The French have a reputation of not entertaining in their own homes especially in Paris. Their daily and business life is so busy that many families want to cling to their privacy. In Paris, at smart society level, the tradition of formality still powerfully exists. Here dinner-party habits can still follow traditional standards, with printed invitations, evening dress, white-gloved waiters, and rigid conventions about serving the correct food and wines. Here people’s thought is that, if you are to give a party in your own home, then it must be done perfectly or not at all. So it is not held very often.
But in other places, younger people have become far more casual in inviting friends as well as relatives to meals. They will usually invite you with only a couple of hours’ notice. How fancy the occasion is may depend on where and how they live. The deeper you go into rural areas, the warmer the welcome will be, and sometimes you will find young French farmers almost embarrassingly hospitable.
But what is unsatisfactory is that the French have the habit of not offering you either a meal or even a glass of water. When you call on a Frenchman, you may chat cordially for an hour or so, during which time not even a coffee or some water is offered. They are not being mean: it simply does not occur to them. A few executives now follow the American habit of keeping a cabinet in their office of special guests, but this is not yet common.