As a surprise for each girl, the hostess had provided a tiny bunch of apple sachets, easily made from scraps of apple-colored silks.

“I like apples more than ever now that I’ve begun to see their possibilities,” the guest of honor declared.

AN OLD ROSE SHOWER

For a girl who was very fond of everything rose-colored, her friends planned an “old-rose” shower on Valentine’s Day.

As a result, among the gifts were rose-colored silk stockings, a rose-flowered silk party bag, an old-rose boudoir cap, slippers to match, and towels with old-rose initials.  Each gift was wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with old-rose ribbon, and they were all presented on a big tray, the bottom of which was rose-flowered cretonne under glass.

The refreshments were raspberry ice and tiny cakes frosted in rose and white, and each guest carried away as a favor a wee glove handkerchief with an old-rose border.

A KITTY SHOWER

It sounds odd, but the engaged girl for whom it was given was so very fond of pussy cats that her chum knew that a kitty shower would just exactly suit her.

The invitations, written on cats cut from heavy paper, read this way: 

Since Elizabeth Ann is so fond of the kitty Don’t you agree that ’twould be a great pity If we missed a good chance now for making a hit By each bringing her some kind of a kit?

The bride-to-be suspected nothing when she was asked to a kitty luncheon at her chum’s house.

The table had as decorations a centerpiece of pussy willows and yellow tulips, and the candle shades were made of yellow parchment paper with black silhouettes of cats running around them.

At each girl’s place was a tiny china cat with a yellow ribbon bow on its neck to which was tied the place-card.

There was no attempt to carry out the kitty idea in the menu, but it was yellow throughout.  The first course was grapefruit, then followed scalloped oysters garnished with lemon slices, chicken and mayonnaise salad, individual baked custards, and sunshine cake.

Upon withdrawing from the table, it was announced that “Pussy was in the well,” and forthwith a deep cylindrical waste-basket trimmed with pussy willows was brought in and set before the guest of honor, who was requested to be the one to “pull pussy out.”

With a dawning understanding of the meaning of this, the bride-to-be reached in and drew one by one from the waste-basket the “kits” which had been placed there for her.  Each one was tied with yellow ribbon and had a black cat pasted on it.

The gifts were all very clever.  There was a traveler’s sewing kit, a small blacking kit, a wee laundry kit for motoring, a handy kit containing baggage tags, rubber bands, and the like, an emergency kit with safety pins and threaded needle for her handbag, a guest towel with a cross-stitch kitty on one end, a cream pitcher and sugar bowl with a kitten border, a quaint kitten door stop, a painted wooden kitten twine holder, a pair of Angora skating gloves, an odd little sewing apron with linen cats appliqued on the corners, and a knitting bag of cretonne which pictured Puss-in-Boots prominently among other Mother Goose People.