The Houses are an unequivocal part of what makes Caltech as unique as it is. Each house has traditions, but one that is consistent between each house, and with a twist in each house, is Formal Dinner. Formal Dinner is exactly as it sounds. Every term, Caltech Dining Services prepares a three-course meal, and students deviate from the typical weekly open kitchen dinner schedule to instead have a fancy meal right in their own house’s dining hall. There are both meat and vegan entreés so that those with dietary restrictions can still eat a full meal, including appetizer, main course and dessert. Formal Dinner is one of my favorite traditions at Caltech, and it’s nice to dress up every once in a while. I’ve attended Page, Avery, and Dabney Formal Dinners throughout my three years on campus, and have enjoyed all three with their varying traditions and demeanors. I’m definitely biased towards Page just because I have so many more friends in my own house versus the others I’ve attended, but they’ve all been fun!
Each house has its own unique customs for Formal Dinner. In Page, our regular house dinners are already quite typical, with no food throwing or dunking water on attendees if they insuult the waiters. So the main difference with formal dinner (aside from the formality) is that we have a Wine Bar for those who are 21+. Additionally, each term there’s a special tradition, but I can’t share that, otherwise it ruins the surprise ;). We’re also allowed to bring a guest (student or non-student) to formal dinner. I try to bring a different guest to each Formal Dinner and have brought friends from Ricketts and Avery. I’ve also recently starting wearing flower crowns to dinner to spruce up my outfit a bit :). After dinner, we always try to get pictures of each class and some with friends.
Even if it’s only once a term, I love Formal Dinner! I’m always happy to dress up and have a good meal with friends, and it’s nice to have something to break up the monotony of Caltech Dining Services. I’m excited to attend Avery Formal Dinner in a couple weeks and just generally enjoy these traditions as I close out my time at Caltech.
