A Birthday Party for the Wee Ones

The "honoree" of this unusual party was just one year old. Since she was the only chick in the home nest, her mother resolved to celebrate every birthday with a real little party. To this one eleven other babies and their mothers were asked.

The guests were invited into the reception room, where a bright little girl of three years presided over the register. After the babies' names were recorded they passed into the living room. The floor was covered with big soft comforts, and there were birthday toys too numerous to mention. The babies were all delighted and, of course, all the mothers were fairly beaming as they watched them play.

After a time the dining room was opened and fairy-land made real. The "Sugar-Plum Tree" itself couldn't have rained more goodies than appeared to the eager, wondering babies. Twelve high chairs surrounded the table and dainty little place-cards were used, "just like grown-ups". To the back of each chair was tied a gingham bib - blue for the girls and pink for the boys. A birthday cake was the central ornament. Tapers with pink floral shades shed a soft illumination over the table.

The menu for the children was mostly milk, some of which was brought bottled by the little guests themselves. Wholesome crackers made the "feast" a little more "elaborate". Dolls and bibs were given as favors. After the babies had been satisfied the mothers were served a dainty salad with olives, wafers and coffee.

A Birthday Party for a "Two-Year-Old"

Use a round table if possible; let the center represent a farmyard scene. For grass use the green cut straw that is used below Christmas trees. Have a barn, some trees, a small hay wagon and groups of small animals, such as horses, cows and dogs, with chickens and ducks scattered about. Small dolls standing around would add to the effect.

At the close of the party the little guests could be each given a toy to take home.

Besides the necessary high chair for the little one have at each place a plate of nursery china, with a Mother Goose picture and rime, or animals, on it, and a bib with the child's name in cross-stitch; this last to be taken home.

The refreshments should be most simple, such as small cups of milk, thin slices of bread and butter, vanilla ice cream and tiny, round sponge cakes with two wee candles in each.

A Children's Easter Party

A Rabbit Party will fittingly celebrate Easter Monday and the cards of invitation may be decorated with rabbits, which may be painted, drawn or cut out. The following rime will be suitable for the invitations:

On Monday next please be my guest,

And may the day be bright and sunny.

We'll play the games we like the best

And maybe meet the Easter bunny.

An egg hunt will interest the children at once, and for this purpose provide each child with a basket tied with a different colored ribbon or crepe paper. Direct them to hunt for Easter eggs and favors, but add that each child is only entitled to favors wrapped in the color corresponding to his or her basket. For instance, the child having a violet basket can only keep favors wrapped in violet paper. This will insure each child receiving the same number of eggs and Easter gifts.

Tossing eggs will prove an amusing game and for this purpose make three nests from colored raffia, using different colors. Provide each child with twelve jelly eggs which are to be tossed in the nests, an egg in the smallest nest scoring fifteen and the next ten, and in the last five.

An "egg-rolling" contest will be enjoyed by the children. For this purpose several leaves of a table may be used, forming an inclined plane. Each guest is provided with a hard boiled egg, and two at a time roll their eggs down the board. Those who safely roll their egg down are permitted to keep it, but if an egg is cracked by collision, it becomes the property of the other contestant; while if both eggs suffer, they are forfeited.

Pinning the ears on the Easter rabbit is a game which may be played similarly to the time-honored Donkey Game.

Another very amusing game is the Egg Scramble. Fill a number of small paper bags with eggs and hang several feet apart on a line stretched across the room. Blindfold the children in turn, give them an egg-beater, turn them around several times a few feet from the line of bags and tell them to walk to the bags and hit one. If a bag is broken, let the children scramble for the eggs. A good prize for the winner of this contest would be a fancy egg with a crystal picture inside.

A contest which the girls will enjoy consists in making Easter bonnets, and for this purpose provide each guest with a number of sheets of colored tissue paper, paste, scissors and pins. Request each guest to make an Easter bonnet and award a prize to the one whose bonnet is deemed the best.

A novel means of distributing favors consists in arranging a "Daffodil Bed", and for this purpose either artificial or natural flowers may be used. Wrap the favors with brown, paper and tic to the stem of each daffodil, burying it in sand or moss. Each child is allowed to go to the "Daffodil Bed" and pluck a flower, receiving of course the favor which is fastened to the stem.

The party table maybe prettily decorated with rabbits and a large rabbit will be an effective centerpiece. This bunny should hold in its paws as reins, a number of lengths of colored ribbon and each ribbon should be fastened to a small rabbit at each child's place.

The refreshments may consist of deviled egg sandwiches, rabbit cakes, jelly eggs, frozen custard in egg form, salted nuts and fruit lemonade.