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.
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