The shop idea is one of the most effective ways of displaying an assortment of such gifts and adding some fun to the presentation. As with other gift showers, it is best to consult the engaged girl about her preferred color schemes. Shelf edging, garment bags, covered or painted hangers, hat boxes, garment boxes, covered sets of utility boxes come in solid-color plastics as well as many fabrics in various colors and sizes.
Knowing her preferred color scheme, guests can select furnishings in the desired colors. A Fix-ft Shower A shower of tools for house, laundry, garage, and garden can make a good party for the engaged couple who are going to move into a house. If weather permits, this might be staged in a cleared garage or barn and the area around it, or in a cleared playroom, laundry, or back porch or terrace.
When their friends telephone to accept, the hosts can suggest tools already on the gift list, and let each decide what he wants to bring – anything from screw driver, hammer, or a box of nails to garden shears, trowel, electrician’s tape, roll of electric cord, cords with plugs, extension cords, and similar accessories. A large tool cabinet for garage or basement, the gift of two or three guests who combine their funds, makes a much appreciated gift. It might be painted a bold color, such as bright pink. At the party every guest autographs the cabinet with his initials in black paint or some bright color, and the hosts add the date. The cabinet will be a longtime reminder of a good party.
After the repair jobs are finished or put aside, a barbecue supper or porch buffet is served. In cool weather if the playroom or laundry has been the scene of the party, a hot dish is featured in a simple menu served buffet or cafeteria style. Menu Barbecued steak or chicken halves, potatoes baked in foil, tossed green salad, garlic bread, watermelon, iced drinks. For a porch supper, serve baked beans cooked with sliced frankfurters or smoked sausages, buttered Boston brown bread, cottage cheese, gooseberry jam, angel cake baked in ring pans and iced with white frosting, vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce. For a cooler night in playroom or laundry, serve shrimp with rice prepared earlier in the day and reheated in chafing dish or table skillet; or a tangy cheese pie, green bean and onion salad, compote of sliced peaches and bing cherries, and hot coffee.