OCR Text |
Show GOOD TASTE f$ TODAY IemilyVostA World'l Foremost Authority on Etiquette Emily Post. Dad's Birthday Party Raises Note Problem FEAR Mrs. Post: Will you please -L write a form of Invitation for us under the following circumstances? circum-stances? I am one of four children, only one of us married, who want to give a party In honor of my father's fa-ther's birthday, although I suppose It would be better not to mention the occasion. We would like to write the invitations by hand on small sized note paper stamped with our house address. While we are asking ask-ing at least 75 people we want the Invitation to sound as friendly and informal as possible. Answer: I would suggest that each one of you write notes to your own personal friends, and that whoever has most time and perhaps neatest handwriting also write those to your father's friends and relatives, following fol-lowing this general wording: "Mary, Jim, Bcb and I are having a party for father, on Sunday afternoon, after-noon, January 31st. Won't you come in between four and six o'clock?" As you notice, I have left the birthday birth-day out, but this does not mean that I think it improper to write, "Mary, Jim, Bob and I are having a birthday party for father ..." because .those who know him very well and know it is his birthday will probably bring him a present, and this might make others who are very fond of him and would have liked to remember his birthday feel that they have come empty-handed. On the other hand, in going to a birthday party of any size no one should feel obliged to take a present pres-ent Are Parents Obligated for Children's Visits? T EAR Mrs. Post: What is my po-- sition regarding the parents of friends of my daughter? She is at college far away and goes home frequently with the girls whose homes are closer to the school. She sometimes mentions in her letters home that these girls' parents are going to New York on a holiday, and as we live in the environs of New York I'm wondering whether it is expected that we extend some kind of hospitality to the parents at such times. Answer: Your real obligation is in encouraging her to invite these girls home with her when they have longer recesses or perhaps to let her ask them to come between school terms when they can stay longer. But why don't you ask her whether she wants you to show particular par-ticular hospitality to the parents she knows especially well, and what she suggests. She knows what type of people they are and whether they have friends in New York, or on the other hand, whether they are going as strangers or whether the mothers are likely to be alone while their husbands attend to business, or just what the individual situations situa-tions are. A7ofe Is Mandatory. DEAR Mrs. Post: A man I know spent a week-end at my married mar-ried brother's house. My sister-in-law had let me ask him so that my visit would be more pleasant. She and my brother certainly put themselves them-selves out to entertain us. I feel that the least my friend can do is write her a note, which I happen to know he hasn't done. Is there a way I could remind him to write her, because his thoughtlessness certainly puts me in a bad light? Answer: I can think of nothing else to do except say to him, "I hate to ask you to write another one, but my sister-in-law never got your letter." Then he will probably say, "What letter?" and you answer, an-swer, "Why, didn't you write and ' say anything for that pleasant weekend week-end we had?" And that is that! Butter Balls Remain DEAR Mrs. Post: Has the vogue for "butler balls" gone out? Several years ago it seemed that every hostess served fancy designs of individual butter portions but today to-day I never see them anywhere. Answer: No, I think butter balls are ctill seen in many houses although al-though it is true that in quite as many others butter is simply cut neatly into squares. The reason is probably that of time saving since very few of us have as many servants serv-ants as we used to. One might, in fact, say that comparatively few have any. . Better Late Than Never DEAR Mrs. Post: Is one supposed sup-posed to be able to hold over social obligations from one season to the next? I should have entertained enter-tained several new friends last spring but had no money to give a party of any kind then. I'm wondering wonder-ing if now, which is the first it has been possible, would be considered too late to repay these kindnesses? Answer: Not at all. There is no time limit on any return you want to make. After all, there are so many reasons why we may not be able to do what we want to when we want to. WNU Service. |