husband is never bothered about going out but he does if I ask him.

Like many of you we loved to entertain when we were younger but find it to much hassle now. We are still sociable people but prefer to meet up with friends at a local pub or restaurant. We very rarely if ever have people to stay over these days. Just have not got the energy anymore to be the perfect host and hostess.

I enjoy family get togethers and doing buffet tea for us all but that's about it really.
I've never been a party goer although when I was young free and single I would be out around town in a pub or down friends homes every evening.
These days watching Emmerdale and Corrie seems to be the highlight of my life.

My last partner loved parties so we had quite a few but since being on my own ( 25 + years) I haven’t had one or been invited to any either I don’t think any of my friends do parties any more either but we do go out daytimes

grannyactivist you are are marvel I'm not sure I would want to do that here not having an art room to flee too. I am quite sociable, I play golf so its part of the deal really. We survived the quiz night on ok. I prefer going to a restaurant than dinner parties then everyone can choose their own poison.

Not as sociable as I think I am.
Someone said to me last week, that she was more sociable than I am.
I started to feel a bit affronted, and then I thought, well actually, she is so right.

I have two very close friends, sadly my third close friend died just before Christmas. My local close friend I see reasonably regularly and we spend the day together. My other very close friend lives 240 miles away, but we’ve been best friends since school days and she is like a sister to me. I see her when we go up north to visit family, and sometimes she’s spends two or three days here. Otherwise we talk on the phone regularly, often chatting for two hours at a time.
Our weekends are now always busy with family. We often cater for them on Sundays, we do the lunch, or sometimes we go to theirs. We also go out for meals with them sometimes at weekend. We also spend several weeks each year visiting our daughter and grandchildren in New Zealand, and we socialise a lot when we’re there as well as look after the children. We have lots of meals out, day trips out , and barbecues at her house. All with her and the children.

fancy that - with friends like that, who needs enemies 😂
I think I am quite sociable or rather I was quite sociable. Pre-divorce, and pre-downsizing, we had regular dinner parties for 30 or more. Now, it’s just coffee for a few neighbours although I am planning a small ‘buffet’ evening in the next few weeks. I am on my own, so was wondering whether I invite the husbands as well or just the ladies 🤔

I still have a number of friends since our DC were small . We used to have great meals - each couple provided a course so it wasn’t a big deal. Often ended up playing games afterwards especially when the children were young teenagers. Sadly 3 out of the 4 couples have lost their OH including me. Nowadays we go out for lunch or a carvery evening, or have coffee at home .I’m lucky to have such good friends. We often go on outings and to the cinema so am still quite sociable
I still have family to stay often though. Brother is coming next week for a couple of days and DD and family for Easter. DS and family live near me and we regularly have a meal at home together. I enjoy having DD and family to stay but constant meals and snacks are exhausting! I find I am happy when I’m on my own again , until I haven’t seen them for a while and then miss them and wish they were here!

I would like to socialize a bit more, but DH is resistant. The thing is, he is a fantastic host and always has fun. I think it is because he is a bit of perfectionist and always needs lead time notice, where I am more impetuous and will do last minute invites.

We tend to have 'drop over after work' type of visits more than organized dinners. We will always have your favourite type of beer/wine/cider/tea ready if you drop over! My DH remembers everyone's favourite drink and always has some ready, even room temperature beer for his Brit friend.

I'm sociable, but I do need to recharge my batteries more these days. I've been out every day/evening this week, and will be out tonight (a meeting) then lunch on Friday with a friend, and out again tomorrow evening (a social event at a friend's house) and on Saturday (coffee with a different group of friends). I've already had 2 Zooms, a social thing here, a friend for coffee and my knitting group this week. That's more than usual, but not outrageously so.

Mr Dog hasn't/won't be involved in any of this week's events, but we were out together twice last week, and we are going away next week for a few days as it's our daughter's birthday.
I am more sociable than he is. He goes to the pub maybe once a week to catch up with his friends, but otherwise relies on me to make plans and include him.

Love socialising & having guests to stay whether relatives or friends. (Only 2 nights though for overnight guests). After that the non stop chat & entertaining is exhausting.
Dinner parties every couple of months- here or at others. Many different sets of friends - some from uni days, work colleagues, local friends. Mainly we all take a course for dinner parties - makes it fun and spreads the workload.
We like entertaining at home / or being entertained at friend’s homes - much more than going out. However we do go out for pub lunches every few weeks and occasional ‘fine dining’ for a treat, or as part of a hotel night away. We meet up with some friends just for dog walks/ coffee/tea. Some we go to events with - theatre/ concerts/quizzes/pub. Some on holiday with.
Just joining a new gardening club, and also thinking about joining a social club near us ….. variety is the spice of life I think. As long as you are energetic and well enough to enjoy. Have been retired 15 years and grateful for the freedom to choose. Gives you lots to think about and chat about if you mix- not all activities cost a lot. Also, if you issue a few invites you usually get some back!

We meet own own friends outside of home .....I have friends over for coffee on a one on one....never ever have social gatherings at home apart from family....would never ever consider having a group of friends together in my home

We have no friends, just a few acquaintances, people that play and sing the same music as us.

In my experience friends are people who eventually let you down. I never want to be in that situation again.

We have family, and they visit and sometimes stay. Enough for us.

Everything has changed since the pandemic. We downsized during a lockdown (December 2020) and no longer have the big dining room and table we had in the old house. Apart from family, I think we've had only one dinner party in the last three years. Though we have had friends to come and stay during the gaps between lockdowns. I'm quite sociable, but tend to meet friends out of the home - book club, walking group, coffee dates. Will have to ponder.