Should I bring anything to a Pot-Luck dinner?

Question

Hi everyone, hope you can give me some etiquette advice. I'm a graduate student and I was recently invited to a Pot-Luck get together dinner to be held at a professor's house. Everyone in the department( a small one) was invited -all the grad students, faculty and staff) to the dinner. I know most professors will be there and so will other grad students whom I will be studying with so I'm not sure if I should bring anything (like a bottle of wine?). Also, should I send a thank-you card after the party to the professor whose house is being used for the dinner? Any advice would be appreciated along with the best answer chosen for 10 points.

Answer 1

Yes, you should definitely try to bring something. Typically speaking, a Pot-Luck dinner means everyone should bring something, it's more polite that way. Things might get a little awkward if you come empty-handed, so to avoid that, try to bring a little something. Have fun!

Answer 2

The answer is yes to a thank you card, but the bottle of wine maybe not. I would bring a meat and cheese platter or  a vegetable tray. If you enjoy baking or cooking you can make a dish or a desert to take with you. Enjoy your Pot-Luck get together .

Answer 3

Pot luck dinners typically mean that everyone brings something. So I would definitely bring some sort of dish for everyone to share.  A thank you not afterward is not necessary but probably would be greatly appreciated.  

Answer 4

Find out if there is someone in charge of a list.  If not ask a few others invite what are they bringing.  Also you could ask the host what is missing from the list...take something nice.  Watch and learn.

Answer 5

Yes, bring something...pastas, meatloaf, lasagna, or other dish that everyone can sample. If you don't have a favorite dish that would feed a group, then pick up a nice desert - pie, brownies, a dozen cookies,etc. Those are always appreciated, too.  Pot lucks are where everyone brings a dish to share...so it will probably be a casual, fun, & friendly evening.

Answer 6

A pot luck dinner means that what you get for dinner is what is in the pot - and what's in the pot is what people bring. So, yes - you should bring something, It can be food (main course or desert item) or wine - but you don't come emptyhanded. And of course you send a thank you card, just as you would for any other event to which you were invited.  

Answer 7

Yes, the whole point of a pot-luck dinner is that everyone brings something, so you should definitely bring something.

Your best course of action would be to contact the host and ask what you should bring.  If you aren't much of a cook, you can always offer to get a take-out dish from a favorite restaurant.  Or you can bring drinks or a dessert dish.  It's usually best to coordinate with the host to the party doesn't end up with twelve desserts, one salad, and no main course.  

Yes, sending a thank-you card after the event is very polite and considerate.

Answer 8

Bring your favorite dish AND a bottle of wine.

Thank you card - I would say no. Bring a small gift and/or card with you to present to the host personally.

Answer 9

Of course you should.  That's the whole point of a pot-luck dinner.  I have several different things that I take to pot-lucks.  One is a fresh fruit salad - peaches, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, whatever you like really.  My husband is diabetic so if I take a fresh fruit salad, I know there will be something he can eat while everyone else has cake or pie for dessert.

Stouffer's Macaroni & Cheese.  In the frozen section of your grocery store, and it comes in several sizes.  Get one of the big pans!  Bake it at home so that it comes out of the oven just before you're ready to leave.  Wrap the pan in aluminum foil to prevent spilling, then wrap it in several clean, thick bath towels.  Put it into the bottom of a box and set the box in the floor in the back of your car, and it won't turn over on you.

You know those bags of frozen meatballs?  Buy a couple of bags.  Put them in your crockpot early in the morning along with either a jar of barbecue sauce OR a jar of jam/jelly/preserves.  I've had them with raspberry preserves and I've had them with grape jelly, and it's really good.  Keep an eye on them - they need stirred from time to time and you might need to pour in some more bbq sauce or jam/jelly.

You can even do the same thing with the little cocktail wieners.  The mild wieners are good with the barbecue sauce, and the spicy ones are great with jam or jelly.

We used to live in Indiana, where they call these things "pitch-ins" instead of pot-lucks.  Every time we had one at work, I made a casserole that layered fresh mushrooms, frozen spinach, and mozzarella cheese.  (It's in the old microwave cookbook from Sears!)  No matter how much I made, it was usually the first thing that disappeared.  Green bean casserole is another of my staples that everyone loved.  I took the recipe on the soup can and added slivered water chestnuts and shredded cheddar cheese.  Notice the similarity between the 2 dishes?  You can't go wrong with melted cheese at a pot-luck.

If you're just not a kitchen kinda person, go to your nearest Kentucky Fried Chicken and get a couple of the big containers of potato salad.  Or get the potato salad or macaroni salad from your favorite barbecue or home-style cooking restaurant.

Doesn't have to be fancy, just has to be enough to share.

A thank-you note afterwards is always a lovely touch, but if you help clean up afterwards, you will NEVER be forgotten.

Answer 10

Yes, bring something. A thank you card afterwards?  Thats probably excessive. It would be like thanking yourself. You know? Wine is fine but liquors quicker. haha. No really, man. Id bring something that everyone will enjoy. I like wine but not at a potluck. I'm talking substance. Like stop at Boston Market and get a vat of potatoes. Thats what I would do but then again, i'm no graduate student. Have fun at the dinner.  

Answer 11

bread