Menu Iced lemonade to cool hot brows and savory small hot pizzas as appetizers. Then cold fried chicken, country salad of sliced cucumbers and tomatoes in seasoned vinegar, a loaf of fresh cheese bread to slice and butter, a pan of warm gingerbread fresh from the oven and ice cream to top it with or served plain, hot coffee. A big, wooden bread-dough bowl of summer fruit was placed on the table for afternoon snacks.
Preparations for the luncheon were made the day before. The pizza topping was mixed, put in a covered jar, and stored in the refrigerator. Chickens were fried, cooled, then placed in refrigerator to chill. The pizza appetizers were made of English muffins, split, toasted, and spread with the reheated pizza mixture and served hot. Final preparations for the luncheon went smoothly and easily, with one or two guests helping the hosts. After the leisurely meal everybody went back to work to finish the gifts. At the end of the afternoon, before guests departed, cold lemonade and grape juice refreshed them for the road.
This kind of shower, with limitations, can be given in the cleared basement, laundry, playroom, or garage of a house in town. It is important that only useful and decorative, worthwhile things be brought to the shower and that guests with experience in refinishing, painting, or other repairs be willing to guide the amateurs. The result is attractive and useful pieces, which save the couple some of their furnishing funds, and please them besides with the generosity and good taste of their friends.
Variation of Home Decorating Shower can be given as a luncheon in a small apartment or any home. Instead of refinishing old pieces, the engaged girl’s friends bring some small furnishing such as a pair of candlesticks, book ends, tray, wastebasket, framed print, chair-side table, jug or vase for flowers, candy dish, or similar accessory. Good gifts in this group are books on home decoration, and subscriptions to home decorating magazines.
In addition, guests are asked to bring samples of new decorating fabrics from their favorite shops, samples of wallpaper, paint color cards, pictures cut from decorating magazines of interiors, rugs, furniture, table settings, and all else of interest. After luncheon, these are sorted out on the cleared dining table or a living-room table, so that the engaged girl can compare, discuss, and exchange ideas on color schemes and furnishing.