Next to a wedding, there is probably no social duty that taxes to a larger extent the cleverness and originality of the mistress of a modern household than a fashionable dinner. As a preliminary step to such an event, she is careful to catalogue all the names of those to whom she desires to extend the hospitalities of her house. From all these she selects and groups those who will affect each other pleasantly. The differences in social conditions often go far toward deciding upon the groups, and the combinations of guests may be based upon mental accomplishments, or family connection. In either case the etiquette is the same.
To give a dinner in honor of some person, or “to meet” a particular party, as the invitation should explain (provided the guest be not well-known and famous), has an especial advantage in that it settles who shall, and who need not, be present. This is a simple method of disposing of our first difficulty when issuing invitations. In such a case the card of invitation should be in the usual form with the addition of an extra card as follows:
TO MEET
MR. ARTHUR MAYNE,
Of New Mexico.
thus intimating that the dinner is to be given in his honor. The regular invitation should always be given in the name of the host or hostess, thus:
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Fitch
request the pleasure of
......................................
company at dinner,
on ..................................
at seven o’clock.
No. 94 Florida Avenue.
The custom of engraving the initials, R. S. V. P. (Answer, if you please), on the lower left-hand corner is less followed than formerly. Another and also quite proper form, when the dinner is given in honor of some distinguished person, is to issue an invitation in this style:
MR. AND MRS. CLARENCE FITCH
request the pleasure of
MR. AND MRS. ROBERT HENDERSON’S
company at dinner, on Tuesday,
January 12th, at seven o’clock, to meet the
HON. MR. AND MRS. GREGORY.
No. 94 Florida Avenue.