I agree that “sprinkles” are odd, but mainly because they seem to only exist for when people are having a second baby of a different sex. So they basically exist to reinforce gender stereotypes - that baby girls need pink sheets with flowers and boys need blue sheets with trucks. I also always think of the baby shower…

I thought stag and doe parties were basically wedding fundraisers? Where people who aren't invited to the wedding are asked to buy tickets and the proceeds go to pay for the wedding. I've heard about it but never seen one in my area... I think they're a Canadian/New England thing.

I never said there's anything wrong with giving cash. Cash is a great gift!

Yup, I agree that work showers don’t obligate you to invite your whole office. But they may lead to a few people’s feelings being hurt, so unless it’s a standard thing that everyone getting married/having a baby gets a work shower, I’d try to politely turn one down.

Because soliciting donations is weird and tacky unless you’re an actual charity. If you don’t register anywhere, most people will get the hint and give you cash by default (and those that give off-registry physical gifts probably would never have given cash even if asked). You can also spread the word that you’re…

I feel like this is a great idea in theory, but how much was the amount when divided by 25? If there’s someone in the family who recently lost a job or is struggling to get by, this could be a huge source of stress for them. I guess it’s a know-your-crowd type of thing, but if someone in my family told me I needed to…

Ugh, that is the worst on so many levels. When people do shit like that to their co-workers, I always wonder if it has a negative effect on their careers.

There are really only three absolute etiquette rules for wedding showers:

what are you talking about they're clearly white and gold

Wow, apparently even fancy rich people don't know that Black Tie Optional is NOT A THING.

Clearly this was an inside job — the woman arranged the whole thing to finally escape from the never-ending hell that is being a bridesmaid.

Word. The host of the party should be the one planning it. They can of course ask the bride’s input (i.e., “Would you be interested in a white water rafting trip or should we go the more traditional dinner-and-clubbing route?”) but as the host is the one organizing it and giving it as a gift to the bride, she/he…

Haha, yup.

Ah, that makes sense (but is a horrible idea — you should always plan for 100% attendance in terms of budget!)

Wait, you had 41 uninvited guests RSVP? How does that happen?

This is so true. I think the key to creating new friendships is having some sort of structured activity. After I graduated from college, I stayed close to some friends from school, but they all lived far away at that point. For the first few years of living on my own, I had a hard time making new friends, both male…

Wait, who the hell is doing 300 loads of laundry a year? How dirty are they? Do I even want to know?

One thing we can do is make ourselves downsize our closets. We don’t each need 15 or 20 different tops for work, for instance. If you buy basics that look good with everything and aren’t loud patterns or anything extra-noticeable, no one will notice or care that you rotate the same 5 tops at work each week.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I’m moving in with my boyfriend and we have very different money habits. I have a strict budget I stick to and am aggressively saving money to pay off loans and grow my 401K. He basically never worries about it and has said he waits until he gets second or third…

People who have large bridal parties with matching numbers on each side always seem suspect to me, because what are the chances that the bride and the groom each just happened to have exactly 9 people they're super close to? I always assume they roped in some third cousins or something so neither of them looked like…