Easter Baskets of Dessert
Little baskets of puff paste were filled with yellow "eggs" made from a rich custard which had been thickened with cornstarch, cooked until stiff and poured into egg-shaped moulds. When cold the custard "eggs" were removed from the moulds, placed in the pastry baskets and surrounded with whipped cream, which was dotted with white grapes cut in half and the seeds removed. The effect was very pretty and the dessert delighted the eyes of the guests as well as their palates.
This dessert might be utilized for any other occasion by pouring the custard into different-shaped moulds and dotting the whipped cream with candied cherries or fresh berries.
CHILDREN'S SOUVENIRS
Souvenirs at a children's party should be very inexpensive. Candy put up in some pretty form is the most suitable thing that can be given. The dainty Japanese confections that may be purchased at any large store where Oriental goods are sold are novelties, and always please the little people.
It is always a great pleasure to children to have something to take home with them from a party, and very inexpensive souvenirs will give happiness quite out of proportion to their value. Japanese trifles make pretty gifts, little boxes, bags or baskets filled with candy. Tiny kites are appropriate for boys, and fans for girls. Japanese dolls may be dressed with the lower part of the skirt prolonged into a bag and filled with candy. Only candy of the simplest kind should be used.
Candy boxes in various fanciful forms, as banjos, drums, tambourines, watering-pots, pails, caps, helmets, fish, etc., may be purchased from any dealer in such wares. They are also made in the shape of birds and animals, as peacocks, canaries, turtles, alligators and elephants. Hollow oranges and apples, fruit baskets, with realistic cherries, grapes, etc., on top, and room for candy underneath, are very pretty. If these are thought too expensive ornamented cornucopias to hold bonbons may be procured at various prices, beginning at fifteen cents a dozen. Mottoes containing paper hats and caps may be procured as cheaply as ten cents a dozen, and a package of these, holding as many as the child is years old, tied with the birthday color, makes a dainty souvenir. Little cradles filled with candy and ornamented with bows are also appropriate gifts.
A Souvenir Pudding.—A common wash-tub, filled with bran or sawdust, will make a nice pudding for a child's party by putting the souvenirs in a layer in the bottom of the tub, then a layer of sawdust, then more presents, and so on until the tub is filled. Have a large wooden spoon and let each child make a dive with the spoon until he gets one souvenir. This will please the little ones.
CHILDREN'S SWEET PEA TEA
The invitations to this tea read like this: