Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is either the first holiday of the fall season or the last holiday of summer, according to your calendar of entertaining. By any calendar the Labor Day week end is a time for hospitality. In some families it is the time for a cookout with the children, or a bicycle picnic. In town, Labor Day may be the occasion for friends coming back from Europe and the country and other vacation places to get together to catch up on the summer’s news.
Come In for Coffee and Dessert Party One of the easiest and most pleasant evenings of this kind for this holiday. The invitation is telephoned or given in person, for 8 o’clock or any suitable hour soon after dinner. The dining-room or living-room table is arranged for buffet service of coffee and dessert with small plates, forks, spoons, cups and saucers, and napkins. Or, in a very small apartment, the refreshments and accessories are assembled in the kitchen on a tray and brought in to be served from a coffee table in the living room.
Menu Coffee should be almost ready when guests arrive, and should be served as soon as they have removed their wraps and settled themselves in the living room. Favorite combinations with the coffee are: sumptuous cake, such as chiffon spice cake with caramel icing, or Lady Baltimore cake, or coconut and lemon layer, or tender marble cake with marble frosting, or an angel cake baked in a ring pan, left unfrosted, and served with its center filled with crushed fresh peaches and whipped cream or with peach ice cream.
Other combinations: coffee and pecan pie, or mocha chiffon pie, or a warm, deep-dish pie, such as plum, apple, peach, or cherry. A Linzer torte or any other open-face jam torte is always in season. Or, if you are famous for an especially good dessert, such as a family pudding, or mountain high lemon meringue tarts, or French pancakes made at the table, serve your speciality.
Men appreciate the sweetmeats tray that some hostesses provide with this kind of coffee-and-cake evening, as well as after dinner. This is especially true if the tray includes such good things as homemade fudge.