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I would think (aka hope) that when throwing a party one wouldn't ask their guests to take off their shoes in the first place. Unless of course if your entire guest list was sporting snow boots or some other contraption that can bring in a lot of gunk.

I agree with venice4504 - usually when hosting a party, the hostess would deal with shoes (even if she would normally ask her close friends to remove them during an informal get together). I would go with your awesome skinnies & boots!

well, i'm asian and it's custom to take off shoes, so i'd expect people to take off shoes. i find it gross to have people lugging in their shoes around my home. (i make exceptions for repair men and what not, but if i have a whole party, i'd want no shoes, unless i'm all wood floors and don't have to worry about carpets getting nasty).

i personally would go with option #2. unless you know for sure that no shoes is optional.

Here in Japan, it's just part of the custom to take your shoes off. Most houses have an entry way designed to take take your shoes off before entering the house. Growing up in the states, my mom (Japanese), made everyone take their shoes off when they came to our house, so I was accustomed to it. I think I would do the same if we ever move back to the states. So, I would go with #2.

I would go with option 2 as a precaution. That way if you are asked to remove your shoes you will feel comfortable enough to relax and enjoy the party.

@twodoghouse: I don't think anyone else would notice your calves! It's one of those things that we're more self-conscious about! I say go with A and take the risk! The payoff is a better looking outfit if you don't end up having to take your shoes off.

I dont have much of an opinion on the whole taking your shoes off but I do want to add that I am sure your calves will not be pointed out to become a topic of conversation. I dont know but I dont think I would look around at everyones calves or even feet... unless they had a big hole in their sock or something! hehe.

Maybe it's because I live in Ontario and we get real winter here but I can't imagine wearing my shoes in someone's house. We just don't do that. As soon as you walk in, you take off your shoes. In my mind shoes are dirty and I wouldn't want people to track their dirt around my house and I wouldn't do it to anyone else. Funny how different it is for everyone. Some people can't imagine wearing them and some people can't imagine not wearing them.

Taking shoes off at someone's home is just normal for me. In fact, I arrived at a party once and took off my shoes only to find everyone upstairs with their shoes on! It was an awkward walk back downstairs to fetch my shoes. But yeah, I always expect to take off my shoes.

This is also a cultural thing for me: I always take my shoes off when I visit someone. Actually that's not true: I use cultural profiling. If I'm visiting an Asian friend, I take my shoes off; otherwise, I take my cues off of the other guests.

If the dinner is fancy and there are lots of people attending ( i.e. it's more than just a few friends over), I would probably arrive a bit late and then look to see if there lots of shoes near the entrance.

@Swgal - oops, I posted without reading all the comments first. Thank you! Glad to know I'm not alone in taking shoes off always...

I almost always take my shoes off unless I'm in a house where it's cleaner to keep them on, jk. Our shoes walk on so many icky surfaces (including public bathroom floors) that I can't imagine tracking all that nastiness onto my floors where I and my LO crawl and play.

I do also expect my guests to take off their shoes when they come over (even for parties) although I do warn newcomers of my policy so they don't get blindsided.

I'm Asian too, and we take off our shoes for respect. Plus it's just so much cleaner! I have friend that threw a dinner party with cocktails and music and 2 girls we knew from HS (but don't really keep in touch with but we share the same good friends) arrived late. They were done up, club attire with stilettos!

Those girls totally dug into her hardwood floors! Marks everywhere ... everyone else had their shoes off and they came late so it's not like they didn't miss the mass of shoes by the door. Sidenote: they were also Asian.

Hubby is Swedish and they take their shoes off as well. It's much, much cleaner.

Option B.

As PPs have stated, it's a cultural (Korean) / location (MI - snow 5 months) thing for me and it's actually carried over into our home, even though DH is Caucasian, he's a clean freak and appreciates the lack of shoe dirt/snow/etc. in the house.

If they have light colored carpeting (cream, ivory, blush, etc) then I always take off my shoes even they say it doesnt matter. But if they have wooden or tiled flooring then I keep my shoes on unless they are exceptionally muddy/dirty for some reason

Glad you are going with option 2 but I doubt anyone will notice your calves. We are always more critical of ourselves.

I always assume I have to take off my shoes when entering someone's home but I've usually been lax with other people coming over. I know it can be annoying for those that aren't accustomed to it. Then again I have no carpet so it didn't bother me that much, especially if I'm throwing a party. It's too hard to demand everyone to take off shoes and then you'll also have a pile of shoes cluttered at the entry way.

However, now that we're expecting, my stance has totally changed.. I am going to be more adamant about a no shoe policy. I really want our house to be clean and unfortunately, shoes just track in too much dirt and it's gross.