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WHEN MOTHER LETS US GIVE A PARTY

[Illustration: 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

[Illustration]

    NEW YORK
    MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
    1909




    Copyright, 1909, by
    MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
    NEW YORK
    _All Rights Reserved_
    ———
    Published, October, 1909




    TO
    MY DAUGHTERS
    WITH THE HOPE THAT THEY MAY ALWAYS BE
    “GIVEN TO HOSPITALITY”
    THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED




CONTENTS


                                   PAGE

    INTRODUCTION                                     1
    INVITATIONS                                      3
    GETTING READY                                    5
    PARTIES YOU CAN HAVE WITHOUT MOTHER’S HELP       7
    FOR SANDWICHES                                   8
    CANDY PULL                                       8
    FUDGE PARTY                                     10
    POP CORN PARTY                                  10
    SEWING BEE                                      12
    PAPER DOLL PARTY                                15
    CLOTHES PIN PARTY                               17
    INDOOR GARDEN PARTY                             19
    CHRISTMAS SUNSHINE PARTY                        21
    EASTER SUNSHINE PARTY                           23
    DOLL’S CHRISTMAS TREE PARTY                     24
    A CHRISTMAS SEWING BEE                          27
    INDOOR PICNIC                                   27
    INDOOR PICNIC FOR DOLLS                         29
    AN AFTERNOON IN HOLLAND                         30
    JAPANESE TEA (INDOORS)                          33
    JAPANESE TEA (OUTDOORS)                         35
    HIAWATHA PARTY                                  37
    DAFFODIL PARTY                                  41
    BUTTERCUP PARTY                                 43
    TULIP TEA                                       45
    CLOVER PARTY                                    46
    ROSE PARTY                                      49
    DAISY PARTY                                     53
    SOAP BUBBLE PARTY                               55
    CHRYSANTHEMUM PARTY                             55
    VALENTINE PARTY                                 57
    GEORGE WASHINGTON PARTY                         62
    ST. PATRICK’S PARTY                             65
    EASTER PARTY                                    69
    RABBIT PARTY                                    71
    MAY DAY PARTY (OUTDOORS)                        73
    MAY DAY                                         73
    FOURTH OF JULY PARTY                            77
    HALLOWE’EN PARTY                                81
    COLONIAL GARDEN PARTY                           85
    THANKSGIVING                                    87
    A HOLLY LUNCHEON                                89
    ADDITIONAL GAMES
        Menagerie                                   90
        Criticism                                   90
        Musical Neighbors                           91
        Hunt the Ring                               92
        Slip the Ruler                              92
        Beast, Bird or Fish                         92
        Shouting Proverbs                           93
        Beans                                       93
        What is my Thought Like                     94
        Post                                        94
        Charades                                    95
        How, When and Where                         95
        Peanut Grab                                 96
        Feathers                                    96




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                  PAGE
    DRESSING UP                          _Frontispiece_
    A CANDY PULL IS LOTS OF FUN                      9
    COME WITH A SKIP                                11
    COME AROUND AND STAY TO TEA                     13
    COME SPEND THE AFTERNOON WITH ME                25
    THE BRAVES AND THE SQUAWS                       39
    A DANCE OF GRANDMOTHER’S TIME                   61
    QUEEN OF THE MAY                                75
    A HALLOWE’EN PARTY                              83




INTRODUCTION


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.

[Illustration]




INVITATIONS


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.




GETTING READY


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.

[Illustration]




PARTIES YOU CAN HAVE WITHOUT MOTHER’S HELP


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.




FOR SANDWICHES


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.




CANDY PULL


OF course you must have this party in the kitchen, and either ask your
friends to bring gingham aprons, or provide aprons for them. Have nice
bright tin pans ready for your candy, and get together everything that
the recipe calls for. If mother is willing you can make two kinds of
candy at once on the stove, one for “pulling” and one for “nut taffy.”
Although you can easily make the candy yourself, mother had best be on
hand when you are working over the fire. This is a good party for a
rainy day.

[Illustration: A candy pull is lots of fun.]




FUDGE PARTY


FOR a fudge party, you will need aprons of course, and permission to