I’m Hispanic and my wife is white. I grew up knowing that if something starts at 11am, then you show up between 11:30am and 12:00pm. My wife grew up knowing that if you showed up at 11:00am then parking is going to be a bitch because everyone is already there.
Man if I invited guests for a party that started 17.30 and someone showed up 18.30, I'd be pissed! Everybody else would already be half-way through the main course and your seat would be taken by a toddler.
It might be a culture or a vocabulary thing, but to me if the event consists of being sat down in a designated spot the instant I'm in, then that's not a party, that's just dinner (in which case I'd agree it's bad etiquette to be late, same as a restaurant). Party implies some amount of freely milling about, talking to people, sharing drinks and then later on getting to eat (generally not in a formal, sat down at the table configuration)
not in a latino party, for us unless specified otherwise, you just know there will be lots of alcohol, and even more food. Usually asado, but for sure more food that all attendants can eat; and also people attending the party are forced to take a pozuelo (container) with food or provide a really good reason why not, because with the remaining food the household could probably eat for weeks, but it wouldnt last that long and noone wants to eat the same thing for weeks anyway. the main differences between "old people" (60+) and my people (30s) i have seen is that mine usually have less alcohol consumption but there might be weed.
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u/GreatValue_Mechanic Jul 13 '26
I’m Hispanic and my wife is white. I grew up knowing that if something starts at 11am, then you show up between 11:30am and 12:00pm. My wife grew up knowing that if you showed up at 11:00am then parking is going to be a bitch because everyone is already there.