When my friend from Indonesia received on invitation to a potluck party from her friend, she was confused what potluck party was. She needed to ask someone to explore it. For her, potluck party is a new thing because in Indonesia they did not have a potluck party tradition.
In fact, Indonesia has many parties, such as kemantenan (wedding party), perpisahan (farewell party), ulang tahun (birthday party), kelahiran (birth party), kehamilan (pregnancy party), kematian (death party) so on.
In Indonesia, when somebody invites to a party, he should provide everything such as food and place. Moreover, food for party is not only to be eaten at the party place, but also given to guests to take home. Consequently, the party organizer must make a lot of food; also, spend much money.
To illustrate, to make one party the owner can use from 500 rupiah (Rp.) to Rp. 1 juta ($ 100). Indeed, amount of this money is very high because you can survive on it one whole month. Thus, only the rich persons can throw a party.
In contrast, Americans’ tradition has a good way of making a party. People invited should bring the food that they want, and the owner only provides the place, and also little food. It is a good idea since they can share everything. Therefore, the organizer does not spend much money. From this case, we know why Americans are party-happy because they do not need much money to invite people. In addition, they are able to be happy with each other.
Indonesian people should learn about it from Americans so that Indonesians can create many parties. On the other hand, they are still able to save money. In fact, many international students from many countries who live in Hawaii like potluck parties because they can eat some food from different countries. In short, a potluck party has three important things: they are simple, make people happy, and save money.
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