My fiance and I wanted to do something special to introduce our families to our wedding party and formally ask everyone to be a part of our wedding (yes they have already said yes) just to say thank you, and that we appreciate them... we were thinking of hosting an engagement party for ourselves (no gifts) kind of a barbecue fun celebration ...

would it be terribly horrible that we are hosting it ourselves... Joe and I are paying for everything ourselves anyway and it seemed natural that we would host it...

No it would not be terrible. It’s not really an engagement party it’s a ”thanks you for being in my wedding” party and I threw one for my girls and had a lot of fun. Plus hey maybe someone will bring a gift. I love the GIFTS but they are taking over my house. I also love being with my family as much as possible so any type of party that includes me and family/close friends I am down for. HAPPY PARTYING