I've just moved to Lausanne and are having our neighbours round to our house for a drink to introduce ourselves this weekend, on Saturday just before dinnertime (5ish). On the advice of my French teacher, I've sent a little invitation to the houses nearby saying we're having drinks from 5-6.30.
However, I don't know what type of nibbles to serve....any advice?
And for drinks... wine, beer, coffee, tea, juice - is that ok to offer?
Normally, in the UK, we would probably just ask people round for a cup of tea and some cake but we're wondering what the etiquette is here.
Your advice and experience would be much appreciated.
we do this with ours as well, wine, beer, juice, etc- it's all good.
and for munchies- i'd definitely have some cheese, cured meat, bread, chips, etc. and try to have somethings that you'd have that are not that common here- it'll give people something to talk about, comment on, etc.
Hiya welcome to the site and well done for taking the initiative with your neighbors.
Keep simple because you want to have time to chat. Finger food, nice serviettes, no plates. I usually lay stuff out so people can help themselves, naturally after you've served them their first drink.
you could do easy canapes - slice of white toast bread, smoked salmon, bid of horseradish cream sauce, bit of salmon roe for decoration, cut in a small circle with a cookie cutter. Either that or prezels
hahaha! no problem, and being that we are both in lausanne, we have a book club once a month in morges, a poetry club also once a month in morges and lot's of other goodies. oh, and there's a lausanne drinks meetup tomorrow i believe as well.
if that's not enough to keep you busy, drop me a line and we can meet for a coffee! Not enough activity around here, so it's always nice to find new people!
I think that sounds great. We did the same for our neighbours when we moved in and had the same array of drinks on offer. I think they appreciated it as it means quite a lot to be invited into someone's home.
I always like to make (vego) sushi as it's easy to make & looks and tastes good.
Forget the tea and beers. But prepare some coffee, some orange juice and some bottles of white wine (Vin Vaudois ! like Féchy, Mont sur Rolle, Epesses etc.
A bit of cakes, a bit of peanuts, etc might be appreciated
We moved recently too and till the day of today I haven't met my neighbors.
How does it work here?
Do they come to you with a cake and flowers? (obviously not ) or do they expect you to invite them for a coffee/drink when your place is decent enough?
No, nobody comes to you with a cake and flowers. You meet them in the Waschküche and on the floor and at the door. You are just taken notice of as beeing a new neighbour ! My best neighbours are the two dogs of Mr & Mrs B some two floors up !
I see... sad though... well, I guess I'll invite them for coffee, beers, drinks, pralines, amuse-bouches, rübli torte,... or whatever makes them forgive me for playing loud musicfor the next years! ;-)
On the other hand, I myself, will certainly do it my way and bring cakes, bottle of wine and flowers to welcome my new american neighbors next week!
We did this a few weeks ago. Wine and juice seemed the most popular options (and we got bonus marks from the local mayor for serving some local Geneva wine).
For food, we got totally carried away as I didn't know how many people would likely turn up, so we had lots of cheese and dried meat left over for the next week's sandwiches :-) We also bought some dips and chopped up carrot/celery/cucumber sticks, and also bought some nice biscuits and made a couple of cakes.
We did get a few bunches of flowers and one book of cartoons showing the "10 commandments for being a good neighbour" in french. Luckily they were being funny not serious (I think)
Good quality swiss wine. This way you can mention how pleasantly suprised you were to find good wine here...... The Swiss are fiercly proud of their nation so giving the country a compliment like this is a very good start If they have kids, make sure you have some drinks for the kids as well.
My understanding is that in CH you are expected to invite everyone round.
Expected is a bit too strong a word, but the point is that the emphasis is on you to make the first move.
Re the OP, I would really try to theme it to where you come from, e.g. if English go for something like "high tea", but have a few Swiss things thrown in so that they (the locals) don't feel too lost at sea. Also give them a heads up, i.e. "invitation to an English high-tea" etc. in the invitation itself.
We are currently in the process of a 2 stage move. A few bits of essential furniture will arrive in Zurich next week so that my hubby can live in the house we're renting whilst he is in CH Mon-Fri for 2 or 3 weeks per month.
I won't move with the children until the summer so that they finish their school year. I will however be over for visits - some longer than others.
I definitely plan to hold an open invitation drink / nibbles event for neighbours to say hello, but my dilema is when?
I don't want the neighbours to see hubby coming & going and think he's rude for not inviting them in but he will only be there weekdays. The logical thing for me would be to do the invitation at Easter when I am there for 2 or 3 weeks
We offer Prosecco. To munch on: corn chips with a hot sauce (Pancho Villa), carne secca rolled around philadelphia cheese, carrots/selery and a creme fresh dip...