Well I've ducked out for 2 years now. It might seem a bit suspicious. But I will try and get loads of work done beforehand and then maybe I won't have to.

Just one more year, surely, and then you'd be home free.

yep, this is my last year - well hopefully!

Won't have to go or won't have to work?! makes it sound like some sort of awful PhD bootcamp for 2 weeks!

I've personally never been to the house, although I've been out drinking and on work related weekends with my main sup. My boyf has done it though, met the family, had pictures drawn by the daughter etc!

this hasn't happened to me (yet!), but another phd student in my dept did once get invited ( along with a number of others) to her first supervisors house for dinner/drinks. she was only in her first year at the time and was very nervous about it, but went anyway. after dinner, they got the karoke machine out, and every single person there had to do at least one song! she was really embarrassed, and although she now admits it was a good laugh, at the time she just wanted to run away! as a result, it's my goal over the next three years to avoid all such occassions!

also, at our dept christmas party, they make us play all sorts of games, which often end up in you seeing your supervisor (or them seeing you!) in a way you'd really rather not! i don't know the name of the game, but one involves a row of people standing with their legs apart, and others have to crawl through this tunnel to get to the front - which ends up in lots of photos of people in the unfortunate position of crawling through their supervisors legs (or the other way around!) all the females in the department quickly learn after the first year that this isn't an event you want to be wearing a skirt to!

I have three supervisors and I've been to the houses of two of them. One does a meal usually at the start of the academic year and invites all her PhD students, post doc plus partners. It's normally pretty informal and kinda fun. My other supervisor had a big 60th birthday party this year and I was invited to that, along with most the department. In both cases I was intrigued to see what their houses were like, and because there were lots of other people there it didn't seem awkward. Sitting down for a meal with just them and their family could be more awkward.

And a week away seems :$ (this forukm doesn't quite have a smiley that sums up the horror at that!)