The [Ashkenazi custom](http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/560665/jewish/The-Shalom-Aleichem-Hymn-Explained.htm)  is to sing “Sholom Aleichem” when returning home on Friday night from the synagogue. The reason is related to the ministering angels who accompany a person home on Friday night from the synagogue.

If for some reason (say illness) no-one went to synagogue on Friday night, do the people at home sing “Sholom Aleichem”?