and there was a yellow polka-dot number in the dress-up clothes that presumably came from my aunt's wedding (the mother of the 18-attendant cousin). a buttery gauzy material with tiny white points of snow flocking. The cut of that particular beast labeled it clearly as late 70's vintage.

I am never doing that to my friends. Ever.

Realising that I just said 'never'. Let me rephrase that: I would hope that I would not feel compelled, for reasons of tradition and ceremony, to attempt to coerce my nearest and dearest into unflattering gowns that they will, for all intents and purposes, not have the opportunity or the desire to wear again.

Okay, I'll invite all the bad karma in the world. I will still not do that to my friends.