Prepare your guests for something novel by issuing your invitations in the form of giant firecrackers.
Decorate Your Grounds
and make them as festive as possible with fluttering flags, floating streamers, red, white, and blue bunting, and Japanese lanterns. Also provide a number of small flags, one for each guest, to be worn in the hat, hair, belt, and buttonhole. This little touch of uniform will not only make the scene gayer and more exhilarating, but, like badges of an order, will have the effect of dispelling the stiffness of new acquaintances, and bringing the party closer together as members of one band of merrymakers.
For the Giant Firecracker Invitations
you will need several sheets of bright red tissue paper, more of white tissue paper, and some white unlined writing paper. A ball of soft white cotton string will also be required.
Fig. 1.—Lay the paper cylinder on the red tissue paper..
Cut an oblong of red tissue paper, a circular piece of white tissue paper, and a square of writing paper for each invitation. Make the red oblong six inches long and three inches wide, the circle six inches in diameter, and the writing paper four inches square. Of the paper square make a cylindrical roll that will measure about three-quarters of an inch across the end. The easiest way to do this is to roll the paper on a candle, keeping the end edges even, and paste the side edge down while still wrapped around the candle. Pull the candle out of the paper and you have a perfect cylinder. Place the paper cylinder on the red tissue paper oblong so that there will be an even inch of red paper at each end ([Fig. 1]). Paste one long edge of the red paper to the cylinder and roll it on the table, bringing the opposite edge up smoothly, then paste that edge also in place ([Fig. 2]).