Öppet Hus (Swedish) - Noun:
'Även privatpersoner kan arrangera öppet hus, vid till exempel jämna födelsdagar. Då tillåts de som känner sig hågade att komma och uppvakta jubilaren, utan att någon personlig inbjudan gått ut. Vid dessa tillfällen bjuds det vanligen på någon form av förtäring.'
Open House (English) - Noun:
'An individual can host an open house, for example, when it is one's birthday. Those that feel welcome, are able to come to the house, even without a personal invitation. Usually on these occasions there will be some food and drinks to welcome guests.'
On Saturday we opened up our home to any of our friends, neighbours, colleagues and DS1 for an Open House. I realised coming back to the UK a year ago from Sweden, that the 'open house' principle isn't really a thing here. It is common place in Sweden, where someone would open up their home, maybe during a particular seasonal time, such as spring, harvest or winter time, and people are allowed to bring any guests. They would also invite neighbours friends and others. In the UK, the closest idea is a housewarming party, or generally just a party. But the difference with an open house is that the invitation is open, and you cater for as many guests as you feel may come, and it is not necessarily done when you have just moved into a property.
The open house was also an opportunity to utilise our home to its full potential, by opening it up and allowing it to be occupied by many friends. In order to do this we did a shopping trip on Wednesday followed by some baking prep on Thursday & Friday, and eventually arranging the living room to cater for people to mingle:
It was such a great day, with many people coming in between 2pm and 10:30pm. Due to the nature of meeting neighbours properly for the first time and also families coming with children, I didn't take any pictures or videos during the majority of the open house. However, I aim to draw a timeline of movements with people through the space and those coming and going from our home. It was especially interesting to observe how people interacted socially within the space, and how the living room was a playground, a hub for 4-5 different conversations, and also a place for feasting:
We intentionally mentioned to people that there was no need to bring anything, but it was also interesting to observe how different guests came with items despite this. I feel I would do the same thing if I was in their position, as I have always been taught not to go to someone else's home empty handed. It made me question whether the notion of sharing always leaves the receiver feeling a need to give back? Despite this, we had some great extra additions to our food and drink selection, including some Armenian food that one of our neighbours brought to us who unfortunately could not come for the afternoon:
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