<p>My birthday is soon and I wanted to invite some of my acquaintances out to dinner. My question is: who pays for the dinner? Do I have to pay for everything because I'm inviting or does each person pay for himself? I'm a broke college student (lol) so I won't be able to foot a bill for a whole party. Would it be rude to have each person pay for himself? How would I get across that we are going dutch in the invite without explicitly saying "please come, but pay for your meal"?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, if you do the inviting, you would be typically expected to pay.</p>
<p>Maybe just word it as, “I’m going out to dinner on my birthday. Would anyone like to join me?” </p>
<p>that is slightly different than stating “I would like to invite you to dinner on xxx day to celebrate my birthday.”</p>
<p>theres no way you should pay for yourself lol. usually, especially with college age friends, its generally accepted that by being invited to/going out to dinner with friends everyone pays for themselves, no matter what the occasion. That is at least my experience.</p>
<p>I’d try to be careful in the way you phrase it, as noted above. But at least among my friends, it’s just assumed that we’ll each pay for our own meal. Actually, the last time I went out to dinner for a friend’s birthday, we all chipped in and paid for his meal too!</p>
<p>Just go to a cheap place so everyone’s happy</p>
<p>Usually everyone pays for themselves unless you’re going out on a date with someone (and then the guy is expected to pay, at least on the first date).</p>
<p>Yeah if you invite it would imply that you’re paying, but just about everyone understands that at this age unless its being thrown at a parents house, they all pay for themselves. Heck, me and my friends payed for ourselves a few months back and even payed for the birthdays boys meal as well.</p>
<p>I agree that splitting the bill would be assumed by college kids. Perhaps you could have a friend invite your other friends, that way they could say that they’re taking you out for your birthday.</p>
<p>I would never expect someone to foot the bill on his/her birthday, even if he/she invited me. Whenever my friends and I go out for someone’s birthday, we usually all chip in to pay for the birthday person’s dinner as well as our own.</p>