Entertaining Made Easy

Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

It is fun to entertain—if you don't make hard work of it.

And why make hard work of it when there are ways to entertain easily?

Besides you know that the more easily you do it, the more successful you'll be, and there's hardly a woman in the world—is there?—who wouldn't like to be known as a good hostess.

"But," says one of you, "I haven't the knack."

And another says, "I haven't the time or money."

And yet another, "Oh, I never have any ideas."

Nonsense!

It's not a question of knack or money or ideas. All you need is to know the secret, and it's an open secret at that!

First, ask yourself what you mean by a successful hostess. Your answer will be, "One whose guests have so good a time that they want to come again."

Sure enough! The secret is out then—entertaining successfully is giving the guests a good time.

"More easily said than done," you say. "What must I do to give the guests a good time?"

And the answer to that is in a nutshell. "Make your entertainment fit the folks to be entertained."

You wouldn't, for instance, think of inviting your grandmother's friends in of an afternoon in honor of the old lady's birthday and playing stagecoach or blindman's buff.

And if you have your Sunday School class of lively boys in for the evening, you won't expect them to play paper and pencil games from eight to ten.

It's really just a matter of common sense coupled with some imagination and forethought to choose the right kind of entertainment.

Along with choosing the right variety of amusement, remember that folks generally like the simple things best and if there's a touch of originality in addition, you've won their hearts. For you see you've made them feel that you took the trouble to plan something "different" in their honor.

Because it's different, it isn't necessarily hard to prepare—there are lots of novelties in decoration, amusement and "eats" that are perfectly simple and inexpensive. They are what help to make entertaining easy, in fact. And just at this point you see comes in the reason for the writing of this little book.

It aims to make entertaining easy by suggesting plans that are simple and a little out-of-the-ordinary to fit the most frequent occasions when you wish to entertain or perhaps must do so. Special care has been taken to consider time and expense, but at the same time to bring in a touch of the unusual.

Don't miss the fun of entertaining because you've always thought it hard work! This book has been prepared to show you how easily, after all, it can be done. And may you have the reward of joy and satisfaction that comes with successful hospitality!

Perhaps you're appointed chairman of the social committee of your young people's church society of or some club. Or maybe you want to entertain for a friend who is visiting you so that she may meet your circle of friends. Anyway it's up to you to plan an evening's amusement for a big crowd of people. If it's a mixed crowd—young and old and in-between (as church socials often are)—you need one kind of plan; if it's a bunch of young folks, or a school class party, or something for the children, you need other plans....