Ask Joanna: Is It Rude to Open the Bottle I Brought as a Gift to the Host?

You’ve been invited to a dinner party, how nice. Unless you’ve been asked to bring something specific, like a dessert or your famous seven layer dip, you’re likely going to arrive with a bottle of something in hand. Maybe it’s a nice wine or tequila or a non-alcoholic spirit — it doesn’t really matter. Should you open it and drink it?

Obviously this depends on your relationship with the host and how they might respond to such a gesture. If it’s your younger sibling and their drink offerings are not great, or a very close friend and you know they wouldn’t mind it, drinking what you brought could probably be forgiven. But more generally, it’s rude and you shouldn’t do it.

The bottle you bring to a host — or any gift for that matter — is meant to be a gesture of thanks for their hospitality, and it’s their prerogative to open it for everyone to enjoy if they’d like. If they don’t, and it remains untouched during your evening, consider it a gift given. (And no takebacks, either!)

If, on the other hand, you’ve been told to BYOB or the occasion lends itself to sharing drinks — it’s an open house, there are a lot of people — then it’s appropriate to open what you’ve brought. But you still might consider bringing something separate as a thank you for the host.

*Image retrieved from Евгений Вершинин – stock.adobe.com

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