Introduction

The Guildford Court Supper Club is a group of neighbors who have been getting together, one Saturday night a month for going on twenty-five years. It all started out back in the early 90’s when a group of us moved into the newly built cul-de-sac, as a way to get to know our new neighbors. There were initially three families in the club: Max and Yvette Miller (that’s us), Greg and Tammy Barnes, and George and Betty Schmidt.

As more families moved into the street, we gradually added a few more. We originally capped the group at eight families, but it varied over the years from a low of around six to a peak of eleven couples, including a lesbian couple that lived on the street for a few years.

The idea was simple. Each month a different family would host a supper at their house. The host family would prepare the main dish and provide the beverages. Everybody else would bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert.

Sometimes there was a theme, but not always. Often, we would tie the dinner parties to holidays, like Mardi Gras or Halloween. There was usually some sort of game or activity to cap off the night. Members took great pride in trying to outdo the ones that came before them. And, there was always massive amounts of alcohol consumed.

I think it was because we could always walk, or stagger home. Over the years, we became closer than neighbors. We’re like a big, hybrid multi-home family in many ways. We would come and go from each other’s yards and homes regularly. The guys would golf or watch sports together, practically daily. The ladies would go shopping together or go to ladies lunches and girls nights out frequently.

The funny thing is, we never did the kind of typical things you hear about, like “going out with the boys.” Other than golfing, the men all stayed home. Now, we would all go out to dinner with our wives or with other couples all the time. You could find a bunch of us hanging out in the front yards or occupying the cul-de-sac with barbecues and loungers. In colder weather, we broke out fire pits, and we would sit outside, drink and socialize.

The ladies, now they would go out fairly often. There was always a women’s outing for one of their birthdays or a ladies’ “paint and drink wine party,” or bunko night, or just the generic “girl’s night out.” I think the men used to time to play poker, drink beer and chill out.

Now there were a lot of dynamics among the members of the GCSC. Some of the couples were older than us. Some of them were younger than us. Some were conservative Republicans, and others were liberal Democrats. Some were prudish in their behavior, while others were party maniacs. The big thing was, we all got along well. And when Saturday came for dinner club, we all partied pretty damn hard.

It seems the longer the club went on, the harder the partying became. As many of our kids grew up and went off to college and beyond, several of us became empty nesters. That combined with the arrival of a couple of newer, younger families introduced some new dynamics.

What follows are some of the more provocative stories from the past 25 years.

Chapter 1 »