Polyamory on Purpose Archive

Category: Etiquette

  • Polyamory Etiquette: Informal Invitations

    Last week we looked as best practices for addressing formal invitations to poly folk. This week we’re going to take a look at informal invitations. There are lots of types of informal invites. Everything from calling someone up “Hey, you want to come over?” to sending an email to inviting someone to an event on…

  • Formal Invitations for Poly Folk

    The nice thing about formal invitations is you are expected to list everyone who is invited. If someone’s name isn’t on there, they aren’t invited. This solves a lot of this “who is included?” of informal invitations. This post generally assumes you are issuing an invite to people who are out about being poly. If…

  • Polyamory Etiquette: Let’s Talk Invitations

    Invitations can range from, “hey, wanna come over and catch Jessica Jones?” to engraved vellum cardstock begging the “pleasure of your company” at a wedding or other major event. That’s formality. There’s another range for invitations: who’s invited. Usually, there is a set standard. You can invite one person. You can invite one person and…

  • Polyamory Etiquette: Meeting Family About Town

    The great thing about living in a small town or close-knit neighborhood is you are always running into people you know. The terrifying thing about being poly in a small town or close-knit neighborhood is…you are always running into people you know. Meeting your SOs parents for the first time is always interesting. Meeting your…

  • Polyamory Etiquette: Bumping Into Your Metamour

    I missed a few posts in April, so look for these bonus posts throughout May as I get caught up. If you and your various poly partners and their various poly parters live in the same area, sooner or later you’re going to bump into each other at a local fair, browsing the grocery store,…

  • Polyamory Etiquette: Running into a Poly Partner in Public

    Life was even crazier than usual last month, and in the craziness I completely forgot that I’d been going to get in depth on how to handle unexpected encounters with poly partners, metamours, friends and family. With that in mind, this today we’ll be looking at how to handle it when you run into one…

  • Etiquette for Polyamory Partners and Children

    I talked about interactions between poly partners and children a couple of times in the Raising Children in a Poly Family blog series. But this apparently an issue a lot of people stress about, so I’m going to pull it all together in one place. This article assumes that you want your children to meet…

  • The Etiquette of Unexpected Encounters

    There was a story shared…somewhere on the internet, I don’t remember where. Someone’s sister called them up freaking out. Insisting they had to cancel the wedding because the sister had seen the poster’s fiance kissing someone else. This particular story had a happy ending–the poster laughed it off and told their sister “we’re poly.” But…

  • Introducing Your Polyamory Partners and Metamours

    Introductions are fairly universal. You bring person A over to Person B and you say “Person B, I’d like to introduce Person A” or some variation on that theme. In a social situation, it can be good to add something about the person. “Person A is a big Star Trek fan.” Try to make this…

  • The First Rule of Polyamory Etiquette: Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

    Next week we’ll start on tips and guidelines for dealing with specific situations. For now, I want to address an important point that is more important than anything else I will say about etiquette. When it comes to social situations involving your poly partners, or their poly partners, don’t be afraid to ask. “How would…