Dear Eric: My life partner and I built and moved into our dream home together a few years ago.

We have a decent-sized family and a reasonable number of friends with whom we like to socialize. We are very intentional about whom we invite over and when.

Some friends get along with anyone, and others are better off with their own invite on a one-on-one as they don’t mix so well at larger gatherings. With the latter group of friends, we find ourselves uptight and worried about someone getting offended or insulted by their intrusiveness, so we prefer to keep them separate.

Inevitably after a holiday weekend or some time where we had a larger gathering, these separate friends start asking questions about who was there. They end up insulted and actually ask why they weren’t invited or if they

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