Jeannette Marie sent me a link to a pattern auction on eBay (from seller Farfalla Design Studio check them out, they have nice stuff!) that included this gem:
This was a clipping that the seller found in the pattern! I don't think I'm going to use any of these tips at my next party. Although I might pass this around to scare people. "Just imagine 10 or 12 boys all yodeling at the same time"? No, thank you.
I like to imagine this sort of stuff was written by mostly-drunk, completely hard-boiled, oft-divorced newspapermen who were kept out WWII by bad ankles, and was hammered out on typewriters with stuck "j" keys …
A Dress A Day 
I had a whole book (c. 1930) of this type of thing once. It was chock full of painful, painful party games and such. It was excruciating to read. I couldn’t imagine actually doing any of it. *shudder*–Lydia
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. . . who then went home and stuck their heads in their ovens. Yeesh. I thought the toilet-paper wedding-dress game was bad, and that’s at least limited to all-girl wedding showers.But at least we can laugh.
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Just imagine – these are your grandparents in many cases! Simpler times, simpler ways. Picture teenaged Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney doing this and having an absolute ball.
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By the way, I’m passing on that term “Droon” to my grandkids. They’ll love it; it may start a new trendy term. First I’ll have to explain what a “drip” and “goon” are – hee, hee!
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It’s hard to imagine that there could have been a time when a gaggle of teen boys would go along with such suggestions. ONE boy, confused and desperate for attention, maybe. But get them in a group and they often turn into droons, is my experience.
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How sad that y’all think these games are stupid. I remember as a young child watching my parents enjoy being with other young adults and playing games such as these. I even remember playing a few as a young married adult.. and I’m only 46. We should be encouraging this type of playful innocence in our children and teens today.
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Don’t get me wrong — I love party games! But these ones, frankly, suck. Thank goodness there have been such great advances in party-game technology in the last few decades. 🙂
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yes, well… people also used to think “Uncle Miltie” and “Ed Sullivan Show” were entertaining… i don’t say that we’re more “sophisticated” today — but tastes have changed. i always hated party games, even when i was a kid — a good time is conversation and maybe some singing — not yodelling — and dancing.i certainly cannot see my nephews and nieces going for something like this. and i don’t blame them.
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I don’t know — I think the dress making for men idea is funny and could be a lof of fun. I might do that at my next party. It’s better than people standign around not mingling! Maybe I am weird.Jane, do you want to come to my party? I especially love Erin’s last paragraph, as a former newspaper editor who was taught by the type of men she described it made me miss my college advisor – Rocky Rockwell. He had a glass eye, chain-smoked cigarellos and typed with two fingers on an old Smith Corona with a messed up ribbon. All the letters typed with red on the bottom. I absolutetly adored him and learned so much form him.
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I actually like the idea of the singing game. Not for a boy/girl party (I can’t imagine it working there) but for a big, raucous family party where all ages and genders are being paired off into teams for other games? Oh yes! Wouldn’t it be the cutest to see a six year old earnestly singing “I’m a little teapot” to everyone who’ll listen until she finds her partner, who happens to be Gramma? And Uncle whoever has forgotten (or never knew) the words to his song, so three folks are tryng to help him, causing much confusion…yeah, it does sound like fun, if you’re a party games person in the first place. The problem with noisy, embarrassing games like this is that everyone needs to just let go and play, and if too many people are too embarrassed to go for it, the game flops. That’s why this would never ever fly for teenagers.
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Old books with party games are a riot! As a librarian I was weeding our collection and came across a game book for children’s parties that included instructions for inserting a lit candle into an apple, which was then strung up so it would swing. The game was to hold a tooth pick between your teeth and try to pierce the apple without touching it.Hot wax dripping on faces, burning hair…ah, now THAT’S fun at any children’s party!I walked the book next door to the fire department and asked if they would like to own the book as an example of “what not to do.”I’m surprised the make a dress idea wasn’t to be done blind folded…the guys blindfolded and dressing the girls would have spiced things up considerably.
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Amazingly enough, my grandfather would clip ‘helpful columns’ from the newspaper (just like this!) and hand them to my mother when she was a girl. Wow, self-esteem!My grandparents both felt my mother (who was a stunning teenager with a Monroe figure, with ‘Titian’ hair and peach skin) was not socially active enough, and needed ‘poise’. I’ve seen pictures of my mother’s teenage parties, she had more friends in one room than I had in 13 years of public school! And she was a Navy brat, having to make a whole new set of friends every two years!Naturally my mother has always suffered from delusions of disappointment, even though she is a nice person and has plenty of good friends. She also had the best party ideas (she had a ‘shipwreck’ party and sent the invites out in glass bottles), and the best costume ideas. (One year she dressed her 6’6″ boyfriend as a cockroach and herself as a roach-motel, this was after her divorce…)Most of the newspaper clippings involve ignoring your own worth and personality and molding yourself to the boy’s beau idal and hoping he likes you enough to see past your silly flaws. The 50’s sounded FUN!
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the second suggestion reminds me of a game we’ve played at Girl Scout outdoor adventure course (aka ropes course) weekends. Everyone gets a farm animal and makes the appropriate noise to find their partner. Pretty entertaining — unless you get stuck with a mute little thing like a turtle. That’s just bad planning.I wish I knew more party games, and I wholeheartedly agree with anon’s thoughts about just letting go.
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I’m going to use “droon” at every opportunity.And, and, and–I would have much rather played one of the above-described games at a party than the dreaded and always embarrassing “five minutes in heaven” in that musty coat closet.
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I, for one, can’t wait to find an opportunity to call someone a “Droon!” She gave the definition, but I still wonder if it’s any relation to “drone?” hee hee.
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I love the idea of these party themes being thought up by bitter, drunk men.
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I think I have seen this one before, I wonder if it is the same ebay seller? I just gave a lovely little girl pattern to a friend that was in a Holly Hobbie style dress with bonnet. Inside the envelope was correspondance dated 1975, a basic letter people used to always write, talking about the kids and plans for that year (and the dress, this was to be a flower girl dress with extra design details. I was about the age (just a little older) of the little girl being sewn for by her auntie when the letter was written. The letter could have been written today but for the newspaper pattern piece.The newspaper clipping (an additional pattern piece that was drafted) with ads for hi fi portable 8 track player/radios for $199. Times have changed as well.
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Actually I thought the make the dress game would have been fun. when I was 15 my boyfriend would have gone along with it, but he had a great sense of humor. I grew up in a simpler time and in a poor family, so that equation always meant make your own fun.I adore reading old newspaper clippings that I find in pattern envelopes, especially the ones that were cut into bodice or sleeve shapes so you never got the whole story.
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The serenade game sounds mortifying. I’d rather spend the evening in a corner with a droon — ring-a-ding-DING!I went to an excellent party where every guest was required to wear a tag which listed three pet peeves and three pet pleasures. Man, it was hard for THIS old droon to limit herself to just three pet peeves! It was a great conversation starter–MUCH better than, “So, what do YOU do?”
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Oh my! The games are awful! But then again I hate any group games. ;-P I’m the one gal in the corner her nose in a book. :-)~Amelia
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Hey, now, the second game doesn’t sound *so* terrible, just not good for a boy/girl party. (Can you imagine 10 or 12 boys yodeling at the same time?!) But the concept is workable for the right situation.”Trixie Teen”…yeesh, sounds like some of the stuff I read today. I don’t suppose there was a teen boys’ column telling them not to do that sort of thing, now was there?
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Newspaper dresses sound like such fun! ; )
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These games live on at baby and bridal showers. I recently went to a mixed-gender baby shower and of course the young men were horrified and found an excuse to go check out the tools in the garage. (But we were treated to an impassioned lecture on soil conservation by one of them. Such fun.)
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I think I just fell off my chair laughing at these fabulous comments!@!!!!!!
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y6tAc1 Please write anything else!
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fsnei1 actually, that’s brilliant. Thank you. I’m going to pass that on to a couple of people.
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2jmgjH Hello all!
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d5XsAy Please write anything else!
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