The birthdays of Washington
and Lincoln, together with St. Valentine's day, afford many suggestions
for the hostess. For Lincoln's birthday, the guests might
come dressed as members of the G. A. R. and their families.
War songs and plantation melodies could be sung, and some one could
read the Gettysburg address aloud. Decorate the table with a
cheap plaster bust of Lincoln, with streamers of red, white and blue
crepe paper, extending to the corners. Serve army beans
(baked), salt horse (corned beef), pickles, hard tack (biscuits), cake
and coffee.
Decide on your date
and send out invitations from ten days to two weeks in
advance. If the fourteenth is the chosen day, a roll of red
wallpaper, cut into hearts of various sizes, will help along in your
decorations, and an occasional arrow of gilt paper may be thrust
through the hearts. There are other suitable
decorations--favors, napkins, etc., to be had from paper manufacturers
for a small sum, and you can use the heart device through the entire
evening. Start with a heart hunt, using paper hearts, candy
hearts, etc., with a prize for the one finding the largest number, and
a mitten for the booby prize. The larger hearts can be cut in
two pieces, and these are matched to form partners. Pass
tablets and pencils, and ask each man to write a proposal of marriage
to his ideal, while each girl writes an acceptance to her
ideal. These should be well mixed up and then drawn from a
hat, and a proposal and acceptance read together. For
refreshments serve creamed chicken in heart-shaped paper cases, or
heart-shaped sandwiches, little cakes cut heart-shaped, or a large
layer cake with heart-shaped candies to decorate the top, and a ring, a
thimble and a piece of money hidden in the cake. The one who
gets the ring will be married first, the thimble goes to the one who
will remain single, while the money brings wealth.
Last year a girl who
was about to announce her engagement, did so on St. Valentine's
day. She entertained her girl friends at luncheon, the table
being suitably decorated with a centerpiece that told the
story. Ferns, asparagus vine and red tulle were prettily
massed around a black velvet cat emerging from a bag of red
silk. Around its neck was a red ribbon, and hanging from this
was a white card containing the names of the newly betrothed
pair. "The cat was out of the bag" at last.
Heart-shaped place cards, strings of red paper hearts draped around the
sides of the table and from the chandelier to the corners of the table,
and sandwiches, cakes and candy in heart shapes, all carried out the
idea.
Follow the heart idea
in your games. Old Maids may be played with a set of cards
each of which is pasted on a red cardboard heart. Play
"Hearts Up" with a tiny heart, just as you play "Up Jenkins."
Have the men guests each write a description of the ideal lady of his
heart, and the girls in turn write descriptions of their ideal mates.
Suspend a large sheet
across one corner of the room and on it paste three large red paper
hearts, numbering them one, two, three. Above each one write
a small verse.
The first:
Blow your bubble right on here,
And you'll be married before another year.
Above the second write:
To be engaged this very week
Number two is the one to take.
Above the third write:
A sad, an awful fate awaits the one who seeks me,
For he or she will ever a spinster or a bachelor be.
On a small table nearby have a
large bowl filled with soap-suds and also clay pipes decorated with
hearts. Small paper fans should be given to each player, who
first blows the bubbles off his pipe, then tries to fan them on the
heart where he wishes them to go. Most will try to avoid
heart number three.
Wearing your heart on
your sleeve: One person out of the assembled company retires
from the room. Those remaining behind choose a state of mind,
such as "Joy." The person outside is called back.
When he counts 1, 2, 3, those taking part in the game strike an
attitude representing "Joy." The person called in then tries
to guess what they are representing. The first person who
laughs while the attitude is being assumed is sent out after the player
guesses the word--to be "it" next time. Each guesser has
three chances; if all three guesses are wrong he goes out
again.
Some suggestions for words
that can be acted out are: Anger, indifference, jealousy,
pity, curiosity, stupidity, pride, expectancy, disgust, fear,
self-consciousness, dignity.
To match partners, provide a
basket of cardboard hearts and, on arrival, require each boy to punch
one of them with a key in his possession. Distribute the
punched hearts among the girls. Find partners by matching
keys and the keyholes.
Should you be entertaining on St. Valentine's day, heart-shaped programmes with pencil attached should be provided for each guest. Upon the prgrammes are written the following questions, the answers to which are all names of Shakespeare's plays:
1. Who were the hero and heroine?
2. What mythological characters did they resemble?
3. What did their courtship resemble?
4. Of whome did he buy the ring?
5. What did he write her?
6. When were they married?
7. Who acted as best man and maid of honor?
8. Who were the ushers?
9. What black man tended the door at the wedding?
10. What ladies gave a recitation?
11. What three kings (relatives) attended?
12. Where did they make their home?
13. What kingly thing did he do that caused their first
quarrel?
14. What did he later say about it?
15. What did her temper resemble?
16. What did he consider his duty after marriage?
17. What did he tell his servant to do?
18. What did she give him?
19. What did their marriage prove to be?
20. What was their daily life like?
21. What man with a Roman nose caused them to forget their
troubles?
22. What would you say of their marriage in the end?
Answers:
1. Romeo and Juliet.
2. Venus and Adonis.
3. A Midsummer Night's Dream.
4. The Merchant of Venice.
5. Sonnets.
6. Twelfth Night.
7. Antony and Cleopatra.
8. Two Gentlemen of Verona.
9. Othello.
10. The Merry Wives of Windsor.
11. King Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VIII.
12. Hamlet.
13. King Lear.
14. Much Ado About Nothing.
15. The Tempest.
16. The Taming of the Shrew.
17. Julius! Seize her! (Julius Caesar)
18. Measure for Measure.
19. The Comedy of Errors.
20. Love's Labour Lost.
21. Titus Adronicus.
22. All's Well That Ends Well.
To match partners, each young
man is given a heart-shaped card upon which is written the name of some
lover famous in history or fiction; the girls are given similar cards,
with the names of the ladies to whom these heroes were
devoted. Of course each lover seeks his lass and thus becomes
her partner. The following are offered as
suggestions: John Smith and Pocahontas, Paul and Virginia,
Romeo and Juliet, Hiawatha and Minnehaha, John Alden and Priscilla,
Orpheus and Eurydice, Dante and Beatrice, Isaac and Rebecca, Petruchio
and Katharine, Gabriel and Evangeline, Pygmalion and Galatea, The Judge
and Maud Muller, Touchstone and Audrey.
As the guests
assemble, give each gentleman a slip of paper bearing the name of a
woman, and the ladies the name of some man noted in fiction as a
lover. Thus the one who has Romeo hunts for the lady who has
Juliet on her paper. When all know who their partners are,
the ladies must evade every attempt on the part of the gentleman to
propose to them during the evening.
A prize is given to the
gentleman who has succeeded in proposing, and to the girl who
has eluded all efforts of her partner by her wit and sagacity.
Have a colonial
supper for the twenty-second, the guests to be dressed in old-time
cosutmes, the rooms lighted with candles and sperm-oil lamps.
A collection of relics may be arranged for, old songs and
games indulged in, and a real colonial supper
served. Serve tea and old-time cookies, and if it is a
money-making affair, sell tea and Japanese china on commission.
Cut from green paper
a number of pieces approximately representing the map of
Ireland. There are as many of these as guests, and to each a
little pencil is attached with ribbon. Each player is given
one, which he or she is called upon to fill out with the names and
positions of the various large cities, rivers, mountains,
etc. A book bound in green makes a suitable prize.
If possible, draw a pig on the floor; if the floor is not suitable, draw it upon a blackboard, or, using charcoal, upon a sheet. Then blindfold each player, turn him around three times and tell him to mark the pig's eye with a cross. A variation on this is to have the players draw the tail, which should be omitted in the original drawing. Still another fun-making scheme is to pass sheets of paper and have each person, while blindfolded, or with closed eyes, draw a pig. Suitable prizes for such contests are the little brown earthenware pig money banks, to be had for a few pennies each.
Some clever games for entertaining on All Fool's day may include the "Foolish Walk," for which pile sofa pillows, books, plants and anything in the way of obstruction on the floor; then tell a certain person to mark each article carefully in mind, blind fold him and tell him to walk across the room. In the meantime, after the victim is blindfolded, the objects have been noiselessly removed, leaving the floor clear. It is amusing in the extreme to see the blind one making his way, and when the bandage Is removed the astonishment is great.
This may be followed by a guessing contest. Provide cards and pencils for each guest, with numbers for each course of a dinner menu. Have your courses prepared beforehand, bring each one in separately, and after two minutes remove it. The contestants write down the name of each course as they guess it, and a prize is given to the one making the largest number of correct guesses. The following "dishes" are suggested: Oysters, short pointed ends of blue crayons (blue points); soup, small brown cardboard turtles, in a soup-plate of water; relishes, toy or paper red dishes (radishes); crackers, tiny fire-crackers; meat; a toy lamb in a small pan; poultry, a map of Turkey with the name erased; dessert, a curl of hair (lady-lock) or a strawberry emery in a dish of ice (frozen strawberry); cake, the ends of sulphur matches (devil's food); nuts, the iron nuts used in bolts and machinery. Decorate with vegetables instead of flowers, and amongst the refreshments have a dish of chocolates, which are nothing but cotton-batting, dipped in melted chocolate.
Old games, old customs, old tricks and charms are appropriate for Hallowe'en entertaining, and the gathering can take the character of a Hard Times Social, the guests wearing their oldest clothes (a prize may be given for the very oldest), and it the company can be accommodated in
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large kitchen, so much the better.
Use wrapping paper and the cheapest envelopes procurable for the invitations, and arrange the table with white oilcloth or a colored cotton cover. For a centerpiece fill a toy wooden washtub with rich red apples. Around this arrange candles stuck in potatoes or carrots for holders. Tin pie plates, or the wooden picnic kind, may be used, with paper nap kins and tin cups. Refreshments may be simple-sandwiches, salad, salted or plain peanuts, gingerbread, doughnuts, cookies, molasses candy and coffee; or, if a hot supper is desired, you can choose between naked beans or scalloped oysters, rolls, pickles, individual pumpkin pies, cot fee and nuts.
Corn husks will hold salad. The nuts should be brought to the table in a great wooden bowl. This should be placed in the center of the table and the guests will be asked to help themselves. However, some will be found tacked to the bottom of the bowl, two of the guests will find their nuts fastened together by means of a tiny wire - or thread, and all kinds of confusion will result. When the nuts are opened they will be found but empty shells, the kernels having been removed to make way for small bits of paper on which is printed the fortune of the finder.
Here are some Hallowe'en fortunes, short and optimistic, that may be used:
At one successful Hallowe'en affair the guests entered the house through a cellar door. The cellar was lighted by means of pumpkin lanterns, and a ghost met them and silently motioned them toward the cellar stairs. In stead of ducking for apples, which wets the hair, have two pieces of stick, sharpened to a point at each end, and these nailed together to form an X. On the four points are stuck, respectively, an apple, a potato, a piece of soap and a piece of candle. The X has a piece of string caught into the nail in the middle, and is suspended from the chandelier and set spinning. Then you stand around and try to bite at the apple as the cross spins. If you bite the apple it is a sign of a rich and early marriage; if the potato you marry a farmer; the piece of soap means you marry a poor man, and the candle is to light you sitting up waiting for your husband to come home.
The old tricks never lose interest, but for the sake of novelty may be changed. A piece of candle in the tub of water may take the place of the apples for which young people enjoy "bobbing." Provide a package of the little paste alphabets used in soup. Place these in a bowl, allow each guest to draw a handful and scatter them in a tub of water; the combinations they will form, suggest the name of the wife or husband to be.
For hallowe'en burn all the letters of the alphabet on a big pumpkin, with a hot poker. Then hang it in the doorway, twirl rapidly and have each guest try to stab a letter with a hatpin. The letter hit is supposed to be the initial letter of one's future mate. If none is hit, celibacy is the fate in store.
The list of costumes is endless. Sheets and pillow-cases, with a white
Witch
or death's-head mask, are easily arranged for a ghost costume for either boys or girls. A witch requires a dark woollen skirt, a black cape and a wig of coarse hair hanging in strings from beneath a black pointed hat. She carries a broom, of course, and a black cat made of paper may be perched on her shoulder.
Topsy has her face blackened, wears a wig of black hair done in little plaits all over her head, a short waisted and short-skirted dress of gay cotton, striped stockings and old shoes.
A gipsy girl wears a red petticoat, a black velvet bodice with a silk scarf
Gipsy
around her waist, a gaily colored handkerchief around the neck and a broad banded bracelet on the arm. She carries a tambourine.
With a checked gingham dress, a huge apron and a bandana handkerchief over the head, anyone will pass for a colored "mammy."
For a rag-doll costume, take two pieces of muslin each about fourteen inches long and eleven Wide, and round the corners. Sew up on three sides; paint nose, eyebrows and mouth on it and cut out places for the eyes; slip this over the head. Wear white cotton gloves, and wear stockings over your shoes and a cotton dress made
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with a long skirt. Practice walking in a loose-jointed, floppy way, to carry out the illusion.
A baby costume is easily fashioned by wearing a rather full nightdress over long white petticoats. A mask representing a baby face, a bib, a white cap and rattle complete the costume.
As for the boys, a slender lad dressed as a girl is always a success. Uncle Sam, Indians, cowboys and pi rates are always popular and are easily copied from pictures.
Delightful
entertainments may be given during the holiday season, when the young
folks are home from school or college. A gathering of friends
and neighbors, old and young, may be entertaining and instructive and
yet inexpensive. The decorations consist of the Christmas
greens, bells, etc., and the tree may be the center of
attraction. There are many pretty cards at this season which
may be used for invitations and place cards, the shops are full of toys
and novelties which may be used as favors and prizes, and the
refreshments may be very simple,--home-made candies and Christmas cakes
playing an important part in your menu.
All young people, and
some not so young, love to "dress up," and an interesting affair can be
made out of a Twelve-month Social. Ask your friends to come dressed or
wearing some device to represent the months of the year, and offer
prizes for the best ideas. January may come as Father Time;
February offers a wide choice with its famous birthdays and the feast
of St. Valentine; March offers the hare and "Paddy;" April brings the
Easter bride; May is the blossom month and is also sacred to our dead
heroes; June brings roses; July is, of course, patriotic; August offers
the summer girl; with September comes Labor Day and the "whining
schoolboy, with his satchel, and shining morning face." We
now remember Columbus in October because of the anniversary of his
discovery of America; while November brings us Thanksgiving day,
instituted by the Pilgrims; and the year winds up very properly with
Christmas and Santa Claus.
A Christmas or New Year's dinner could be enacted in charade form, the audience to guess the viands as acted. Give each person a copy of the menu, with only the courses written thereon. These are filled out, as guessed, with a prize for the best. The menu is as follows:
Soup, noodle
(new-dull); roast, turkey (Turk-key); gravy, giblet (jib-let);
vegetables, potato (pot-eight-o); cauliflower, (call-I-flower);
succotash
(suck-at-ash); jelly, current (currant); dessert, plum pudding
(plumb); beverage, coffee (cough-fee). The old game of
"Consequences" may be varied for the occasion, called "Resolutions,"
and played accordingly. If the party is held on New Year's
eve it may wind up with the birth of the New Year, finding all standing
in a circle with joined hands. As the clock strikes twelve,
the company sings, "Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot," and then with
a handshake and a greeting for every one, the party breaks up.
Provide guests with
papers and pencils. Begin by having ten letters of the
alphabet read to the company. These are to be copied down and
the guests must choose a new year's resolution of ten words, each
beginning with one of the letters used in order in which they have been
given out. These impromptu resolutions when read, will cause
much amusement.