Entertaining Made Easy Part 4

In addition each nut proved to be only a hollow nut sh.e.l.l; in one was a conundrum, in its mate the answer.

The refreshments were nut-bread sandwiches, peanut b.u.t.ter sandwiches, hot cocoa, cocoanut macaroons, vanilla ice-cream with chocolate nut sauce, and peanut brittle.

A MAY POLE PARTY FOR CHILDREN

One teacher planned a very happy May party for her little boy and girl pupils. There was no chance to set up a big May pole out-of-doors for the children to wind, but her idea turned out to be more original and maybe even more jolly.

There were eighteen children included in the party, which was held in the park. On arriving, each child was given a little peaked paper cap of bright colored tissue paper. The boys liked these as well as the girls did, although they found them harder to keep in place on their heads. As soon as the children had donned their caps, three of the tallest children were appointed to "help teacher." This helping consisted in marching proudly out from behind a screen of bushes, carrying three gay little May poles, decked with flowers and colored paper streamers. They had been made by swinging a barrel hoop from a broomstick handle, by means of a number of ribbon-like strips of cloth. Of course the hoops were wound with the cloth, and besides that were trimmed with apple blossoms and lilacs.

From the rim of each hoop the cloth strips hung straight down for two or three feet. The colors on the May pole matched the colored caps that the children wore.

There proved to be just fifteen streamer, and each child was allowed to pick out a streamer to correspond with the color of the cap worn.

Thus a little girl with a pink cap would pick out a pink streamer; a little boy with a green cap, a green streamer, and so on. The children who held the May poles were then asked to stand at some distance apart out in the open s.p.a.ce of the park, and each little group of five danced round and round, and back and forth, holding and twisting their colored streamers.

Somehow this amused them almost all the long spring afternoon.

Different children took turns holding the May poles and sometimes they would even form a procession and hippity-hop around the park. They paraded down Main Street for a little way, but came back to the park in time to play "Drop the Handkerchief," "Hide and Seek," and "Tag,"

before refreshments were served.

They were perfectly delighted, of course, with strawberry lemonade, brown bread sandwiches, and little frosted cup cakes, which their teacher's mother had made and on which she had outlined in pink candies the individual initials of the children.

OUTDOOR AFFAIRS

Out-of-door entertaining is perhaps the easiest kind of all--if you live in the country or the near-country. Anything elaborate in the arrangements would be quite out of keeping and there's something about being outdoors that takes away constraint. That's probably why outdoor parties, because they are simple and natural, bring people together in a spirit of good fellows.h.i.+p and are certain of success.

Children especially love them and young people always find an evening garden party entrancing.

One of the jolliest kinds of outdoor parties is a bacon bat. It may be a breakfast or a luncheon or a supper, but there is always bacon and an open fire.

Now that automobiles are so abundant, the possibilities for motor picnics and progressive motor parties are many and various.

A BACON BAT

A girl who lived in the country and had some city friends visiting her gave them the time of their lives at a bacon bat. She telephoned around to some of the young people and invited them to appear about five o'clock in picnic clothes. The hike wouldn't be long, she announced.

At the specified time a jolly bunch a.s.sembled to squabble good-naturedly over the various packages and bundles a.s.signed to them to be carried. Under the hostess's direction they betook themselves via footpath and trail to a stone-walled pasture spicy with sweet fern.

Long toasting switches were readily cut by the boys from the trees in the vicinity and wood was collected for two fires. Over one the coffee was set to boil, and over the other the young folks proceeded to toast bacon. Rolls were provided in which to insert the crisp juicy morsels after toasting, and each person ate his or her own bacon sandwiches broiling hot without further ceremony.

Cuc.u.mber pickles and mustard proved popular accompaniments and the coffee was appreciated--drunk from tin cups.

There followed some huckleberry turnovers and homemade cookies, but on top of the bacon and rolls they were almost superfluous.

Instead of bacon, chops, steak, or Frankfurters may be roasted, as well as corn in season, but bacon is the least messy to eat.

Following the supper came stories and songs around the bonfire till late in the evening. The city guests enjoyed it all because to them it was so great a novelty. For the hostess it was a much easier way to introduce her guests to her friends than a more formal affair would have been.

A bacon bat is especially fun in spring or fall, but is also very enjoyable on the beach in summer vacation time.

A marshmallow roast in the evening is first cousin to a bacon bat.

A CHILDREN'S DAISY PARTY

Let the children make the invitations they send out for their own daisy party. On heavy water color paper they may draw and cut out simple outlines of daisies--about ten petals around a center which is then colored yellow with crayons. Each petal may hold one or two words of the invitation, thus: Will--you--come--to--our--daisy--party--on--Sat.u.r.day--at--three?--Betty and John.

Of course there should be some outdoor games, and a good one to play is "Daisy in the Dell." For this the children form in a circle, joining hands, and one is chosen to be daisy-picker. The daisy-picker runs around the outside of the circle, chanting:

"Daisy in the Dell, Daisy in the Dell, I don't pick you, I don't pick you, I _do_ pick you."

The child whom the daisy-picker touches upon reaching, the last word must try to run entirely around the circle and back to his place before the daisy-picker catches him. If he succeeds, he need not be "it"; but if he is caught, he must be the daisy-picker.

"Are You a Daisy?" is another jolly game. The players stand in a line facing one child, who is chosen to be "it." This child asks each one in turn the question, "Are you a daisy?" Each child answers by naming the flower he chooses to be. Thus one may say, "I am a rose"; another, "I am a pansy." If any child chooses to say, "I am a daisy," he is immediately chased by the questioner, and if caught, he must take the place of the questioner. The game then proceeds as before. One rule is that a child must not repeat the name of a flower that another child has given.

A game that is based on the Mother Goose rhyme, "Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief," etc., is called "Rich Man, Poor Man." One child is chosen to whisper to each of the players some word of the rhyme. The named children then stand in a circle, and another child who is "it"

may call for any character in the rhyme that he wishes; the child who has been given that name must respond by saying "Here," and then running away. For instance, the one who is "it" may call for "lawyer,"

and the child to whom that name has been whispered calls out "Here,"

and is immediately chased by the leader. If he is caught within a reasonable length of time, he is "it," and the former leader drops out. This should be played until only two are left.

The refreshments carry out the daisy idea, and should be served outdoors, either on the piazza or on the lawn. The centerpiece at the supper-table is a big bunch of daisies, and each child has a place-card on which is painted or drawn a daisy face, the petals forming a cap frill. The sandwiches are bread and b.u.t.ter, and some "good-to-eat" daisies can be made from hard-boiled eggs, by cutting the whites petal-shaped, and by mixing the yellow with salad mayonnaise to form the centers. Marguerites and little cakes frosted in yellow and white may be served with vanilla ice cream.

A HAWAIIAN PORCH LUNCHEON

One woman entertained her club at their last meeting of the year with a little porch luncheon. Hawaii had been one of the subjects of study, so the Hawaiian note was dominant throughout.

Each guest was welcomed with a _lei_, the Hawaiian paper flower garland which signifies friends.h.i.+p. Hung about the neck, these decorations excited much fun.

The Hawaiian features of the refreshments were Hawaiian pineapple salad and little imitation volcanoes which were in reality cones of vanilla ice-cream in the center of which holes had been scooped and then filled with hot caramel sauce, which of course overflowed the sides in true lava fas.h.i.+on.

The favors were tiny dolls, each dressed in a short bright-fringed paper skirt, orange, green, blue or pink, to match the color of the _lei_ which each lady had already received as a souvenir.