WHEN MOTHER LETS US GIVE A PARTY
DRESSING UP
WHEN MOTHER LETS US GIVE A PARTY
A BOOK THAT TELLS LITTLE FOLK HOW BEST TO ENTERTAIN AND AMUSE THEIR LITTLE FRIENDS
By ELSIE DUNCAN YALE
ILLUSTRATED BY ADA BUDELL
There is nothing that is much more fun than a party, is there? Mother hasn’t forgotten the days when she set a little table in the attic with the dolls’ tea-set, and had cambric tea and jam sandwiches. As for a birthday party, why it doesn’t seem a bit like a birthday without a frosted cake and pink candles and ice cream in forms—but there! That was to be a surprise.
Birthday parties only come once a year, of course, but there are other parties in between, afternoon teas on the piazza or in the playroom, or in the barn, if you are so fortunate as to have a barn. These parties oughtn’t to mean extra work for mother, for you can have them all yourself, if mother is willing.
So when she says, “Yes, you may have a party,” after you have hugged her, and told her she was the dearest mother in the world, you can begin to get ready.
“R. S. V. P.,” at the end,
Means “an answer kindly send,”
But a child who is polite,
Knows she should an answer write.
First of all, for the invitations. Choose your prettiest note paper, and don’t forget to write very plainly the date of the party. If you are just going to have a little afternoon tea, you can simply write,
Dear Daisy,—
“Will you come to my house to tea on Friday afternoon, June sixth, at three o’ clock? I hope you can.
“Lovingly,
“Dorothy.
“19 Elm Street.
“June first.”
Or if you are going to have a larger party, you can write:
“Miss Dorothy Manners requests the pleasure of your presence at her home on Friday afternoon, June sixth, from four until eight o’clock.
“19 Elm Street.
“June first.”
Be sure to send your invitations in time for your friends to write replies. Mother will need to know just how large a birthday cake to bake, and how much ice cream to freeze!
’Twill be a good plan (and there’s truth in my rhyme)
To always begin to get ready in time.
If you are going to have many parties, there are quite a number of things which you can keep on hand, all ready to use when you need them. An old trunk or box, or barrel will be nice to have on purpose for “dress-up” clothes. Put away in this all the old hats, and dresses, and shawls, in which mother lets you dress up. Then they’ll be safe, so that no one will throw or give them away by mistake, and you’ll always know just where to find them.
It is a good thing to have wooden picnic plates on hand, and these will be very useful for outdoor parties. Mother may object to your using her good china, for sometimes plates will get broken when you are just as careful as you know how to be. So you can decorate your wooden plates very prettily by cutting out the flowers or figures which are on paper napkins, and pasting them on the plates. Then they will do nicely for your lawn or piazza parties.
It is a good plan to have a supply of paper napkins and you can buy them by the hundred, or by the dozen. If mother is afraid to let you have her pretty table cloth or lunch cloth for fear it might get stained, you can get a lovely paper table cloth with napkins and little dishes, for twenty-five cents.
You might suggest to your relatives when Christmas or your birthday is near, that a set of tea cups, or plates, or little spoons would be a very acceptable present.
A folding table is very useful when you have afternoon teas on the piazza or lawn, and this can be bought for a dollar.
You can make very dainty baskets for candy and salted nuts, from little paper cases costing fifteen cents a dozen, and crepe paper at ten cents a roll. Five or ten cents will buy a pretty souvenir, and every child enjoys something to take home from the party.
So you see a party isn’t such a great deal of trouble, and I’m sure the “best mother in the world” will let you invite your friends to come and see you quite often.
If you have a party and don’t bother mother,
I'm sure she'll allow you to soon have another.
Usually, when mother’s friends call on her in the afternoon, she serves them with tea and wafers or cakes. Perhaps she lets you help her. Now when your friends come to see you, very likely mother will sometimes be willing for you to make a pitcher of lemonade, or a few jam sandwiches, for them. Try to serve these very daintily on a tray, using the napkins which you have all ready.
Here is a very valuable secret. When mother says, “No, I can’t let you get your refreshments ready yourself,” do you know the reason? She is afraid you will not do it tidily, and that she will have to set the kitchen in order after you have finished. So put the sugar box back in its place, don’t leave the breadboard out, and set everything back just where you found it.
Then I’m sure that the next time you ask mother she will say, “Yes.”
So if she allows you to make lemonade, or cocoa for your friends, here are the recipes:
For one glass of lemonade take the juice of half a lemon, mix with two teaspoons of sugar, and add one cup of water. To make fruit lemonade add a few strawberries, or cherries, or bits of pineapple, or slices of orange to the lemonade.
For one cup of cocoa, mix a teaspoon of cocoa with a teaspoon of sugar, and then mix with one tablespoon of boiling water. Stir it well till the lumps are all out. Put a half pint of milk over the stove (being careful not to burn it), when it “wrinkles” on the top, pour the cocoa in, and let it boil a few minutes, stirring so that it will not scorch.
Soften the butter a few minutes before you use it. Butter the bread before cutting off each slice, and cut very thin. Then lay the buttered slices neatly together and trim off the crusts. The sandwiches may be filled with jelly, jam, chopped hard boiled egg, chopped meat, or nuts.
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