DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband and I have made friends with another couple from church and we've invited them over for dinner a few times. Each time they've come over, we have cooked traditional Italian meals and dessert.
They have reciprocated by inviting us over to their place, where they have provided ordered-in food. These meals are not cheap, I'm sure, and I'm torn as to whether my husband and I should offer to pay for our portion of food.
We always offer to bring a bottle of wine or dessert, but is that enough? On one hand I'd hate for them to feel taken advantage of, but on the other I feel as though we alternate pretty fairly with who furnishes the meal.
GENTLE READER: In this Age of Greed, it is difficult to understand that giving money can be an insult.
Miss Manners knows you mean well, but paying your friends would tell them that you noticed that while you provided a home-cooked meal, they did not, and that they should not imagine that they have reciprocated, because you are paying your own way.
Your better thought is that what is important here is hospitality, not the food or what it cost.