Entertaining Made Easy Part 10

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 Sat.u.r.day at four_.

_January the twentieth At Mary's house_.

The first amus.e.m.e.nt 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 fas.h.i.+on 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 pincus.h.i.+on 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 b.u.t.ter 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 cl.u.s.ter 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 sc.r.a.ps 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 gla.s.s.

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 p.u.s.s.y 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 p.u.s.s.y 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 suns.h.i.+ne cake.

Upon withdrawing from the table, it was announced that "p.u.s.s.y was in the well," and forthwith a deep cylindrical waste-basket trimmed with p.u.s.s.y willows was brought in and set before the guest of honor, who was requested to be the one to "pull p.u.s.s.y 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-st.i.tch 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 ap.r.o.n 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 k.n.o.bby 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 compa.s.s, 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 fas.h.i.+on. 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: