>1. If this is a dinner party (or people are all seated), force people to get up and move in a way that they'll meet new people. Do this when you're about 2/3 of the way through the party.

Better, I've found, for compelling people to interact with others they may not know, is to assign seats. This enables separating couples or others with a preexisting connection. The act of eating offers the benefits of a subject to discuss (if needed) and makes it so it's acceptable to periodically look away from the conversation partner. Just note that depending on the size/shape of the dinner table, it may be necessary to think about who people will be seated adjacent to and seated across from.

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jimnotgym 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

It used to be custom (in high society, not anywhere I have dimmed) to sit boy girl boy girl, and for ladies to talk to the man in their left during the first course, right during second... to keep a balanced conversation going

	▲	arethuza 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		I've been at posh events (e.g. silking dinners) where there was a fixed seating plan but then the ladies moved around before dessert. NB Such things are really not my natural habitat.

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knollimar 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Is it not rude to separate couples?

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cafard 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

When arranging seating for a dinner (not that often), we tend to separate couples. And when at someone's house when there is not pre-arranged seating, my wife and I tend to sit apart.

Stendhal thought that the 19th Century French custom that married couples should attend the same gatherings had harmed the quality of conversation. I think he said this of the Empire.

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arccy 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

probably depends, but couples already have all the other times they can be with each other

	▲	littlecorner 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Until kids show up lol