Evening star., 1936-04-18
WEDDING GIFTS SHOULD CONFORM TO CIRCUMSTANCES
Elaborate or Fragile
Articles Out of Place
In Small Apartments
Luxury Presents May Be Given to the Bride
Who Plans to Maintain a Large
Formal Establishment

Keep your gift in line with that scale
and you will not go far wrong.
EOR instance, will be bride move in
a circle that is socially very ac-
tive and more or less formal? Will
she be entertaining great deal? viii
she have plenty of servants and large
establishment for them to take care
of? Then, by all means, send lux
uriouS gift--if you can afford it-deli-
cate linens and laces, exquisite china.
elaborate ornaments and beautiful old
silver.
But, if she is to live in a small
work-then these things would be out
of place. She will have no time to
keep heavy silver pieces cleaned; there
will be so little storage space that
delicate porcelain would not be safe;
cobwebby laces would not last long
under heavy laundering For her the
coarser peasant linens. the charming,
gayly colored pottery cups and plates.
or the fascinating new wood or pewter
ones. Mats of cellophane, or mirror;
chromium ornaments and table pieces,
all streamlined, and modern in feel
ing, SO that a minimum of busting
and washing is necessary to preserve
their pristine gloss and beauty.
Jade boxes for cigarettes, fragile
porcelain fgurines for table and man.
tel, have no place in the small, crowd
ed apartment of an active young
couple. When the gang gathers there
is too big a chance of breakage, with
embarrassment and real distress as
the result. The shops are so full Of
lovely, almost indestructible bric-a-
brac today, that a wide selection of
this type of gift is spread before every
shopper.
And another thing-Uhether your
| gift is for the large menage or for
the small one-try to choose some
thing really different, and get away
from the stereotyped Wedding present.
Even if you can't afford to spend much
money on the article-if it is picked
with an eye to the brides circum-
stances, and is of a novel and unusual
charm, it is sure to be cherished
possession for many years in the young
couples home. If you must give ash
trays, hunt up the oldest and most
out Of the ordinary ones you can find!
PRESENTS should be sent with ones
= visiting card. with or without a
cordial personal message written
across its surface. If you are mar
ried, use the joint Mr.. and Mrs. v
card-otherwise your own individual
one should be sent.
As kindness to the bride, send the
gifts as soon after you have received
the wedding invitation as possible.
This enables her to keep up with her
strenuous job of writing thank you
notes for every gift that arrives
which she must under no circum-
stances fail to do promptly. During
the last day or so, of course. the flood
of presents may completely swamp
her-in this case she should take the
list with her on her honeymoon. and
write to the donors at the earliest op-
portunity.
And do, when you are making your
selection in the shop, inquire if the
salesman knows whether or not a
duplicate has already been sent to
Miss So-and-so. Here in Washington,
where most of our brides gifts come
from a certain group of shops. this is
fairly easy to ascertain. In many Of
the stores lists are kept for just this
purpose, and a check-up will show
whether the twin of your proposed
present has already been sent to her
or not. This little thoughtfulness
will spare her the necessity Of eX.
changing the article later on, or en-
during the presence around the house,
although totally useless, for fear Of
hurting your feelings.
Don't let your wedding present be
more blessed to give than to re-
ceive!"