Elsie Duncan Yale

“ Mother will approve of a sewing bee, you see if she doesn’t! It is a most industrious way to spend an afternoon! Invite your friends around, and ask them to bring their dolls, their work baskets, and material to work with. (Of course this is just a girls’ party! Boys are left out!) If it is warm weather, it will be pleasant to sew on the piazza or lawn, and if it is too cool for this, the playroom will be pleasant for your sewing bee. Of course the boys will say that you do more talking than sewing, but show them that they are wrong by getting some pretty clothes made for your dolls. ”

“ Of course your invitations have been written on paper which is decorated with a bunny.
Your first game can be the rabbit contest, and for this let each child in turn be blindfolded and try to pin the ears on the rabbit. A prize will reward the one who pins them the nearest to their proper place.
Next snip out with sharp scissors two small holes for the rabbit’s eyes. Divide the children into two groups, and let the first group go “behind the scenes.” Then one after another can look through the rabbit’s eyes, and the outside group must try to guess who owns each pair of eyes. ”

“ All the children who are not blindfolded must sing and the blindfolded ones must guess from the voice who is sitting beside them. Whoever guesses right is allowed to remove the bandage from his eyes. Of course in singing each one tries to disguise his voice. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Oysters in heart-shaped pattie shells, heart-shaped sandwiches, heart cakes, and bonbons, and ice cream in the form of hearts, will make a very nice Valentine supper, and there should be a dainty Valentine souvenir at each plate. ”

“ When you are sure of the number of guests, buy heart-shaped boxes, large red cardboard hearts, gifts, and make small red bags, enough for each child to have one. Borrow mother’s scissors, a jar of paste, and hunt up any old magazines or catalogues that may be in the house. Place a gift in each “heart” box, wrap each box up neatly, and tie with scarlet ribbon. A few vases of scarlet carnations, and strings of hearts looped about, will give the room a very festive air. Hide the candy hearts around the room, where they will not be found too easily. ”

“ When all have finished you will have a queer-looking landscape, for a dog kennel may be on the roof and a rose bush growing from a lawn mower!
After this game, get out your sheets of paper, scissors, and pictures which you have ready. Let each one try making a garden with his eyes open! Paste a house in the center of the paper, and arrange trees, bushes, fountain, etc., about it as [20] tastefully as possible. Then after mother has decided which is the best, you can give the prize which you have bought.
You can serve your refreshments from a little table just as you would at a garden party. ”

“ For a Japanese Tea on the lawn you will need the same costumes as for an indoor tea. The refreshments, too, are the same, and the piazza can be easily arranged in Japanese style.
If you are fortunate enough to have plenty of room for your party, a kite-playing contest will be great fun, and you must be sure to get the queer “bird” kites that the children of Japan love. ”

“ Little candy boxes with a rose decoration will be just the thing for souvenirs to take home. For refreshments have creamed chicken, or chicken salad, rolls, small cakes iced in pink, salted nuts, pink bonbons, and strawberry ice cream. To serve the ice cream in a very pretty way, take small flower pots, and scrub them well, till they are as clean as clean can be. Then they can be filled with strawberry ice cream. Next, chocolate is grated, on the top, until the pink is covered and it looks like a little pot of earth. ”

“ To play criticism, choose one of the children to be criticised. Now let another child take pencil and paper and ask each one to whisper something about the child who was chosen, writing the remark down so as to remember it. ”

“ Next, have the potato race in the hall, and of course you know how to have a potato race! [66]
Place the potatoes a foot apart in two long rows. Let two children race first, and they must lift the potatoes on a spoon, one by one, and carry them back to the basket. Whoever drops one is out of the race.
A box of candy decorated in green will be a good prize for the winner.
As a rest from the excitement of the potato race, the shamrock contest may come next, and this is just like the clover contest at your clover party. ”

“ 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? ”

“ A Christmas sewing bee is very much like any other sewing bee, except that instead of making dolls’ clothes, you make Christmas presents. Ask the other girls to bring whatever gifts they are working on, and you can spend a busy afternoon together. Christmas time always comes more quickly than you think it will, and it is a good plan to have your presents ready early. So I’m sure mother will approve of a Christmas sewing bee. ”

“ The supper table for the Easter party can be made very pretty indeed. A hen on a nest will be a good centerpiece, and scattered here and there on the table place fluffy little ducks and chickens. Your guests will greatly enjoy creamed chicken with peas, deviled eggs, ice cream in the form of lilies, or in lily paper cases, bonbons and fancy cakes. ”

“ Now blindfold each in turn, and let him try to be the “lucky” one who will strike the bag with the wand and break it. When the bag is broken the candy and nuts will come tumbling down, and then there will be a general scramble to gather them and fill the baskets.
Refreshments should be served on the lawn or piazza, and the table should be prettily decorated with clover blossoms. The refreshments may be tongue and lettuce sandwiches, grape lemonade, cakes with pink icing and cherry ice. It would be a good idea to serve the sandwiches from picnic plates decorated with clover. ”

“ Then while your guests catch their breath after this very exciting trip, bring out your Dutch post cards and give one to each child, with a pair of scissors and an envelope. The post cards must all be cut into irregular pieces for puzzles, and then the pieces put in the envelope, being careful not to lose a single piece. When all the puzzles are cut, let each child pass to his right-hand neighbor. Then allow five minutes to put the puzzles together, after which you pass puzzles again. If you have not invited many guests, you can keep on passing puzzles till you have solved them all. ”

“ Choose some child to stand in the center of the circle. The ring is slipped from one to another, always keeping it hidden by the hands, and the one in the middle must catch hold of the hands of whoever has the ring. If he can catch a child with the ring really in his hands then that one must go in the center of the circle. ”

“ Although mother says that you are not old enough to stay up late for a Hallowe’en frolic, very likely she’ll let you have a party in the afternoon. You can darken the rooms and have just as good a time as if it were an evening party. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The players must draw up their chairs in a circle, and each must have a number, odd numbers for the boys and even numbers for the girls. One child stands in the center and spins a wooden plate or tray, calling at the same time a number. The one whose number is called jumps up and tries to catch the platter before it has stopped spinning, and if he fails to do this he must pay a forfeit. ”

“ The keeper must guess the name of the child who is the bear, and if he fails he must be keeper again. If he guesses right the “bear” becomes the keeper. Each child, when called into the circle, must make the noise of the animal he represents. ”

“ Now invite your guests to sit down at small tables, or they may all draw up before a large table, and give each twenty peanuts, a saucer and a long hat pin. When the signal is given, each must spear the peanuts, one at a time, with the hat pin, and put them in the saucer. This is quite a good deal harder than it sounds. A prize should reward the one who finishes first.
Next fill a tumbler with flour, press it down tightly and turn it out in a mold. ”

“ Tea, dainty little cakes and bonbons would be a good choice for refreshments, but it would be an excellent plan to set a plate of sandwiches on your tray, too, for the Japanese menu might not be sufficient for an American appetite. ”

“ Each child, in turn, must be blindfolded and stand ten paces away from the candle. He turns around three times, takes ten steps toward the candle, as he supposes, and then tries to blow it out. The one who is successful in this, will be very fortunate through the coming year. ”

“ Dumb Crambo is a good game for older people as well as young folks. Divide the company into two groups and let each choose a captain. One group must remain in the room, while the other goes out. The inside group decide on a word of one syllable which can be acted. ”

“ 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. ”

“ One child must stand in front of the row, while the others pass a ruler from hand to hand in regular order up and down the line. He must try and catch the ruler, and whoever is caught with it in his hands must exchange places with the other. ”

“ Now, he must toss the bean bags into the baskets, and a bag which falls in the center basket counts fifteen, in the next, ten, and in the outer one, five. [79] Give a prize to the child who wins the most points.
After this you can have a flag race. Choose two of your guests and give each twelve flags and a tape measure. The flags must be set in the ground one foot apart, and the one who has his row set out first wins. The children can run in couples, then the winners should race, and the victorious “flag planter” should be rewarded with a prize. ”

“ This is just as foolish as it sounds, but it makes a great deal of fun for all. Choose some person for “It.” He must leave the room, and when he comes in again, must do his best to make the others laugh. They, on their part, try their best not to, for the first who laughs becomes “It.” ”

“ The blindfolded children must then be seated so that there is a vacant chair beside each of them. Then others must quietly sit down, so that beside each blindfolded child sits one who is not blindfolded. ”

“ Buy some colored crepe paper and a couple of dozen round paper cases such as are sold for fifteen cents a dozen. Paste and scissors will be needed also. When your friends come you can all busy yourselves making May baskets from the crepe paper and the paper cases. ”