To make sure my guests have fun at my party this weekend, I’ve looked up a few tips ~ I am certainly not above giving myself some advice. This one is from Beatrice Pierce’s book titled The Young Hostess. Now if I could just get the boys to wear pirate costumes ~ I’d be all set.
1938: Mistress of Ceremonies
When your friends come to your house, whether it’s for a party or just to say hello, it is up to you to see that they have a good time. The first thing to consider is your crowd ~ their likes and dislikes as to entertainment. Some friends are glad of an opportunity to get together and talk. Others like to be amused. If your crowd likes talking, or gathering around the radio or victrola to listen to music or to dance, let well enough alone. Your role is easy. All you need to do is to encourage your guests to follow their inclinations.
Unfortunately, there are guests who do not seem to have any ideas or inclinations that they wish to follow. They do not care enough for conversation to consider it entertainment. They do not like to sit and listen to music, and they do not dance. Or perhaps there isn’t room enough for dancing. What to do with these difficult guests? Well, sometimes they just have to be taken by the hand and coaxed into having a good time. As hostess you must use ingenuity in thinking up the right games and amusements for them. You also have to use enthusiasm and vivacity to get guests in the right mood for entertainment. Once started, things usually go with vim and vigor. But often you have to put forth an effort to get your party happily under way.
In planning entertainment for guests, a good deal depends upon the time and place. Is your house large or small? It makes a difference whether you are giving a party in an apartment furnished with fragile antique furniture or in a roomy house or in a shack at the seashore. It also makes a difference whether you are giving a party in the afternoon for a few girls or a large party in the evening for both boys and girls. Then, too, you have to adapt your games to the kind of clothes you have asked your guests to wear. It would certainly be hard on a new party dress to go ducking for apples. On the other hand, it might be loads of fun for a guest who was dressed in a gypsy or pirate costume. Here is where a little judgement in making things harmonize will stand you in good stead.
Source: Pierce, Beatrice. The Young Hostess. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1938.
~ pp. 216-17 ~