SUGGESTIONS FOR CHILDREN'S PARTIES
Peanut Party (Several quarts of peanuts, and a pretty little bag measuring 6 × 8 inches for each guest)
Before the little guests arrive, hide the peanuts in corners, under cushions, and in all possible hiding-places, singly, or two or three together. At a signal all of the children begin to search for the peanuts. The one finding the most wins. Give a reward of a peanut doll. (See [page 80].)
In no such games of competition is it a good plan to have expensive prizes. That plan ministers to a weakness inherent perhaps in human nature, but one to be discouraged—the desire to win, not for the sake of success, but for the sake of the prize. The giving of a valuable prize engenders feelings of envy and caters too much to the gambling instinct. It tends to destroy the spirit of fun and play which is the real object of a social gathering.
A part of such an entertainment would appropriately be the making of peanut taffy or of peanut animals. (See [page 23].)
Spider-Web Party (Balls of pretty twine, one color for each guest)
Take a ball of twine and to the end attach a card bearing the name of one guest. Then unwind it, twisting it around different articles of furniture, chairs, table-legs, door-knob, chandelier, etc., till the thread is judged to be long enough. Then cut, and to this end tie some trifling gift. Arrange in this way one ball and gift for each child expected. When the time for playing the game arrives, give to each child the card bearing his name, to which twine is attached. At the signal for beginning, each one follows up his line, unwinding and disentangling it as he goes along, till the end of the cord bearing the gift is reached. As each little visitor receives something, there is no unwholesome spirit of rivalry.
Thimble-Biscuit Party (Dough, silver thimbles)
While making biscuits for supper give the little child a silver thimble to use as a biscuit cutter, first rolling the dough to a thickness one-third the height of the thimble. When he has made a good array put them into the oven. They will bake quickly and to the child will seem to surpass the best cake made.
Invite a group of little children to a thimble-biscuit party. A dough of flour, water or milk, a little salt and baking powder will be sufficient and the little workers will be very happy making the wee biscuits. Only silver thimbles should be used.
While the biscuits are baking a few games, notably "Hide the Thimble," will pass the time. Served with a little jam or milk they will make a delicious repast, with dolls and Teddy Bears for company.
Butterfly Party (White paper, oil paints, in tubes)
Uncovering the tube, make a dab of paint with it near middle of a sheet of paper. Immediately beneath make a long stroke of another color. Now fold over lengthwise along the middle of the long line of paint. While folded press and smooth with finger over the first spot. This when opened will be the head of the butterfly. Keep paper still folded, however, and press along the line of paint to make body and then make a side pressure to make the wings. Open out, and there is the general suggestion of a beautiful butterfly, which, held up so that the light shines through, may be really very pretty. A little experiment will show how improvements can be made. Any color may be used. Invite your friends to an evening butterfly party and give a prize for the best one made; the prize may very suitably be something in butterfly form; a penwiper, or lamp-shade, or something similar.
Autograph Picture (Ink, paper, coarse pen)
At the butterfly party, autograph portraits also may be made. With a coarse pen, filled with ink, each person writes his own name in turn. Take the flowing autograph, fold it lengthwise through the middle and crease, making special pressure at the top and drawing out slightly at the side. Open up and the result is a queer portrait of the owner of the autograph with suggestion of head and arms.
Enclose autograph on two sides by straight lines; when folded and then opened, the portrait will be framed.
CHAPTER VIII
FESTIVAL OCCASIONS
Festivals have always held an important place in the life of home and community. The anniversary of the day of birth, or of marriage, the day of graduation, or of coming of age—what opportunities they offer for strengthening the ties of kinship, for creating hallowed associations that may often prove bulwarks of safety in later days of temptation and sorrow!
Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, are now National holidays with us, and our celebration of these beautiful festivals is one more link in the chain which binds us to all races and creeds; for the return of the sun at the winter solstice, the renewal of life in the spring, the ingathering of fruits in the autumn, have appealed to all peoples as fitting occasions for the expression of religious joy and for mutual congratulations upon dangers past and the results of work accomplished.
In the joy of such occasions, we must not let them degenerate into the mere mercenary exchange of material gifts.
Christmas is preëminently the children's day, when we annually remind ourselves of the divinity inherent in all childhood, and desire to bring joy to all children and goodwill to all peoples.
Easter means most to the adult who has experienced sorrow and disappointment and has known something of the anguish and awe and deepening of life that comes with the message of Death. The pleasure of the child in the hare and the Easter egg must not be allowed altogether to overbalance the wondrous symbolism of the Easter lily.
The National holidays—Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, etc.—take us outside the limits of the home and remind us that, as we thank the men and women of the past for the privileges of the present which we owe to their sacrifices and aspirations, so we should realize our obligations towards the future.
In celebrating these different festivals, let the child bear his small part. We give a few ideas of things which he may do or make. It is these early impressions which are the lasting ones. The actual service demanded of the child counts much in the formation of character, though even more important is the spirit which radiates at such times from the parents and friends who celebrate or prepare to celebrate these recurrent holidays. It is the "spirit which giveth life," here, as everywhere.
The suggestions will be given in the order in which the holidays come in the year. Where an article is described in another part of the book, it will not be repeated, but the page number will be given for reference.