THIS may be given indoors or on the piazza, according to the season
of the year. Send your invitations on note paper with a Japanese
decoration in the corner, and address each friend by some Japanese name
such as Wistaria, Chrysanthemum or Cherry Blossom. If this is to be an
indoor tea, arrange one room to look as much like Japan as possible,
and this can be done by taking the furniture out! Place straw mats
on the floor to be used for chairs. Little bamboo plant stands, and
footstools will do very well for tables, and a few plants will decorate
the room nicely. Maple branches at the doorways or artificial cherry
boughs will give a very festive air.
Japanese costumes can be easily managed. All you need is a kimona,
wide sash, and a few little fans for your hair. The sash should be
tied under your arms with a “butterfly” bow in the back, and your hair
should be dressed high, and ornamented with tiny fans. If you haven’t a
kimona, borrow mother’s, and make a deep hem in it, so that it will be
the right length.
If you want to be very “Japanese,” your friends can remove their shoes
at the door of the room. They must address you very respectfully, and
speak of your “magnificent home,” while you, according to Japanese
rules of politeness, should thank them for coming to your miserable hut!
Have a few checker-boards, and a game of Halma in readiness, for
checkers and backgammon are Japanese games, while Halma is very much
like a game which represents the fifty-three post stations between
Yedo and Kioto. Call the starting place “Yedo,” and your goal “Kioto”
and you have almost exactly a Japanese game. Charades are favorite
amusements of Japanese children, and so is a game like our “Authors.”
It would be very interesting if mother would read aloud a Japanese
fairy story, for you would all enjoy it.
Refreshments should be brought in on a lacquer tray and served on the
low stools, and of course you will need Japanese dishes. 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.