The complete hostess

Introduction

Completely to cover the subject of entertainment in one small volume is an impossibility so manifest that no one will wonder at our not doing it. The purpose of this little book has not been to furnish an encyclopedia of etiquette and entertainment, but to gather together a reasonable number and variety of well-tried social formulae so that a woman who wants to give a birthday party for her five-year-old son, or a lawn tea for her visiting sister-in-law, or who must think up some idea for the church bazaar or Fete of All Nations, shall be able to find in these pages suggestions which her own clever wit will amplify and adapt and make personal and charming.

Of late years, a multitude of hints and directions for every sort of entertaining have been published in the magazines, but few women have kept files of these, or books of clippings, and nearly every woman in the land is confronted at more or less frequent occasions with the desire or necessity of entertaining and the wonder what she shall do. We hope a great many women will find this volume indispensable, that they will keep it on their desks and refer to it constantly, finding in it ever some good, practical idea vi INTRODUCTION

to carry with them to the social committee meetings of church and club, some welcome suggestion about the hospitality of their own homes, some bright idea that, introduced at the party of a friend, will call forth the fervent gratitude of the hostess.

C. E. L.

Chapter I

INFORMAL ENTERTAINING IN THE HOME By Clara E. LAtroHLiN and Priscilla Leonard

PAGE

Informal dinners — High tea — A chafing-dish supper — A stag dinner — Oyster roast — Informal luncheons — Afternoon tea — Kaffee Klatsch — Neighborhood card party — Sewing circle — Informal entertainments , . , 1-24

Chapter II

FORMAL ENTERTAINING IN THE HOME By CJlara E. Laughlin and Priscilla Leonard

Formal dinners and luncheons — New Year's dinner — Valentine dinner — ^Washington's birthday — Saint Patrick's Day — April Fool's Day — Easter luncheon — Fourth of July — Engagement announcement — Apple-blossom luncheon — Fishermen's luncheon — Rose or sweet-pea luncheon — Violet luncheon — Rainbow luncheon — Progressive dinner — Balls . . , . . . . 25-49

CHAPTER III OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENTS By Priscilla Leonard

Garden party — May-Day party — Fourth-of-July party — A Chinese feast — Flower party — Lawn hunts — Evening lawn reception — A naming party — Bam party — Picnics

vii viii CONTENTS

— Fourth-of-July picnic — Surprise picnic — Tete-i-tete picnic — Progressive picnic — Open-air vaudeville picnic — Fishing party — Clambake — A farm picnic — Corn roast — Straw ride — Souvenir picnic — A sailing party — Drives — Sleighing parties . . .... 50-69

Chapter IV

CHILDREN'S PARTIES By Eleanora K. Marble

Cat and mouse — An animal party — A doll's party — Birthday party — The lone fisherman — Hiss and clap — Indoor bubble contest — ^Topsy-turvy concert — United States mail — Fox and hen — A valentine party — All Fools' Day — Fourpaws menagerie — Menagerie number two — Knight of the whistle — Knights Templar — Kissing the Pope's toe — An egg hunt — An Easter rabbit party — May Day party — Independence Day — Duck on a rock — Lawn skittles — Lawn bowls — Stars and Stripes — Lawn bubble party — Miss Columbia's tea party — Over-all party — Little Boy Blue party — Acorn lawn party — Hallowe'en frolics — A Brownie party — Christmas parties — Home of Santa Claus — Shadow pantomimes . 70-101

Chapter V Entertainments For Young People From Twelve To Seventeen Years Of Age

By Eleanora K. Marble

New Year's Eve — A leaf party — A nautical tea — Leap-year dance or party — Progressive proposals — Love's target — A Cupid party — College hearts — Pillow climbing — Fourth of July — A veranda party — A roof party — A dicker party — A swap party — Hallowe'en — Hunt for fortune — Christmas 102-128

CONTENTS ix

Chapter VI

By Clara E. Laughlin

PAGE

. 129-155

Chapter VII

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES By Eleanor A K. Marble

Wooden wedding — Woolen wedding — Tin wedding — Silk and fine-linen wedding — Silver wedding — Golden wedding — Diamond wedding 156-168

] CHAPTER VIII

COTILLONS AND FANCY-DRESS PARTIES FOR ADULTS AND OLDER YOUNG PEOPLE

Mulligan Guards — The mine — Umbrellas — Japanese fete — Letter-box — Inscriptions — The hotel runners — Running the gantlet — Blind man's buff — The monster muff — The Mikado — Air balls — St. Valentine's hat — Fishing — Regatta — Nom de plume — Tapers — Broken hearts — Woolen balls — Bibs — The scarecrow — Aunt Sallie — The lattice — The giant walking hat — Sunflowens — Broom, lantern, and umbrella — Gentlemen ballet dancers — Foils with powder puffs — Fishing rods — Dice — Croquet — Matching colors — The enchanted circle — The bride — Tenpins — Bags — Wireless telegraphy — 'Fancy dress parties — A Buster Brown party — A reminiscence party — The baby show — An ancestor's reunion — A St. Patrick's Day party — A mi-careme party — A harvest-home party — An animated cake carnival — Our holidays —A New Year's Eve party 169-199

X CONTENTS

Chapter IX

CHURCH ENTERTAINMENTS By Mrs. John Foster Kirk, Jr.

PAGE

New Year's dinner — New Year's drill — Men's supper — The baby show — Guessing social — Another guessing social — A Saturday sale — A chicken-pie supper — Oyster supper — An orchard tea — A Fourth-of-July lawn tea — A Japanese fair — Color social — Birthday social — Birthday party — A rag bee — Valentine social — Another valentine party — The cobweb .social — A children's sleighride — The fish supper — ^Tableaux — Cake and candy sale — Handkerchief sale — Pound party — Clipping party — Daisy tea — Flower bazaar — Holding a bazaar — Side shows — Dolls' millinery show — Photographic gallery — Tableau of Mother Goose — Bachelor' s last evening — ^The character party — A Dickens evening — Pillow drill 200-219

CHAPTER X LARGE [PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENTS By Evangeline Kendall

General suggestions — A town circus — A county fair — An amateur vaudeville show — The art loan and trades exhibit — Rummage sales — A Twelfth-night revel — A May festival — A flower carnival — A fete of all nations — Festival of days — A carnival of lanterns — A kirmess — A Hallowe'en party — Amateur theatricals — A charity baU — The Jarley waxworks — ^The Ladies' Magazine — A patriotic anniversary 220-241

Chapter XI

ENTERTAINING CONGRESSES, FEDERATED CLUBS, ETC. By Priscilla Leonard

Entertaining congresses, federated clubs, etc. . . 242-257

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER XII CLUBS By Priscilla Leonard

PAQS

Sewing club — Economy club — Book club — Travel club — Dinner club — Luncheon club — Card club — Literary club — Authors' club — Cooking club — Country club — Camping club 258-273

Chapter XIII

By Clara E. Laughlin and Eleanora K. Mabblk

Chapter XIV

SCHOOL EXHIBITIONS AND EXERCISES By Mrs. John Foster Kirk, Jr.

A literary drill — Geographical exhibit — Arithmetic exhibit — Living spelling bee — ^The county fair — Handicraft exhibit — April 19th — Arbor Day — Athletic contest — May Day — Flower hunt — Memorial Day — Flag Day — Commencement banquets — Skull and crossbone supper — Mock commencement 290-304

Chapter XV Calls, Cards, Invitations, Etc

By Priscilla Leonard

Calls, cards, invitations, etc 305-321

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS

FACING PAGE

Chafing-Dish Supper Frontispiece

Formal Dinner Table 28

Luncheon Table Ready for the Guests .... 40

A Doll's Party 74

A Soap-Bubble Party 88

Pillow-Climbing Game .116

Church Decorated for a Wedding . . . . .152

Silver- Wedding Breakfast Service 166

Cotillon Favors 170

Cozy Corner in a Barn 194

Coffee and Sandwich Buffet at Church Fair . . . 202

Bazaar Tables 216

Fourth-of-July Banquet Hall .230

Tables Set for Federated Club Dinner . . . .250

Country Club: in the Grill Room 270

"Chamber of Peace" 278

xiii

Chapter I Informal Entertaining In The Home

INFORMAL entertainment is, as everyone knows or ought to know, a far greater compliment to guests than any formal entertainment, however splendid. Unfortunately, however, not everyone acts up to this knowledge. Many persons treat an invitation to partake of informal hospitality with a negligence they would never dream of showing a formal invitation. And many who extend informal hospitality think so lightly of the matter that their entertainment, instead of being a delight, becomes a bore.

The prime instinct of the hospitable soul is to do honor to its guest. This honor may be expressed in many ways, but expressed in some way it must be, or the hospitality better be left unoffered.

You do honor to anyone when you ask him to break bread with you beneath your rooftree, particularly if you ask him to join your family circle about the table. But merely to " move along and make room for another " is not so flattering as some people seem to think it. ** What's good enough for me and my folks is good enough for anyone " is the proud boast of some who call themselves hospitable. In a way, this is true enough in spirit; your friend comes, not to gorge himself on fine fare, but to partake with you of what you have. But, on the other hand, the tendency of joy is always to *' celebrate." If your heart is glad because of the presence of your friend, you will inevitably incline to make his presence the occasion of some little celebration. It may be only a handful of his favorite posies on the table; it may be the serving of his favorite dessert or salad, which he says he never gets elsewhere as good as you serve it; it may be shown forth in the spotless linen and " best " china, which say to him, as he sits down to them, *' Your coming makes this a gala day for us! " This is the kind of hospitality that warms hearts and sweetens life, and there can never be too much of it.

INFORMAL DINNERS

When a few friends are asked to dine informally with you and your family, be as careful to avoid all appearance of strain and effort as you are to avoid appearance of carelessness and lack of thought. Select for your viands a number and variety which represent a happy medium between an ordinary family meal and an extraordinary, formal dinner. If you know the tastes of your friends, pay them the compliment of remembrance. But do not undertake

INFORMAL ENTERTAINING S

anything in the way of a menu that will tax too heavily the household machinery. Do not try new dishes on guests, and do not, if you have but one maid and she must wait at table, attempt anything which requires her constant presence in the kitchen when she should be in the dining room. A clever woman I know always serves her fish course creamed, in shells, and browned in the oven. She can prepare this long before dinner time, and it may be put into the oven to heat and left, while her maid is in the dining room passing soup, celery, etc. Once the shells of fish are on the table, the maid is free to remain in the kitchen for ten or more minutes, making her gravy for the roast, whipping to a cream her mashed potatoes, and so forth. The salad, at this woman's house, is always made on the table, and the dessert is, of course, something cold, which has, like the soup and fish, been prepared or supervised by the hostess before she dressed to receive her guests. She attends also to the setting of her own table, and people say the daintiness of its appearance is one of the chief charms of dining with her. Her linen is always immaculate and ironed to a satin beauty. Her centerpieces and doilies are, many of them, the work of her own hands or the Christmas and birthday gifts of friends who know her delight in such things. Her china and glass are not expensive, but they represent a deal of careful " shopping " and picking up of really lovely pieces at small cost. Her silver is not elegant, but it is always as shining bright as if fresh from the silversmith's, and no glass ever goes on her table that is not rubbed clear as crystal should ever be, with a fine, soft glass towel.

She never spends above a dollar on table decoration, and sometimes not a dime, but she gets effects far prettier than many women get for ten or twenty times the sum she spends. She has four plain glass candlesticks of a kind that may be had in hundreds of shops the country over for thirty-five cents each, but they do not look " cheap " on her table because they are so clean and clear. Sometimes she uses inexpensive little colored shades, but quite as often she uses tall white candles unshaded. In summer her dinner table always looks cool, in winter it looks warmly cozy. In summer she uses flowers with delicate coloring, and if she shades her candles the shades are pale green; the ruddy glow from crimson shades she saves for chill winter evenings. With regard to flowers, she has learned the Japanese secret of beauty, and so she uses few, and those in season, and has many little devices for arranging them naturally and artistically. One of the best investments she has ever made was fifty cents expended for a Japanese flower-holder. It is of lead, bronzed. Many shapes are obtainable, but hers is in the shape of a frog some four inches long, with eight holes, punched through his body vertically. These holes are about a quarter of an inch in diameter and are scattered over his broad back. In a shallow green dish of some cheap Japanese pottery — ^the dish is about two inches deep by seven in diameter — this woman puts water to half its capacity. Then in goes Mr. Frog, and in his back she sticks, according to season, jonquils, narcissus, daffodils, tulips, field daisies and clover, iris, white hyacinth, lilies of the valley, or any one of a score of varieties which grow straight on fairly stout supporting stems.

These holders can also be bought in glass, for use in glass bowls, and in common unpainted lead. The stems must be set in the holes so tightly that each stalk will stand gracefully but not stiffly erect, and the flowers keep fresh as long as in a vase. The woman of whom I write has a centerpiece on which she has embroidered clover leaves and blossoms, and many times through a summer her table looks like a picture with this piece in the center of a snowy cloth, and on it the little green low dish, Mr. Frog, and a handful of purple clover blossoms, exquisitely arranged. Four unshaded white candles complete a picture which for real loveliness many a millionaire's table groaning under its weight of costly candelabra and profuse decoration of orchids does not approach. Another decorative device of this same woman's is achieved by the use of her fern dish, which she keeps always fresh and pretty for her table, and a dozen or more blossoms with short stems (which are always cheap at any florist's) stuck into the earth among the green ferns and removed, of course, after the meal is over. I have seen this woman's table beautiful in midsummer with her fern dish sprinkled with white daisies and her candles shaded by pale green crepepaper shades. There are a thousand and one ways in which a dainty woman can beautify her table at next to no expense. But it takes time and thought. A woman of wealth may hire caterer and florist to serve her guests, but she cannot give her entertainment the little, intimate, personal air which is hospitality, unless she lends herself to the effort. A woman of modest means can really give her guests more of the exquisite essence of hospitality than the wealthy woman can, and the informal little dinner is par excellence the sweet, dainty housekeeper's opportunity. A man who can bring a friend home to a three or four course dinner of simple fare perfectly cooked and daintily served (a handful of seasonable flowers and a bit of candlelight lending an air of festivity to the occasion), will scarcely be found straying much from his " ain fireside." Women who have always feared to '^ undertake " a dinner ought to rouse themselves to a few essays in the pretty art, and be sure that time and thought spent in perfecting themselves therein could hardly be better invested.

HIGH TEA

If a hostess wishes to ask twelve or sixteen or twenty friends to a meal with her, and does not feel able to undertake a dinner for that many, a high tea is a charming way of getting around the difficulty. A high tea is really a substantial supper quite as

** filling " as a dinner and much easier to serve. On a cold winter night it may not be to everyone an acceptable substitute for a dinner, unless it occur on Sunday after a hearty midday meal, or on a holiday — New Year's, for instance. But on a hot summer night many people will find a high tea a delightful substitute for a heavy dinner, and in those fortunate communities where midday dinner is the rule it will always be in order. A pretty, social way to serve it is on small tables. Let us suppose you have asked guests enough to make your whole number, including yourself and family, sixteen or twenty. You have tried to keep the number of each sex the same, as at a dinner. While your guests are chatting in parlor or sitting room and dining room, ask one of the gentlemen most at home in your house, or one of the members of your own family, to help you carry in four or five small tables — card tables or folding sewing tables, or any others you may own or can borrow. When these have been placed according to your directions, cover each with a snowy little tea cloth or pretty centerpiece, or, failing these, with a large dinner napkin. Then lay at each place — laying four places for each table — a knife, fork (or two forks), spoon or spoons, as your menu will demand, napkin, and water tumbler; also, if you have them, a bread-and-butter plate and a butter spreader. If you do not own these latter, serve a neat little ball or square of butter in an individual butter dish at each place.

Provide each table with a little dish of salted nuts and another dish in which are olives, radishes, celery, according to season, all strewn with fine-chopped ice to keep them cool and crisp. Also provide salt for each table, and if you can muster enough cream and sugar sets, have one on each table; otherwise, pass cream and sugar from guest to guest on a tray immediately following the tray from which coffee, tea, or chocolate is served. Either seat your guests as you think they will like — always a delicate task, calling for much thought — or allow them to form their own quartettes. When all are seated, begin serving. A nice menu for a warm night is : For a first course, cold fruit, either ice-cold canteloupe, or chilled pineapple, or a compote of cold fruits — ^sliced pineapple, orange, desiccated grape fruit, stoned cherries, etc., sweetened and thoroughly chilled and served in glasses. Then have either a mold of jellied chicken or veal, or cold sliced ham, tongue, or veal loaf, with Saratoga potatoes. Serve hot rolls or biscuit, with jelly or jam, with this course, passing frequently. A tomato and mayonnaise salad is nice with this kind of a supper, or a salad of cold asparagus with French dressing; serve toasted crackers and cheese with the salad. For dessert, have ice cream, fruit ice, fruit jelly, or fresh fruit, and cake. Coffee may be served with the main course, or with the dessert. Chocolate should be provided as an alternative for those who cannot drink coffee at night. For a cold night, have first some kind of cream soup or bouillon served in cups ; then a hot oyster or chicken pattie or steaming hot escalloped oysters passed in the big pan in which they are cooked, or creamed fish smoking hot from the oven in little shells or individual baking dishes. A salad of apple and celery, with a few nut meats, the whole dressed with a creamy mayonnaise or boiled dressing, will be nice with any of the above ; and a change from ice cream, which everyone will appreciate, may be had in delicious, old-fashioned custard baked in cups and served cold and velvety ; or make an orange jelly, cutting the oranges carefully into horizontal halves before extracting the juice. Save the shells thus made, and fill each with a heaped-up mound of the sparkling jelly topped with a spoonful of whipped cream. If a hostess likes, her guests may change places with each course, as at a card party, or only the men may ' ' progress. ' ' A supper of this sort is really very little trouble and little expense, and is capable of being made one of the most charming entertainments imaginable.

A CHAFING-DISH SUPPER

A chafing-dish supper may consist of a single appetizing concoction made by a hostess for half a dozen friends after theater, concert, or lecture, or after they have spent a couple of hours playing cards ; or it may be a fascinating substitute for either an informal dinner or high tea. For the latter, ask eight or ten persons for a chafing-dish supper at, say, seven o'clock. Ask each lady to bring her own chafing dish, or arrange to borrow extra ones, so that there shall be one for each lady, or one for each couple. Sometimes a man has a fancy for this kind of cooking, and a decided talent for it, in which case he is always delighted with an opportunity to show his accomplishment. Make your me^iu out very carefully long beforehand, and get everything ready, as far as possible, in advance of the guests' arrival. Stretch your dining table to an ample length, and set it with centerpiece and doilies (no cloth), and with the necessaries for each place (as for a high tea). In front of each chafing dish have every ingredient for the thing that is to be cooked therein; and with regard to the dishes themselves, have the alcohol lamps filled and the hot-water pans half filled with boiling water. If the night be cold and the guests' appetites sharp, it will be well to serve a hot clear soup in cups, which may be eaten while the various concoctions are under way. In one chafing dish cook salmon^ whitefish, or even common salted codfish, lobster, oysters, crabmeat, or finnan haddie — whatever is available and liked — in a cream sauce, seasoned to taste.

When it is ready, have hot plates brought in, and a plate of hot toast cut in triangles or rounds. Serve the hot fish on the toast, and with it sandwiches of fresh Boston brown bread, buttered and cut in dainty shapes; also olives, celery, etc. Meanwhile, in another dish another cook has been preparing sweetbreads with button mushrooms or asparagus tips, or creamed chicken, or a curry, or some enormously appetizing stew of veal warmed up in a brown gravy seasoned to the Queen 's taste. And the other dishes have French peas heated smoking hot, with butter and seasoning, potatoes creamed or cooked without the water pan a la Lyonnaise, with a taste of onion. Serve coffee with this course and hot bread of some kind. For a salad, have something not too rich — perhaps a lettuce salad with a highly seasoned French dressing made on the table after the chafing dishes have been removed. Crackers and cheese should be passed with the salad course; also salted nuts, if they have not been on the table all the time. Dessert should be cold, and not too hearty ; for this supper, if properly cooked and served, is so appetizing that most people will partake more heartily of it than of the regulation dinner, and anjrthing so heavy as shortcake, dumplings, or rich pudding is little likely to be acceptable. An orange ice served in a sherbet glass, and with a bit of fresh homemade sponge cake or sunshine cake, is sure to be far better appreciated.

For a little late-in-the-evening lunch helped out with the chafing dish, select one appetizing thing likely to be acceptable to all — oysters or chicken or finnan haddie is a far safer choice, usually, than Welsh rarebit or lobster a la Newhurgh. Do not attempt to serve more than eight from a single chafing dish, and of course you will never try a new recipe on your guests, but will offer them only your surest success. A salad may or may not be served after the chafing-dish course at one of these late suppers; but if it is, it should be made on the table and partake of the same informal nature as the chafing-dish cookery. Always use the chafing dish on a bare table, and have it set on a metal tray. Dainty decorations are not so much in keeping with a supper of this kind as are odd effects. A centerpiece of lilies of the valley would look ridiculously incongruous on a table set for the preparation of a Welsh rarebit. Indeed, flowers are scarcely in place at all, but candles are, and any little surprise that occurs to the hostess as appropriate. For instance, a girl gives a little supper of this sort to half a dozen friends with whom she has played tennis or golf a great deal, or with whom she has been camping or boating or fishing; one of the young men may own a catboat on which he has frequently taken the other members of the little " crowd " for delightful sails on lake or river; in memory of this, the clever girl sets the center of her table with a mirror (a round table mirror, if she has one, any available mirror, if she has not) ; she conceals the edges of it under a border of green ferns or leaves, and in the miniature lake thus presented she sets a tiny cat-rigged boat bought at a toy store for ten or fifteen cents and whittled flat on the bottom so it will stand steady. Or she cuts a rectangular piece of green felt or cotton flannel and marks off a tiny tennis court on it, contriving a net out of anything available. The care expended on a bit of a surprise like this will go far to make a simple entertainment memorable.

A STAG DINNER

A man usually appreciates this kind of a celebration arranged for him by his wife or mother on his birthday; and on other occasions, when he desires an opportunity to talk at length with men friends about the improvement of the golf links, or the management of the merchants' street fair, or the finances of the church, or the building of a new clubhouse, he is pleased to have the talk take place around his own dining table, over an appetizing dinner. On such an occasion the hostess may receive the guests in the parlor, and retire when dinner is ready to serve, or may preside at the table and retire when the time arrives for coffee and cigars. She will be thoughtful to provide the kind of a dinner most men like, venturing on no '* f angle-dangles, " and remembering that men usually care little for sweets and a great deal for the substantials. She will decorate her table attractively in some warm color — most men admit they '' like any color so's it's red " — and will not bother the diners with more accessories than they absolutely need, knowing that men are nearly always impatient of knick-knacks, especially on a table where, to the masculine mind, they interfere with the important business of dining.

OYSTER ROAST

An oyster roast is a pleasant informal affair, if a barrel of oysters, just from the salt water, can be easily procured. Set the table with knives, forks, plates, glasses, napkins, salt and pepper at each plate, and a clean wooden bucket at the side of each second chair. The oysters are roasted in the kitchen, and brought in on large trays, which are placed on the table. The guests take the oysters, shell and all, open them (or they can be opened outside just before bringing in), and eat them hot from the shell, with pepper and salt. The shells are dropped into the buckets when empty. Coffee or beer can be served, and bread and butter, and various sauces are on the table. Everything must be plain, hot, and clean, and there must be no delay in bringing in the oysters. It is a very simple affair, but usually a very successful one, if the oysters are fine.

INFORMAL LUNCHEONS

Informal luncheons are capable of an infinite number of variations and surprises. Sometimes men are asked to them, but oftenest the guests are women only, and, in the case of the most successful luncheons, women who are pretty well acquainted with each other and at least fairly congenial. Luncheon, whether formal or informal, is now almost invariably served on a bare table, with doilies and centerpieces instead of a cloth. A few flowers appropriate to the season should always grace the table, and the menu should be " short and sweet " — ^that is to say, not many things, but everything very dainty. There are a great many dishes which are appropriate only to luncheon, and which the housewife whose men folk stand too conservatively (for her liking) by roast beef and roast lamb and mashed potatoes and apple pie, delights to serve to an appreciative company not afraid of novelties but frankly in hope of them. In serving dinners, it is always safest to stick as closely as one can to things that nearly everybody likes, without danger of monotony. But when entertaining women at luncheon it is always in order to present any novelty with which the hostess has thoroughly familiarized herself. Woman dearly love to learn a new salad, a new dessert, a new cream soup, or entree, and it is safe to say that one of the prime ingredients of a successful little luncheon is a culinary surprise — if it is a good one!