My partner and I were having this conversation last night and it led to more questions that we didn't really have any answers for.
A few weeks ago our friends Callum and Gracie invited us over for a BBQ. It was just the four of us - myself, my partner, Callum and Gracie. Last Sunday, we had them over for a BBQ at our house. We ended up inviting a few more people - some we invited ourselves, and a couple Callum and Gracie asked if it would be okay for them to come along (just to be clear there was no problems with them inviting people - they're close friends of ours and the people they invited are also close mutual friends) - so it ended up being a small party of about a dozen.
My partner and I were talking last night about whether that would be considered a reciprocal invitation. I felt like because there was more people there we weren't able to really sit down with Callum and Gracie and have a good chat, which was part of what made the original BBQ so nice. My partner says that when Callum and Gracie asked to invite people as well, they were saying that they were okay with a larger gathering. Thoughts?
This, in turn, led to general questions about whether a reciprocal invitation needs to mimic the original invitation. If, for example, someone invites you over for a fancy meal, are you required to reciprocate with a fancy meal? If someone invites you over for an intimate dinner party, is a larger gathering adequate reciprocation?
I guess it would probably be a situational thing, but I was just wondering if there's any sort of official rules regarding 'reciprocating in kind'?