A BACHELOR SUPPER
"When I was a bachelor I lived by myself
And all the bread and cheese I got, I put upon the shelf;
The rats and the mice, they made such a strife
I was forced to go to London to buy me a wife.
The streets were so broad and the lanes were so narrow
I was forced to bring my wife home in a wheelbarrow."
This old Mother Goose rhyme was the keynote of a bachelor supper which one girl gave for her brother and a few of his friends on his birthday.
The centerpiece on the table was an arrangement of bachelors' buttons and at every place was a tiny toy wheelbarrow filled with candies, a wee dressed-up dolly dame perched atop of each load.
The rhyme also furnished the reason for the first course, which was most suitably bread and cheese, only the bread was in the form of buttered rounds of toast and the cheese was a delicious Welsh rarebit, accompanied by coffee or gingerale.
Ice-cream in cantaloupes with a chocolate mouse nibbling at the rind followed, to be eaten with those most delicious of all cookies—home-made "hermits."
MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY TEA
A pleasant way for a daughter to entertain for her mother is to give a little informal afternoon tea, asking the mother's friends and their daughters and thus making it a kind of mother and daughter affair.
Send out the invitations on your calling card, writing your mother's name at the top. If your mother likes surprises, arrange the party to be one if possible, but if she is like most mothers she will prefer to know what's going on and so be prepared.
The rooms should be decorated with flowers of the season. The country girl will find it easy in spring, summer, or fall.
During the afternoon a little program of previously arranged "mother" songs, lullabies and readings by some of the guests may agreeably interrupt the chat.
Tea, sandwiches and little cakes may be served in the dining-room from a festive birthday table. The centerpiece may be a bowl of pink roses—to match in number the years of the guest of honor. Candles from under rose-colored paper or silk shades may light the room, and if desired each guest may be presented with a miniature band-box covered with rose-sprigged paper or chintz—filled with wee pink and white candies.
A PUSSY CAT PARTY
When Billy's mother decided to give him a birthday party, she pounced upon the pussy cat plan, partly because pussy-willows are still flourishing in April, but mostly because she knew that kittens and cats are favorites with nine and ten year olds.
The invitations were folded kitty-cornered and inside of each appeared a fat fuzzy little gray puss taken from a real pussy-willow branch. "Puss" had pen and ink ears, whiskers and tail, and likewise a tiny red-painted fence post upon which to sit.
The first game was a good romp at "Puss-in-the-Corner." That was followed by the foolish but funny "Poor Pussy."
While the children were still in a circle for that, Billy's mother explained a new game. It was called "Kitty Kitty" and was carried out on the lines of "Spin the Platter." In every child's ear Billy whispered the name of some sort of cat, as for instance, tiger, "yaller," green-eyes, double-toes, maltese, Angora, black and white, gray.
He then occupied the center of the circle and spun a tin pieplate. As he did so he called out one of the names he had assigned and counted rapidly out loud up to ten. Thus, "Green-eyes, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten."
The child who had been given the name "green-eyes" was supposed to jump up and snatch the pie tin before Billy had finished counting to ten. If "green-eyes" failed, then he had to take Billy's place. Billy, too, of course, had a pussy cat label.
Another circle game that was fun was called "Pussy's Prowlings." It was on the order of stage-coach. Billy's mother told the story of a kitty's wanderings and before she started to tell it, she whispered to each child the name of something which was to appear in the story. For instance, she gave out "haymow," "milk dish," "mouse hole," "catnip."
Every time she mentioned any such name in the process of telling the story, the child who had it was expected to rise from his chair, turn around three times and sit down again. When the words "pussy's prowlings" were mentioned, all the players jumped up and exchanged seats. The story teller also tried to get a seat, and if she succeeded the child who was finally left without one had to continue the story.
PUSSY'S PROWLINGS
Once there was a PUSSYCAT named BLINKY who said to herself one day, "I'm tired of MILK to drink and I'm oh, so hungry for MOUSE. I must go on a MOUSE hunt."
So BLINKY stole out of the red BRICK HOUSE where she lived very happily with the JONES FAMILY. She pattered down the back DOORSTEPS where her MILK SAUCER was set and she scampered along the winding PATH to the BARN.
(That's the way PUSSY'S PROWLINGS began.)
Up the LADDER to the HAYMOW she crept and through the heaps of sweet clover HAY to a HOLE IN THE WALL. There BLINKY knew lived a MOUSE. So she crouched close to the MOUSE HOLE, as still as still could be and watched, and she watched and she watched and she watched.
But that MOUSE must have been away from home or else very busy down in its HOLE, for it never once stuck its little NOSE out. And when BLINKY had watched there in the HAYMOW for three long, long hours, she was so hungry that she couldn't watch for that MOUSE a single minute more.
She thought of the MILK SAUCER by the back DOORSTEPS and she said to herself, "If I can't have MOUSE, MILK won't taste so bad after all."
So BLINKY made her way back through the heaps of HAY and scrambled down the LADDER to the HAYMOW and ran along the winding PATH to the back DOORSTEPS. And there, sure enough, was a SAUCER full of MILK all ready for her to drink. So BLINKY lapped it up very hungrily and was perfectly happy!
(And that's the way PUSSY'S PROWLINGS ended.)
The next game was called "Hunt the Mouse." Billy had hidden a chocolate mouse somewhere in the room and the children were asked to be kitties and try to find it. Whenever anyone came very near the hiding place, Billy miaowed loudly, or if everyone was very far from it, Billy would mew only faintly. The "kitty" who found the mouse kept it for a reward.
In another room the children had a chance to hunt for those mittens which the "naughty kittens" once lost. Many tiny red paper mittens were scattered throughout the room and were much more easily found than the mouse.
The supper table delighted the children. In the center of it sat a big stuffed toy cat surrounded by chocolate mice, and at each child's place a tiny white plush cat with the child's name on a paper tied to the neck had been placed. Such toys can usually be bought in five and ten cent stores.
Pussy-willow sprays laid flat on the tablecloth decorated the table gracefully. The napkins were the paper ones which feature black cats at Hallowe'en.
Little ramekins of creamed chicken pleased the children. With the chicken, Billy's mother served "kitty-cornered" sandwiches of brown bread filled with cream cheese and chopped nuts. There was hot cocoa too, and for the last course individual molds of chocolate blanc mange with whipped cream and a candied cherry on top. Needless to say there was a birthday cake which was brought in ablaze with candles and set before Billy to cut.
Each guest received a souvenir chocolate mouse and was ready to declare upon departure at six that the pussy cat party had been, oh, so jolly!
A GIRL'S BIRTHDAY LUNCHEON
Once a mother gave a little birthday luncheon for her daughter who was a freshman in high school. It pleased the fourteen-year-old and her friends because of the novelty in decorations and menu.
The class colors were green and white, so that scheme was used throughout. In the center of the table was a green bowl with a few paper narcissi arranged in a flower holder, Japanese fashion.
Around each plate was a wreath of smilax—any small green vine would do perfectly well—and above each plate a tiny green candle burning in a wee holder. The place-cards were tied to the handles of the holders.
Glass dishes of lime drops and wintergreen candies added to the general green and white effect.
The menu consisted of fruit cocktail with a sprig of mint atop of each portion, followed by a second course of chicken à la King generously sprinkled with capers, and accompanied by hot rolls and olives. Then came hot chocolate with a marshmallow floating in each cup and milestone salad, which consisted of oblongs of cream cheese into which numerals cut out of green peppers were pressed. The milestones stood erect on fresh lettuce leaves and were served with French dressing.
After that a birthday cake was borne in ablaze with fourteen green tapers and set before the little hostess to cut. Great was the fun when the fortune favors, baked in the cake, were found by the guests.
Pistachio ice-cream accompanied the cake, but vanilla ice-cream or a green gelatine dessert would be equally fitting.
The favors were little green vanity bags made from ribbon by the fourteen-year-old's mother.
THE WOODEN WEDDING
An informal evening party is perhaps the jolliest way to celebrate the fifth wedding anniversary.
After everybody has arrived, try a wooden smile contest. There will be any number of humorous attempts, but few will be wooden. The contestant who smiles most woodenly may receive as a prize a gaily painted wooden jumping jack or any other wooden toy.
The next amusement can be a progressive one, consisting of putting together at tables wooden puzzles of all sorts, including jig-saw puzzles.
Puzzles make good prizes for this contest. One of the carefully packed wooden boxes of candy is another possibility.
Another occupation that is appropriate and fun-making is a pea and tooth-pick contest. Wooden tooth-picks and dried peas soaked up are provided. Each person is then assigned to construct one member of a tooth-pick wedding party properly. The tooth-pick persons when finished should form in a parade down the center of the library table.
A light buffet supper or simply ice-cream and coffee may be served in the dining-room. Decorate the table with a central wooden bowl containing some simple flowers such as daisies, honeysuckles, snapdragons, nasturtiums, or whatever flowers are in season.
There may be wooden candlesticks with candles to match the color scheme and small wooden plates and bowls for candies and nuts.
Serve the ice-cream on wooden plates covered with lace paper doilies, and give as favors tiny wooden household articles such as dolls' rolling-pins, clothespins, barrels, washtubs, spinning wheels, and the like.
THE TIN WEDDING
The tenth wedding anniversary has many possibilities for fun. An informal social evening or a dinner followed by some jolly stunts are in order.
In any case, arrange for the dining table a centerpiece of a shiny tin funnel filled with bright garden or wild flowers surrounded by a frill of lace paper to represent an old-fashioned, formal bouquet. Use tin candlesticks with bayberry candles for illumination and scatter tiny new patty pans with crinkly edges over the table to hold candies and nuts.
The salad may be served on shiny tin plates covered with lace paper doilies, the ice-cream in individual patty pans, and the coffee or punch in tin cups.
At each place put a tiny funnel bouquet, a miniature of the central one or else some tiny tin toy.
Tin whistles for everybody would promote the hilarity.
The old-fashioned game of "Spin the Platter" would be good to start the entertainment of the evening. Then may come a "tin" minute paper and pencil contest to see who can write the most words beginning or ending with TIN in the allotted ten minutes.
Ten "reel" years of married life may next be shown. This feature is simply a series of movie-like pantomimes showing humorous events, real or imaginary, in the life of the host and hostess—given, of course, by their friends.
A tin band concert will also provide a good time. Those who are in the band perform on instruments contrived from kitchen utensils or the tin noise-making novelties which can be obtained in the shops.
A MOCK WEDDING
A mock wedding is a funny way to celebrate one of the numerous early wedding anniversaries, especially if a group of young married women friends want to join in a surprise.
The bride may be invited to a chum's house and presently the procession may appear before her.
The bride should have a cheesecloth or mosquito netting veil with dried orange peel to hold the folds in place, and she should carry a bouquet of white chicken feathers tied with white tape—the shower part can be little bows of rags.
The bridesmaids might all wear the cheapest of farmers' hats, with huge bunches of goldenrod or asters on them or else such things as little kitchen utensils sewed on the front in place of flowers. Bouquets of burdock tied with colored cretonne would be attractive for them, or possibly as a substitute for the conventional shepherds' crooks they could carry umbrellas with big bows on the handles. A third suggestion for the bridesmaids is that they carry grape baskets filled with none too choice outdoor flowers and weeds.
There should be a flower girl, of course, who can wear an abbreviated costume. Her hair should be in ringlets with a big ribbon tied around her head, and she may carry a market basket filled with scraps of paper, or flowers if you prefer, to scatter in front of the bride.
The ring bearer may carry a curtain ring on a sofa cushion.
At the ceremony, of course, you must omit all the really solemn parts, but you may let someone make up some questions for the minister to use. For instance, he may say to the mock bridegroom, "Do you promise to obey this woman?" Instead of saying, "I will" and "I do," they may say, "I wilt" and "I doth."
For a wedding breakfast, you might serve creamed codfish in heavy crockery, and follow it with helpings of cream of wheat either cold or hot, which can be served to resemble ice cream in little paper cases. There should be a wedding cake which may be only ginger-bread, and some kind of grotesque motto may be inscribed in the frosting.
A SILVER WEDDING SHOWER
A little group, girlhood friends of more than twenty-five years standing, recently planned a pleasant shower for a popular friend, the president, as it happened, of their fortnightly sewing club, on her silver wedding anniversary.
None of the ladies was rich and the gifts were planned to cost not over fifty cents each. Many of them were less than that.
Silver fittings for a work basket were chosen and included a silver needle case, a silver thimble case, a silver hem gauge, a unique tatting shuttle, a little silver ripping knife, a cunning strawberry emery with a silver hull and a wee wax cherry with a silver stem.
The gifts were wrapped in white tissue paper, tied with silver cord with a tiny shining bell inserted in the center of each knot. They were presented in a lovely sweet grass sewing basket, which in turn was wrapped and tied with silver ribbon.
This was not given, however, till the close of the afternoon's sewing, which had gone on as usual, though there was an atmosphere of ill-concealed expectation.
Simple refreshments were brought in and served in buffet style. Home-made ice-cream was passed in little ice cups which had as decorations around the rim a circlet of glittering silvery tinsel. "Silver Cake" and bonbons in silver wrappings accompanied the ice cream.
Last of all, the "shower" was borne in on a silver tray and set before the surprised guest of honor. A little rhyme explained this turn of events to the delightfully mystified recipient:
Because of many a happy hour
With you, well spent, we give this shower,
Just to remember in a way
With love, your silver wedding day.
As an amusing little contest each lady was asked to write down ten things she had learned in the last twenty-five years. The replies made good reading and furnished plenty of conversation till home-going time.
A CAPE COD LUNCHEON
In remembrance of a happy two weeks spent in a little bungalow on Cape Cod, one of the girls of the "bunch" gave a quaint luncheon for the others during the year following.
The invitations bore a tiny spray of bayberry sketched in one corner and read like this:
May the bayberry dip and the odor of pine
At this little reunion luncheon of mine,
Bring back all our fun in the house by the sea,
Where we were as jolly as jolly could be.
On the luncheon table homespun runners were used, crossed in the center where a brown wicker basket filled with the gray green of bayberry branches, brightened by the orange of bittersweet, stood on a mat of fragrant pine.
Green bayberry dips in the simplest of low tin candlesticks lighted the table and at each cover the place-card was a little outline map of Cape Cod with the situation of the summer camp conspicuously marked.
The menu consisted of clam cocktails, codfish cakes and tiny pots of baked beans, hot steamed brown bread cut in small round slices, blueberry tarts, and coffee.
The favors were wee bayberry "waxes" for the sewing basket, each with a bit of a bayberry twig peeping from its top.
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHOWERS
"How shall I announce my engagement?" The engaged girl we have always with us, and the next step after the engagement is the announcement of it. Most girls like to have some kind of little social function to break the news to their special circle of friends. Usually a mother or a sister or a chum does the entertaining, though a girl herself may perfectly well plan and carry out such a party.
There are several sorts of affairs which may serve as a setting for an announcement. A favorite kind is a luncheon for a group of girl friends. Even less work is an afternoon tea and to that a girl's men friends may be asked also, though it's really easier to have girls only. Another kind of announcement party is the evening affair to which both men and girl friends are invited and at which the announcement should be "sprung" as a total surprise as in all other announcement affairs.
After the engagement is known, immediately the friends of the bride-to-be begin to think of showers for her. One friend or a group of friends or her club may be hostesses and give such an affair.
There are different ways of planning them. For instance, they may be appropriate to the month, like a Christmas Tree Shower in December or an Indian Summer Shower in November or a Rainy Day Shower in April. Or they may take as keynotes the engaged girl's special likes, as in the case of an apple shower, a kitty shower or an old rose shower. And then again, they may be just plain, ordinary, handkerchief showers, or linen showers, or kitchen showers, with an original touch somewhere.
"A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME" LUNCHEON
At a recent engagement luncheon the announcement was made in a unique way.
A large wooden embroidery hoop was hung from the ceiling over the table and in the ring perched a gaily painted wooden parrot, the kind that rocks back and forth when touched.
From the parrot streamers of colored baby ribbon led to the different places, and tied to the ends of the ribbons were tiny notes in envelopes. These on being opened showed the names of the engaged couple and a short rhyme reading thus:
A little bird told me
A very nice thing,
That Randolph gave Sally
A diamond ring.
The refreshments followed somewhat the parrot color scheme, with halves of grapefruit garnished with cherries, chicken à la King, pimento, walnut and cream cheese salad, orange ice, and little cakes with colored frosting.
Small celluloid parrots perched on the rims of the glasses were appropriate souvenirs.
A HAPPINESS TEA
_Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full o' rye,
Four and twenty bluebirds
Baked in a pie;
When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing,
About a certain couple here
Who have some news to spring_.
Thus did one girl announce her engagement in the month of May. She had asked twenty-four of her best friends to come to a bluebird tea one Saturday afternoon, and nobody suspected her secret, although they did remember that the bluebird stands for happiness.
The party was held out on the hostess's big porch, which was decorated with jars of pink and white apple blossoms. Everybody had a very good time dancing to the music of the phonograph until it was time for the tea to be served. The waitresses were Betty's two little sisters, who wore as insignia big blue bows on their hair and cunning little aprons made of bluebird cretonne.
The tea was iced and served with lemon and mint in tall glasses. The sandwiches were tiny and round and filled with pink strawberry jam which made them seem like delectable apple-blossom petals. Betty happened to have bluebird plates and she used paper napkins with a bluebird motif.
After the sandwiches came little pink and green and white frosted cakes and last of all the surprise. It appeared to be a great pie with bluebird heads peeking through the crust. In reality the crust was just brown paper touched up with a bit of water color paint and pasted across the top of a big open pan. The bluebirds soon showed what they were when the guests in turn pulled them out of the pie by means of the narrow white ribbon attached to each one. They were really flat pasteboard bluebirds and served as the excuse for the rhyme announcing Betty's engagement.
As a souvenir each guest had a tiny bluebird May basket filled with pink and white Jordan almonds. Small square boxes formed the foundations of the May baskets, the sides were then covered with bluebird crepe paper and the corners tied with wee blue bows. Little cut-out bluebirds hung from the slender handles and bore the names of the individual guests.
When they said good-by, the guests all declared that they had had a bluebirdy time, which in other words meant that Betty had planned very happily.
A HELLO PARTY
The invitations to this party read as follows:
Hello! hello! hello!
A party's on the wire;
And you must surely go
Or else arouse my ire!
Friday evening
Eight o'clock
The affair was planned by one girl to announce the engagement of a chum, and of course the object of the party was not revealed in the invitations.
All kinds of jolly games were played to pass the evening, and one pleasant feature was "A Telephonic Conversation" by Mark Twain rendered by a good reader.
The telephone was the keynote of the evening and played a prominent part in the table decorations. A big blue paper bell such as one sees in front of telephone booths hung over the center of the table. Beneath it was a low bowl of forget-me-nots of which the guests did not see the significance till later.
The candles were white with blue bell-shaped shades, and at each person's plate as a favor stood one of the tiny glass telephones seen in candy stores, full of candies.
The place-cards each bore a mock telephone number, such as Sing 1236,
Circle 6320, Joke 5156, Shiver 9315, Groan 231.
The menu was mostly white and served on blue dishes. It consisted of chicken patties, hot rolls, cream cheese and white grape salad, and vanilla ice-cream in blue frilled paper cases.
Toward the end of the ice-cream course the hostess asked the guests to announce their telephone numbers, in turn. Whereupon, each person was requested to rise from the table and act out his number. This was comparatively simple and made everyone quite hilarious.
When it came the turn of the hostess, she said that her number was Springit 42. The two (2), she said, were Elizabeth and John, and this was the time she had chosen to spring the announcement of their engagement.
Another way in which the announcement could be made is to prepare telephone messages of the news and tie them to the ends of blue ribbons hanging from the tongue of the bell. The hostess may announce that the "bell tolled" when the guests are allowed to open and read their messages.
AN APPLE SHOWER
A girl who was very fond of apples in every form, so much so that all her friends knew about it, was given a clever shower after she became engaged.
The invitations were cut in apple shape and tinted a little with red and green water colors. The following verses voiced the plan of the party and notified the guests:
Invitation to a Shower
Apples, apples everywhere
Will doubtless make up half the fare
On Elsie's future menu pad,
As they are Elsie's greatest fad.
So if you'd keep that fact in mind
In shower presents—'twould be kind;
Send it to me the day before
And come on Saturday at four.
January the twentieth
At Mary's house.
The first amusement of the afternoon was an apple-guessing contest, the names of different varieties of apples to be guessed from literal definitions, thus: The Royal Apple—. King. After that there was an apple-peeling contest in Hallowe'en fashion and each girl threw the peeling over her left shoulder to discover the initial of her future husband.
Immediately following this, the hostess, with the help of one of the other girls, brought in a big bushel basket apparently filled with huge rosy apples, and set it down before the guest of honor.
When the green ribbon around the stem of each make-believe apple was untied, the red crepe paper opened out, disclosing, in wrappings of soft cotton, a variety of gifts for the apple-loving girl.
There was an up-to-date corer and a plate for baking apples, a fat plush apple pincushion for the kitchen, a red apple "bank" with a slit for savings, one of the beautiful Wallace Nutting photographs of a New England apple tree in full pink and white bloom, an artistic brown basket for apples to be kept on the buffet or used for the breakfast table, and a delightful fruit bowl with an apple border.
One girl had contributed a little booklet of choice apple recipes, a jar of apple butter and another of home-made apple sauce. One artistic member of the group had stenciled a crash table runner for the porch table with a conventional apple design in yellow and orange and green, and another girl put the same design very decoratively on a round box of painted tin.
Two of the prettiest gifts were a cunning sports handkerchief with a cluster of apples stamped in one corner, and a smart flat silk hat ornament in the shape of three apples.
Before the happy bride-to-be had finished exclaiming over her gifts, the hostess served buffet refreshments that were as pretty as they were delicious. There were little individual molds of pink apple tapioca, topped with whipped cream and accompanied by small home-made cakes, frosted uniquely. Each one had in the center of its white icing a miniature apple bough as a decoration, made from two red maraschino cherries, two leaf-shaped pieces of green angelica and a bit of citron.
As a surprise for each girl, the hostess had provided a tiny bunch of apple sachets, easily made from scraps of apple-colored silks.
"I like apples more than ever now that I've begun to see their possibilities," the guest of honor declared.
AN OLD ROSE SHOWER
For a girl who was very fond of everything rose-colored, her friends planned an "old-rose" shower on Valentine's Day.
As a result, among the gifts were rose-colored silk stockings, a rose-flowered silk party bag, an old-rose boudoir cap, slippers to match, and towels with old-rose initials. Each gift was wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with old-rose ribbon, and they were all presented on a big tray, the bottom of which was rose-flowered cretonne under glass.
The refreshments were raspberry ice and tiny cakes frosted in rose and white, and each guest carried away as a favor a wee glove handkerchief with an old-rose border.
A KITTY SHOWER
It sounds odd, but the engaged girl for whom it was given was so very fond of pussy cats that her chum knew that a kitty shower would just exactly suit her.
The invitations, written on cats cut from heavy paper, read this way:
Since Elizabeth Ann is so fond of the kitty
Don't you agree that 'twould be a great pity
If we missed a good chance now for making a hit
By each bringing her some kind of a kit?
The bride-to-be suspected nothing when she was asked to a kitty luncheon at her chum's house.
The table had as decorations a centerpiece of pussy willows and yellow tulips, and the candle shades were made of yellow parchment paper with black silhouettes of cats running around them.
At each girl's place was a tiny china cat with a yellow ribbon bow on its neck to which was tied the place-card.
There was no attempt to carry out the kitty idea in the menu, but it was yellow throughout. The first course was grapefruit, then followed scalloped oysters garnished with lemon slices, chicken and mayonnaise salad, individual baked custards, and sunshine cake.
Upon withdrawing from the table, it was announced that "Pussy was in the well," and forthwith a deep cylindrical waste-basket trimmed with pussy willows was brought in and set before the guest of honor, who was requested to be the one to "pull pussy out."
With a dawning understanding of the meaning of this, the bride-to-be reached in and drew one by one from the waste-basket the "kits" which had been placed there for her. Each one was tied with yellow ribbon and had a black cat pasted on it.
The gifts were all very clever. There was a traveler's sewing kit, a small blacking kit, a wee laundry kit for motoring, a handy kit containing baggage tags, rubber bands, and the like, an emergency kit with safety pins and threaded needle for her handbag, a guest towel with a cross-stitch kitty on one end, a cream pitcher and sugar bowl with a kitten border, a quaint kitten door stop, a painted wooden kitten twine holder, a pair of Angora skating gloves, an odd little sewing apron with linen cats appliqued on the corners, and a knitting bag of cretonne which pictured Puss-in-Boots prominently among other Mother Goose People.
When the excitement of the shower was over, a guessing contest was
played, each answer being a word in which the syllable "cat" figured.
This very jolly afternoon ended with a really hilarious game of
Puss-in-the-corner.
A CAMP FIRE SHOWER
A jolly crowd of young people who had been camping together a great deal gave a lively shower to two of their number who were announcing their engagement.
The affair took place in the city in the winter time and was very informal.
After the "bunch" had gathered, someone suggested that they play charades, one of their favorite diversions.
The engaged persons were chosen to sit with the hostess before the open fire and pretend they were in camp. The word selected was not made known to them, however.
The others all retired into the next room and came back shortly, wrapped in raincoats and sou'westers, each one carrying a knobby package.
"Shower!" they shouted in chorus, throwing their bundles at the group by the fire. The parcels contained all kinds of camp conveniences. There was a camp kit containing knives and forks and spoons, a collapsible drinking cup, a thermos bottle, a pocket compass, an electric flashlight, a folding mirror, a pocket corkscrew, a folding camp grate, a folding camp stool, a folding alcohol stove with a pot, and a pocket camera.
The engaged couple were taken entirely by surprise, for they had supposed the party to be only one of many sociable evenings which the crowd were in the habit of having.
The refreshments were reminiscent of camp and were served on wooden plates around the fire in picnic fashion. The menu consisted of hot bacon and roll sandwiches, dill pickles, coffee, and marshmallows toasted over the flames.
A "ONE I LOVE" SHOWER
The invitations were made of white water color paper cut in the shape of daisies, with centers tinted yellow. Scattered over the petals were the following lines:
"One I love, two I love,
Three I love I say,
Come and see if this is true
On St. Valentine's Day."
(or "Friday next, I pray")
On all the invitations but the guest of honor's was added: "In honor of Marion's engagement. Please send your remembrance to me the day before."
This direction was put on so that the gifts could all be wrapped in advance by the hostess in white tissue paper, tied with yellow baby ribbon and a big artificial daisy tucked into the knot. Piled on a tray they were brought to the surprised little bride-to-be on the afternoon of the party. The entertainment fulfilled the promise of the invitation in this way: A large paper daisy with many petals was hung against the wall and each guest was given a pointer and asked to select a petal at random. On the back of each petal was written a little fortune rhyme somewhat on the order of this one:
"Five! he loves—good pumpkin pie, So learn to cook it—thus say I."
The refreshments were served in buffet style in the dining room. In the center of the table was a blossoming pot of marguerites. There were individual daisy salads, formed by little mounds of chicken salad covered with yellow mayonnaise and surrounded by a fringe of petals cut from the whites of hard-boiled eggs. With the salad simple bread and butter sandwiches were eaten.
As a second course, frozen custard in paper cups with borders of white paper petals was served with squares of angel cake, frosted in yellow, and squares of sunshine cake, frosted in white.
The principal feature, however, and the final one, was the favor pie. A big imitation daisy was made from a round basket, by covering the top with yellow paper and surrounding the edge with as many petals as there were guests. Each guest was asked to pull a petal from the daisy, and in so doing drew from the basket a tiny doll dressed like a "rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, merchant or chief." The girl whose fate was already assured had been guided to choose a particular petal and her favor doll proved to be dressed in the garb of her fiancé's profession.
FORTUNE RHYMES FOR A "ONE I LOVE" SHOWER
1. If you'll only wait a while
Some one nice will make you smile.
2. You will have to choose between
Walking or a limousine.
3. If you only ONLY knew
Who was thinking much of you.
4. At a motion picture show
From the screen your fate you'll know.
5. Something nice you'll sure know
In about a week or so.
6. Don't despise
Hazel eyes.
7. Far across the briny sea
Comes thy lover now to thee.
8. Your career you'll surely ship
And substitute a wedding trip.
9. A dance, a ride, a moonlit lawn,
Your heart will be completely gone.
10. One—two—three—
The third it will be.
11. Beware, beware the eyes of blue
Or they'll surely capture you.
12. Your intellect will meet its equal,
Happy though will be the sequel.
13. A word, a smile, a bow,
Married in a year from now.
14. Try a smile
For a while
To beguile.
15. You will travel far away
Sixteen years from yesterday.
AN INDIAN SUMMER SHOWER
For the girl who is to be married in the winter, an Indian Summer Shower might be given some November evening. The cards of invitation can have a little brown Indian wigwam painted in one corner, or cut out of brown paper and pasted on; or the invitations can be written on pieces of white birch bark, if you happened to have gathered and saved any from the summer vacation. Paper imitation of birch bark might also be used.
Put all the gifts, wrapped in brown tissue paper and tied with gay ribbons, in a toy wigwam which you can make with three sticks and a piece of brown burlap. When the right time comes, the engaged girl is led up to the wigwam and asked to receive the gifts. If there is a small brother or cousin who can be dressed up in an Indian suit to hand out the presents, so much the better.
The hostess may make this any kind of shower she wishes.
After the wigwam has been sacked, it would be fun if you could sit around the open fire to pop corn or toast marshmallows and play the Indian Summer game of "Pipe Dreams." Each girl writes out an imaginary dream of the bride's future. The dreams are read by the hostess, and then each dream paper is consigned to the fire.
The refreshments ought to be very simple, and may consist of hot chocolate and little chocolate cakes, cone-shaped to simulate wigwams, or they may be merely apples, nuts, popcorn, and sweet cider. Serve the nuts and apples in Indian baskets.
A CHRISTMAS TREE SHOWER
For the bride who announces her engagement in December, a Christmas tree shower might be given Christmas week. Send out cards of invitation in the shape of small Christmas trees, or else paste or paint little evergreen trees on white cards. Ask the guests to bring something small enough to be hung on a little Christmas tree. The bride should be asked to come a little later than the others, so that they may have time to hang their gifts on the tree.
The tree may be as elaborate as you wish to make it. Where trees are hard to procure, a cunning little one on a table is quite large enough. It can be decked with gold and silver hearts and candy kisses, and on its branches should hang the shower gifts, prettily wrapped and tied.
When the bride arrives, she must strip the tree. Among its treasures may be English walnut shells, gilded and tied together, with fortune verses inside.—The hostess provides one of these for each guest.
The refreshments may consist of sandwiches cut in the shape of Christmas trees and filled with green pepper and cream cheese; caraway cookies cut in the shape of Christmas trees; and hot chocolate, with a sprig of evergreen tied by a tiny bow of red to each cup-handle.
This affair could be planned specifically as a handkerchief, hosiery or kitchen shower.
WEDDINGS
Following naturally on the engagement announcement and bridal showers come the wedding plans.
If the bride's house is small, a church wedding may be the solution for her, or else she may plan a house wedding with just a few chosen friends and relatives present.
Very often, if a church wedding is planned, there is a reception afterward at the bride's home. If only a few guests are invited to it, a wedding breakfast or dinner may be served, but if a large number of people are asked, buffet refreshments are sufficient.
According to the different seasons of the year, the weddings may take on varying characters. Spring, summer, fall and winter weddings, indoor and outdoor weddings, all have their own special charms.
SUMMER WEDDING DECORATIONS
Every girl can have a pretty wedding—especially if she lives within reach of the free woods and fields or in a place of gardens and shrubbery.
Wild roses and wild clematis vines with ferns from the woods are lovely in a country church where festoons and garlands are often needed to adorn the bare walls.
Banks of black-eyed Susans with outdoor ferns, bowers of snowy dogwood in season and the fluffy wild pink azalea are very decorative, and so are the spring and early summer shrubs: syringa, deutzia, flowering almond and Japanese snowball.
Mountain laurel, with its exquisite pink flowers and glossy green leaves, lends itself particularly to church decoration. Ropes of the leaves may be looped from the roof to the side walls; and the blossoms massed in the front of the church make a fitting background for a bride and her pink-clad attendants.
In the South, Cape jasmine, in the Far West, the golden California poppies and carnations, are beautiful to use. Of course, nothing is lovelier than roses—pink and white—and should they prove scarce they can be successfully supplemented with pink and white peonies, especially for church decoration purposes.
Meadow rue in great misty clumps as it grows, arranged with tawny field lilies and dark green wood ferns, is remarkably striking in a church.
At one home wedding, big loose bunches of feathery grass, buttercups, daisies, and clover in brown earthern jars filled the corners of the living-room, and in the bay window, where the ceremony took place, tall graceful sprays of Queen Anne's lace arranged with plenty of green, made an artistic background. Glass vases filled with it stood on the window sills and on the floor, the tops of the floor bouquets hiding the window receptacles.
In the dining-room a bowl of pink and white clover occupied the center of the table and there were window boxes of the same sweet flower.
THE TABLE DECORATIONS
Whatever color scheme is used in the other parts of the house, an entirely different one may be carried out in the dining-room. Some suggestions for simple table decorations in various colors follow:
1. Large low bowl of blue and pink forget-me-nots in the center of the table, with candle shades of white, painted with forget-me-not sprays.
2. Garden basket or glass basket of yellow roses and honeysuckle with graceful sprays of honeysuckle vines trailing to the corners of the table, yellow candle shades.
3. Old-fashioned bouquet of garden flowers in old-fashioned vase—snapdragons, lark-spur, coreopsis, babies' breath, mignonette—old-fashioned stiff little artificial bouquets in white lace paper for favors.
4. Hanging basket of pink and lavender sweet peas and smilax over the table, with smilax reaching to the corners of the table and caught with pink and lavender tulle bows.
5. Wood maidenhair ferns and pink garden roses, tiny ferns scattered over the tablecloth, and rose-colored candle shades.
6. Wild clematis vines from ceiling over table to four corners, and low bowl of wild roses in center beneath sprays.
7. Bachelors' buttons and mignonette in the center of the table connected with small baskets of mignonette at the corners of the table by ribbon matching the blue bachelors' buttons, tied on the handle of each basket.
8. Scarlet poppies in silver vase, silver candlesticks and shades.
9. Large bowl of "Jack" roses in the center on a table mirror, with a single large Jack rose in a slim flower holder at each corner of the table.
10. Wicker basket of June garden pinks (white and pink) with shower of tiny bells hung on pink ribbons above them from the chandelier or ceiling.
MENUS FOR THE BUFFET LUNCHEON
Many dining-rooms are too small to have a wedding breakfast served at the table, and for that reason buffet luncheons are most popular.
The dining table is decorated with flowers and often lighted with candles under colored shades, and on it are placed extra supplies of silver and small dishes of olives, nuts and bonbons.
As the guests leave the receiving line, they move informally toward the dining-room, where they stand to be served. If the wedding reception takes place directly after a ceremony in the morning, or at high noon, the refreshments are more elaborate than at an afternoon affair and the guests may be seated to be served in the different rooms.
When a caterer is not employed, and the serving of the refreshments is managed by the hostess herself, it is a pretty and practical plan to ask several young girls to help in the dining-room. They should see that the guests are promptly supplied, and can relieve them of their plates when they have finished.
Below are half a dozen good menus for buffet wedding breakfasts and receptions, varying in degree of formality to suit individual needs.
I
BOUILLON SALTED CRACKERS CHICKEN PATTIES OLIVES PINEAPPLE SALAD SMALL LETTUCE SANDWICHES NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM WITH FRESH STRAWBERRIES COFFEE CAKE
II
CREAMED SWEETBREADS CHERRY SALAD WATERCRESS SANDWICHES RASPBERRY ICE MACAROONS
III
CHICKEN SALAD FINGER ROLLS FROZEN CUSTARD SUNSHINE CAKE
IV
SCALLOPED CRAB MEAT BREAD AND BUTTER SANDWICHES STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM ANGEL CAKE
V
ICED CLAM BROTH WITH WHIPPED CREAM SALTED CRACKERS COLD VEAL LOAF SARATOGA CHIPS OLIVES PINEAPPLE ICE SMALL CAKES
VI
ICED CONSOMMÉ SALTED CRACKERS CHICKEN CROQUETTES ROLLS FRUIT SALAD UNSWEETENED CRACKERS LEMON CREAM SHERBET SMALL HOME-MADE COOKIES
THE FAVORS
For wedding favors at a wedding breakfast or reception a number of interesting little souvenirs can be inexpensively prepared. For instance, there are wee fans (bought at the doll department) with the date lettered on each; tiny straw baskets that look like the one the flower girl carries and are filled with very small artificial forget-me-nots and rose-buds; airy butterflies of white and pale yellow silk, to be fastened to fine threads above the table in the dining-room, where they flutter realistically over the flowers beneath.
More frivolous are very diminutive bridesmaid's hats, and at the wedding of a bride who is going to travel far away there may be small boats, either real or of cardboard, with a flying flag of matrimony at the masthead.
The old-fashioned posy gift cards with clasped hands are quaint; so are the little nosegays in white paper frills, and every guest will like a box of bride's cake.
TWO SUMMER WEDDINGS
A WILD ROSE WEDDING
A wild-rose wedding which one bride planned was wonderfully attractive. In one corner of the living-room an arch of woven wire was erected, and covered with graceful wild clematis vines and wild roses. On each window-sill stood a jar of wild roses, and the mantel was banked with them.
The two bridesmaids wore pale green dresses, and carried baskets overflowing with wild roses; the maid of honor wore a gown of wild-rose pink, and carried an arm bouquet of wood maidenhair ferns and wild clematis.
The dining-table was decorated effectively. A crystal bowl filled with wild-rose sprays which trailed over the sides and along the table was placed in the center on a mat of hardy sword ferns. From above the middle of the table four garlands of wild clematis were looped down to the edge of the round table and held with bows of green tulle.
Glass dishes of olives and pink, green, and white candies on the table still further carried out the color scheme.
The menu, which was served in buffet style, was pink and white. It consisted of strawberry and pineapple cocktail, with a sprig of green mint in each glass, sliced ham and pressed chicken, potato chips, hot rolls, raspberry ice, white-frosted cakes cut in the shape of bells, pink-frosted cakes in the shape of hearts.
Fruit punch, pink with strawberry juice and green with mint, was served on the rose-bowered porch by a pretty girl in a rose-flowered frock.
A FIELD FLOWER WEDDING
Another country bride used the field flowers for decorating.
Big jars of daisies, buttercups, wild carrot, red clover, and tasseled grasses stood in the corners of all the rooms and filled the empty fireplace.
Four little girls, dressed in white with yellow sashes and hair fillets, carried a daisy chain to form an aisle for the bride and her attendants, and the ceremony took place under a big bell of field daisies.
The bridesmaids wore pale yellow georgette gowns, and carried bouquets of black-eyed Susans, the maid of honor wore old-gold georgette, lightened with white, and carried a loose bunch of daisies and buttercups.
In the center of the dining table a high-handled white-enameled basket held a natural arrangement of sweet white clovers, grasses, and yellow buttercups, and was linked by several streamers of yellow baby ribbon, with four smaller white baskets at the corners which held smaller bouquets of the same flowers. A fluffy yellow bow was tied to the handle of each basket.
The menu was also yellow and white and consisted of hot bouillon, sprinkled with grated hard-boiled egg yolks; chicken jelly salad with mayonnaise; tiny bread and butter sandwiches; frozen custard in ice cups trimmed with white paper petals, so that each individual serving looked like a daisy; small squares of sponge cake, and angel food iced in yellow; yellow and white candies.
The boxes of wedding cake were piled on the hall table, and each one had a wee daisy blossom tied into the knot of white ribbon on top.
OUTDOOR WEDDINGS
AN ORCHARD PAGEANT
There's no wedding quite so picturesque as the outdoor one. Famous is the orchard wedding beneath a blossoming apple tree, where the air is filled with fragrance and the bridal party comes winding through the trees to the trysting place. It needn't be only a poetic fancy, either—it's entirely practical, and if you have a comparatively small house, why not give your guests the beautiful freedom of outdoors instead of cooping them up in the house?
Mark out the path beforehand by mowing the grass in the chosen direction. Select plenty of ushers to conduct the guests to the spot and provide benches and settees for the older folk, who may find it tiring to stand till the wedding party arrives.
There need be no decorations except the natural ones of the orchard; preparations may consist of raking out dead leaves and branches.
A victrola may be arranged in the proper place to furnish the wedding processional—or perhaps some musical friend may be found to play the violin.
The simpler the pageant, the more effective it will be. First may come a tiny flower girl in a white frock, swinging a cretonne flowered sunbonnet from which she tosses apple blossom sprays.
If there are bridesmaids, they should wear the simplest of pink dresses with pink fillets on their hair or else wide straw hats trimmed only with a tiny wreath of flowers.
Possibly the maid of honor may add a note of contrast by wearing forget-me-not blue.
Last of all appear the bride and bridegroom, together, for in an old-fashioned orchard wedding that is less awkward than for the bridegroom to come from some other direction. The bride should wear a simple white gown—formal satin would be out of place.
The wedding breakfast may be served picnic fashion on a long table of boards decked with apple blossoms. Toasts in strawberry punch are in order while an orchestra of robins and bluebirds sing in the apple trees round about—unless the noise drives them away. The little waiting maids should wear white aprons and white caps with an apple blossom sprig stuck in the top.
Following them came a flock of flower children, tiny girls and boys scattering flower petals from the high-handled baskets swinging in their chubby little hands.
Last of all, four abreast, came the bride and bridegroom, with the bride's mother, who gave her away, on the right of the bride, and the best man on the left of the bridegroom. The ribbon girls had accompanied the procession at the proper intervals holding the aisle ribbon, and the last two brought up the rear, winding up the ribbon as they came.
The reception took place immediately afterward on the lawn, and the guests were served with ice-cream and cake wherever they chanced to be by the attentive ribbon girls.
In the back yard at a long table a colored caterer superintended the service.
Altogether it was a most successful wedding and at the same time a fairly easy one to plan since there was no question of overcrowding in the house, although in case of rain it could have been managed there.
A WEDDING ON THE LAWN
A girl who lived in a small town and had a big lawn chose to be married outdoors in August. The blossoming hydrangea hedge in front of the house was made thicker with small evergreen branches stuck down into the ground. One corner of the yard where there was a natural alcove curving in among the shrubs, she picked out for the wedding itself.
The porch was decorated with Japanese lanterns and flowers, and beforehand the guests gathered in groups there or on the lawn.
When it was time for the ceremony, some girl friends of the bride marshalled the guests to the chosen place and then returned to the house to act as ribbon girls. There were about a dozen of them in light summer dresses, and the first couple, holding the ends of long white ribbons, preceded the bridal groups, roping off an aisle across the lawn and among the spectators.
A chorus of young musical friends came first, singing the words and music of Lohengrin.
FALL WEDDINGS
A BLUE AND GOLD WEDDING
September and October weddings are always popular, partly perhaps because of the decorating possibilities of the autumn season.
Goldenrod and wild asters one thinks of for early fall. At one evening home wedding where this blue and gold color scheme was used, the stalks of plumey golden rod seemed to be growing naturally along the stair rail; they were held in place at the uprights.
The rooms were hung with blue and golden globes of lights—in reality paper lanterns—sheltering electric bulbs. The fireplace held masses of goldenrod, and blue jars holding wild asters crowned the mantel, the tables, the piano, and the wide window sills.
The bridesmaids wore gowns of yellow organdy and the maid of honor an aster blue costume.
In the dining-room a dull gilt basket of blue asters occupied the center of the table set for a buffet repast, and a bow of blue and golden tulle fluttered from the handle of the basket.
The favors were tiny kewpie dolls, wearing frilly skirts and caps, some of blue and others of yellow. The blue were for the men, the yellow for the girls.