
Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale host a party at their Holmby Hills estate in Los Angeles, 1959, photographed by Allan Grant/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
VB Hacks
The Art of Mingling
“I feel as though we’ve met before. Have we?” “Where did you first meet the hostess?”
Talk about something trending on Twitter or that you saw on Instagram. Or even something in news: “I just heard that Amazon bought another start-up for a billion dollars!”
Bring up nearby restaurants or great architecture in the neighborhood. Something even as simple as “I haven’t been to this area for a while. I can’t believe how much it has changed/hasn’t changed.”
“Are you going away for the holidays?” “I don’t often go to big parties held at bars, but this is really fun.”
“I really like this cheese.” “I love it when Janet has these parties.” “I hate being so late, what did I miss?”
Is something culturally major happening? Fold it in—the Olympics, the Super Bowl, Cher on Broadway….