The Intermingling of Your Different Friend Groups

I just had to respond because it reminded me of a Seinfeld episode where they had this saying "Worlds Collide". We have a few groups of friends and they are all very different from each other. We have thrown parties with all of them at once, it mostly works out well. It can be a bit scary so I understand what you are talking about. Even my nine year old understands this concept. When I suggested all the kids we'd invite for his bday party, he was saying that some of his friends wouldn't play well with other friends.

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, the other is gold.

All his friends have one thing in common. Your husband. I would invite whoever you want and know that even if not all of your friends understand or like each other, they will probably find someone to talk to at the party and have a good time as long as your husband spreads himself around.

I say invite them both. In their thirties, group B may still be living like the single young people that they happen to be, but they are in their thirties, and have enough life experience under their belts to know not to be out of line and ruinous for your husband.

Have a great time. Both groups might surprise you and have much more in common than you or they imagined.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

I would go ahead and invite both. I've found that my friends (we also seem to have two sets of friends) can always find some common ground, and as long as I'm walking around spending time with everyone things go well.

You never know, you might learn something about all your friends.

Most of all, have fun and don't stress over it!

The more the merrier ~ invite them all.

They are all adults and may surprise you at how well they can get along :)

I think I would skip a formal birthday party, he's an adult. If you do go ahead with it make sure everyone knows it's a come and go party. That way if they come they can leave after a few minutes if they feel uncomfortable.

I can't see them mixing well. Pick some younger friends that behave very well in public, that can dress in slacks and a polo shirt and not look dorky. Then invite the older peole from work that he feels the closet too but do consider inviting at least some of the others. If they would have feelings hurt if they didn't get to come. In a work place hurting someones feeling can be the same as deciding to not get a promotion.

Only have hors D'oeurves. You can do them buffet style. One group is chips and dips and they other is tuxedo strawberries.

But seriously, do you really want your husbands co-workers to see him in the same light as the friends that are less successful than him? Impressions are everything in the business world.

Its easy to say "its a party...noone will care". But I totally understand. Our wedding was like that. My husband's profession, which is heavy on the traditional politically conservative side, clashes with my profession which is heavy on the liberal side (let's just say big oil company vs media). Then we threw in people with old money, people with new money, people with no money, highly educated, no education, church friends, childhood friends and family (spanning 3 overseas countries and several languages) on the invite list, along with my husband's athletic team, a few macho marines, and tossed in a few of our GLBT friends and it made for an exciting evening. I was a nervous wreck all the way leading up to the reception but looking back on it I think since everyone didn't know anyone else, they were all friendly. Near the end, they all stayed in their own little community groups anyway, so there wasn't any huge clashes of decorum or manners.

I think you have every reason to be nervous. In the end, its up to you on what you are willing to let go and accept what's out of your control (or what's in your control) in order to give your husband a wonderful bday!

Invite them all. Most likely your old friends will act a little more grown up and your new ones will loosen up a little and everyone will meet in the middle.

Because it is a big group the two different groups will probably talk amongst themselves because it is most comfortable. I dont think it will be a problem in a large setting . If you just invited 2 couples for a dinner party I think that could get uncomfortable . I say go for it . Your husband will enjoy it !

That is a tough one. Which ones will your husband be most relaxed around?

For the longest time, all my husband's friends from work were much older. Now, the pendulum has swung the other way, and many are younger and the few older ones remaining are getting ready to retire (mandatory retirement is 55). We are 43/44 and hubby has almost always been "the baby" at his job. But we "outgrew" (?) his old friends. Our lives just grew apart.
He would be most comfortable now among a few of his closer friends from work, the ones we socialize with without it being work related at all. Beyond that... mehhhh, we don't do much in the way of parties.

Not sure what to tell you, but I would probably go with one group or the other, not both. My own husband would not want a party of any kind (just a few close friends, not a 'bash')....

Invite everyone - A, B, neighbors, family - and trust them all to act like adults and be polite with each other. The common point they all have - they love your husband.
Good luck!

Invite some or all of both groups...not everyone can come. I would caution maybe against the wildest of the bunch (or limiting the alcohol present) since Group A are people your hubby works with.

We rarely mingle our friend groups. There may be a crossover individual here and there.

This weekend, I'm getting together with college friends for a reunion party in the park. None of my met-as-an-adult friends are invited, but one of my husband's friends from childhood will be there. He also attended the same college, but not within my social group.

It sounds like your husband is losing touch with Group B, so I'd plan a party with Group A in mind and invite those friends.

We are in a similar situation. We had our son early and live in the Netherlands, where people have their kids very very late. So our mommy/daddy friends are older, with careers, serious etc, but really dear to us. On the other hand I am still in school, and my older friends party hard with no responsibilities. We are somewhere in the middle because of our kid.
This is how you do it if you like long parties, as we do: Invite the old guys for coffee and cake in the later afternoon, they can bring their kids and stuff. The younger ones can start coming in later. By that time the older ones will already have been there for a while but get hungry, or have to get their kids home or whatever. So things will overlap, which can be cool and nice, but the non-partiers will slowly go home. By that time our son is still up because it is a special night, so we keep he drinking at bay anyway and everyone plays with him. He then goes to bed too late, the old people are gone, and we can get the hash-snickerdoodles out which we wouldn't share anyway of baby were still around.
That way EVERYONE IS HAPPY!!!

i'd only invite one group. you guys will want to relax and not have to worry about people not mingling with others. i've made the mistake by inviting single partiers and married with kids. it's like they're foreigners around each other, which was a shame because they're all nice people and i didn't think that would happen! i'm never mixing crowds again. i think the only case it would work is if it's huge enough to where everyone has several friends to hang out with, and it's at some venue. then at least everyone can hang out in their lil groups if they want. my party was at my house, which wasn't big enough to invite everyone from each group. some people werent able to come either, so one of those "groups" only had like 3 people, while another "group" had like 10. hope your party goes well either way!