How to Leave a Party Graciously

By eHow Culture & Society Editor

Rate: (1 Ratings)

Arriving at the party is the easy part. When you are ready to leave, exercise tact and always thank the host or hostess before you depart.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Etiquette Books
Breath Mints

Step1

Wait until the host is not in conversation or caught in the middle of cooking or serving duties.

Step2

Express your gratitude for the invitation, and compliment the host on one particular aspect of the party.

Step3

Make a tentative reference to the next time you will see each other. For example, saying 'We should get together for drinks soon' takes the emphasis off your departure.

Step4

Acknowledge everyone in the room, if possible. If the party is too large to permit this, express a parting gesture to those guests with whom you spent time talking.

Step5

Make your parting words short and sweet in an attempt to let everyone else get back to the festivities.

Tips & Warnings

Avoid long and effusive apologies. Others will look upon your departure negatively if you insist on apologizing for it.
If the party invitation included an ending time, don't stay too long after the time indicated.

Comments

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 If you bring a bottle of wine (or anything else) for the host and guests to enjoy, for God's sake, please don't ask for the bottle when you leave. Oh, that's tacky!

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 I like to give my family a 15 minute warning that we are about to leave, so that they can say their good-byes to their friends and the host too.

FUCKSAKE said

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on 8/3/2007 Recently i was in company and when trying to leave they deliberately tried to prevent me from leaving or at least stall me. I tried to be as polite as i could, however, when i was nearly gone they would start a new conversation that required more time, yet they knew i was trying to leave. Why did this happen?

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