If you're bringing a packaged deli item to a pot luck, should you remove the price label?

[stan4]

Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist

One of the most popular pot luck dishes are packaged deli dips or premade salads, at least at the pot lucks I've been doing to. The items almost always come in a plastic tub with a lid. (Although with the growing anti-plastic movement, they might soon come in waxed cardboard tubs instead, but I digress.) There's always a label on the lid, with the store name, product name, and price.

This is where the title question comes in: Should you remove or cover up the price? I usually don't do it, especially if it's a casual pot luck with friends who know where I shop. But for a more classy occasion or with new people, is it better to peel off the label or black out the price with a sharpie? Advertising how much you spent strikes me as a bit tacky, although not severely enough to be a social blunder.

What do other people on here think?

I take the price tags off everything for anything at all times.

[CatzPaw]

Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla

I went to a potluck pool party one time and the "hostess" wanted everyone to bring two side dishes, their own beverages, and their own folding tables and chairs to sit in. She said "I'm providing the meat!" Tacky woman wanted to have a party but make all her guests pay for it and do the work.

You went, didn't you?

But she's "tacky."

[oregonwoodsmoke]

You take price labels off of gifts. Food at a potluck isn't a gift.

[kygman]

Originally Posted by rrah

At least at potlucks I've attended, the lids are removed so people can get the food in the container. Most people wouldn't see it. People I know wouldn't really care how much it cost.

That last sentence says it all

[ClaraC]

Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla

For an evening at someone's home I think they are tacky as hell. I don't require my dinner guests to bring food.

I went to a potluck pool party one time and the "hostess" wanted everyone to bring two side dishes, their own beverages, and their own folding tables and chairs to sit in. She said "I'm providing the meat!" Tacky woman wanted to have a party but make all her guests pay for it and do the work.

In my social circle, we have some people who always host. One couple always hosts new year's eve, one couple always hosts Halloween, one couple always hosts Octoberfest.

They clean their house and make it ready for company, and all the guests bring the food and beer/wine/other drinks.

It works. And it's such a very good time that everyone looks forward to. And kudos to the couples who are always so happy to host and so welcoming. Not everyone has a home that can accommodate a lot of people comfortably.

And everyone looks forward to seeing that largish grouping of people, if only once a year.

In other situations, where hosting is spread around, yes, the host prepares the food and drinks.

The times they are a'changin'.