Mrs. Maurice Bronson
At Home
Friday afternoon, May tenth
from four until seven o'clock
Garden Party Holyoke, West Lake
When the garden party is a small informal affair, the at-home card may be used with the words, "Garden Party, Friday, May the tenth, from four to seven o'clock," written by the hostess in the lower left-hand corner. This method is usually for personal friends only, and it is considered bad form when the garden party is elaborate and formal.
If the guest invited lives in another town, or must come from the city to the country, a small card bearing the necessary train and schedule information should be enclosed with the invitation, similar to the card explained in the chapter on wedding invitations. Or the information may be lettered neatly at the bottom of the invitation itself. The form is usually:
Train leaves Pennsylvania Station at 3 o'clock
Train leaves Holyoke Station at 6.20 and 7.10 o'clock
Still another course is open to the hostess who wishes to give a small garden party, yet not undergo the expense and trouble of specially engraved invitations. She may write brief, friendly notes, in the first person, somewhat in the following form, and send them by post to her friends and acquaintances:
Holyoke,
May 1, 19—
My dear Mrs. Keene:
I have asked a few of my friends to have tea with me, informally, on the lawn, Friday afternoon, May the tenth, at four o'clock. May I expect you also? Perhaps there will be a few sets of tennis. There is a racquet waiting for you.
Cordially yours,
Rose M. Roberts.