Part 49 (2/2)
The celebration of children's birthdays and other little anniversaries by means of parties, is a pleasant custom and one worthy of observance. Such red-letter days are long remembered by the little ones.
The invitations are issued in the children's own names, and may be written or engraved. Usually they are written upon small note sheets and enclosed in small envelopes. If the invitation is for a Christmas-tree, or an Easter-egg hunt, a tiny tree, or a colored egg, may ornament one corner of the sheet.
The form varies hardly at all: Miss GERTRUDE HALL requests the pleasure of Miss CLARA WINs.h.i.+P'S company, on Wednesday, June twentieth. From three until five o'clock. 3 Madison Avenue.
These invitations should be carefully and promptly answered in the same form as given and in the third person. (See ”Invitations,” etc.)
This teaches the little host or hostess the gravity of their position as entertainers, and impresses the little guests with the importance of their behavior. Also giving them an early lesson in the etiquette of social life.
If it is a birthday party, a birthday cake will be the chief feature, and it is a pretty fancy to have it decorated with as many tiny wax candles as there are years in the child's life in whose honor the party is given. These tapers may be placed around the cake, or put in tin tubes and sunk into the top of the cake. Light them just before the little guests are called out to the table.
At the close of the supper the child whose birthday it is, blows out the candles, and, if old enough, cuts the cake and pa.s.ses it.
Presents are sometimes brought by the guests, but it is not best to encourage this fas.h.i.+on.
Dancing or games may follow the supper, and older persons should constantly superintend the amus.e.m.e.nts to see that the merriment does not flag, nor the little folks become too boisterous.
At an Easter party, dainty little egg-shaped boxes, filled with bon-bons, may be placed at each plate, or else hidden in a room from which the lighter articles of furniture have been removed, and the children permitted to search for them. The hunt is the chief pleasure.
If it is a Christmas party the tree is the source of interest, and often a make-believe Santa Claus adds to the merriment of the occasion. The refreshments should be simple but fanciful. Make the table bright as possible--s...o...b..a.l.l.s, cornucopias, lady-fingers, a.s.sorted cakes, love-knots, sandwiches (fancy), crystalized fruits, tarts, sliced tongue, pressed veal, thin bread and b.u.t.ter, rolled and tied, ice cream in molds, and one large heavily-frosted cake. A host of flowers, and the table is complete. Lemonade for a drink, or perhaps hot chocolate.
The good breeding learned, the opportunities of impressing upon children the beauty of self-denial and politeness, and of teaching them to dispense, and to receive hospitalities, and to restrain that tendency toward favoring certain playmates, so strong in childhood, will more than repay for the trouble of preparing the feast. Never permit the party to extend to late hours, and never overdress the little folks. White is always suitable for girls, and jacket suits for boys under the age for long trousers.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Christenings, Confirmations and Graduations.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Announcement Cards are frequently sent out to all friends immediately upon the arrival of a little heir or heiress. These cards are variously worded. One seen by the writer was as follows:
ARRIVED: In Los Gatos, Sunday morning, November third, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, FLORENCE WESCOTT. Weight, ten pounds; blue eyes and sound lungs. She sends greeting to all her friends.
A simpler one would be: GREETING: EDITH MAY TOUCEY, November 1, 1895.
Weight, 9-1/2 pounds.
These cards received (or even if they are omitted), the lady friends and acquaintances call and leave cards with kind inquires or send them by a servant. Gentlemen do not call, but they are expected to see the happy father and inquire after mother and child.
When the mother is ready to receive friends she sends out cards to all that have called ”with thanks for kind inquiries,” written beneath her name, or issues invitations for a candle or christening party.
The Christening.
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