When an entertainment is given by a family at some place other than their home, the invitations have the name of the place and the street address put in at the usual place on the invitation, and then in the lower right-hand corner the words "Please reply," with the home address.
A bachelor or widower uses his name alone at the top of the invitation. He will, of course, provide a chaperon, who in many respects takes the place of a hostess and so acts, but her name does not appear upon his invitation, unless she be his sister or near relative. The invitation then becomes a joint one, after the usual form.
A widower with daughters may send out invitations headed in either of the following forms:
Mr. John Marquand
Miss Marquand
Miss Estelle Marquand
or
Mr. John Marquand
The Misses Marquand
For a dinner followed by a dance there are two invitations, the one a dinner invitation at an early hour for the favored few, the other a dancing party invitation at a later hour.
Clubs have blanks which may be filled in by their members when they wish to entertain. These are issued in the club name, and are like any other private invitation, except that at the bottom and to the left "Compliments of" is engraved, and the name of the member who is special host is written in.
Invitations containing the words "Bal Poudre" signify that the entertainment is a masquerade or fancy dress party, and the guests are expected to come in fancy costume with powdered hair.
The word "ball" is used of an elaborate formal dance, usually a public one given by some club or for charity, and rarely of a private dance.