Before the guests arrive hide nuts all over the rooms in every nook and corner. At a given signal have the guests search for them and the one finding the most can be given a small prize.
Take English walnuts, split and take out the kernel; write quotations on small slips of paper, cut in half, put one-half paper in one nut shell, the other half in another shell, gluing each shell together. During the evening give one set of half quotations to the girls, the other set to the boys and then have them hunt for their partners; when found, each pair have refreshments together. Have the following nut conundrums guessed, after which serve all kinds of mixed nuts.
Conundrums
- What nut grows nearest the sea? (Beechnut)
- What nut grows the lowest? (Groundnut)
- What nut is the color of a pretty girl's eyes? (Hazelnut)
- What nut is good for naughty boys? (Hickory)
- What nut is like an oft told tale? (Chestnut)
- What nut grows on the Amazon? (Brazil nut)
- What nut is like a naughty boy when sister has a beau? (Pecan)
- What nut is like a Chinaman's eyes? (Almond)
- What is the favorite nut in Ohio? (Buckeye)
- What nut is like a good Jersey cow? (Butternut)
- What is the mason's favorite nut? (Walnut)
- What nut cannot the farmer go to town without? (Wagon nut)
NUT PARTY
Invitations may be slipped inside peanut or English walnut shells, glued together, and sent in a small box. The shops are showing big English walnuts, Parisian almonds and Spanish peanuts, filled with confections in imitation of the genuine nut meats, which make attractive prizes or favors. A novelty in silver represents an English walnut (exact size), "All in a nutshell," which contains powder, puff, mirror, miniature scent bottle, and pincushion; a silver peanut contains a "magic" pencil or small vinaigrette; thimble cases, bangles, tape measures, etc., come in nut designs; a small lace-trimmed handkerchief may be folded and slipped inside an English walnut shell. The diminutiveness of the prizes is emphasized if they are wrapped in a series of boxes, each one larger than the next. For finding partners, English walnuts painted and dressed in crimped tissue paper to represent different nationalities may be used, a lady and gentleman being given the same nationality. The menu served may be made up of nuts: chicken and nut salad, peanut sandwiches, salted nuts, nut candies, bisque of almonds, pecan cake, walnut wafers, coffee.
OBSERVATION PARTY
Place these objects tastefully on the dining-room table, each guest on entering the room being furnished with a catalogue of the subjects, supposed to be different paintings, made out so that blank spaces will be left to the right for the answers. From fifteen to twenty minutes are allowed to guess and write down the answers as fast as they are discovered. Comparing notes is hardly fair. At the end of the stated time the guests leave the room. Some one then calls out the correct answers, and the persons whose lists are the nearest correct, receive the first, second, third, and fourth prizes, the number of prizes varying according to the number of guests present. A booby prize for the one who was the least successful adds to the fun.
Below is given the list of forty subjects, and also the answers. From the latter you will know what objects to collect and place upon the table. It is better not to arrange them in exact order.
| Subjects | Answers |
| Out for the Night | Candle in Candlestick |
| Departed Days | Last Year's Calendar |
| Scene in Bermuda | Onions |
| We Part to Meet Again | Scissors |
| The Reigning Favorite | Umbrella |
| Home of Burns | Flatiron |
| The Greatest Bet Ever Made | Alphabet |
| A Line from Home | Clothes Line |
| The House the Colonel Lived in | Corn Cob without the Corn |
| Cause of the American Revolution | Tacks on a Letter T |
| A Heavenly Body | Dipper |
| The Little Peacemaker | Chopping-knife |
| Spring Offering | Glass of Water |
| Bound to Rise | Yeast Cake |
| Family Jars | Two Glass Jars |
| Things that End in Smoke | Cigars |
| A Place for Reflection | Hand Mirror |
| Deer in Winter | Eggs |
| Scene in a Base Ball Game | Pitcher |
| A Drive Through the Wood | Block of Wood with Nail Driven Through |
| A Mute Choir | Quire of Paper |
| A Trophy of the Chase | Brush |
| A Rejected Beau | Old Ribbon Bow |
| A Skylight | A Star |
| Our Colored Waiter | Black Tray |
| Sweet Sixteen | Sixteen Lumps of Sugar |
| Consolation | Pipe |
| Common Sense | Pennies |
| The Black Friar | Black Frying Pan |
| Cole's Memorials of the Great | Cinders |
| The Four Seasons | Mustard, Vinegar, Salt and Pepper |
| A Morning Caller | A Bell |
| Assorted Liquors | Whip, Switch and Slipper |
| The Skipper's Home | Cheese |
| An Absorbing Subject | Blotting Pad |
| A Dancing Entertainment | A Ball |
| Bound to Shine | Bottle of Shoe Blacking |
| The Spoony Couple | Two Spoons |
| Old Fashioned Flowers | Lady's Slippers |
| Nothing But Leaves | Block of Blank Writing Paper |