Make plans for your very own old-time garden party at home! Listed below are excerpts from a 1912 party book to get you started along with some tasty recipes to add to your festive fun.

A note to young craftspeople & junior chefs: Always remember to have an adult help when making & using these fun recipes of long ago - it's much safer and more fun too.

1912 Garden Party Instructions

“For any one who has a pretty lawn a garden party is a delightful way of entertaining, and one of the easiest. Rugs should be spread on the grass in shady places, two or three hammocks, with gay cushions, swung under the trees, and chairs and small tables grouped in a way to suggest sociability. On each table have a pretty cover that will wash, and a vase or bowl of flowers, buttercups, daisies and clovers.

There may be croquet and tennis, archery or a bean-bag contest for those who feel energetic, though where there are a lot of young people who have so many affairs of absorbing interest in common to talk over, there is no necessity of providing social amusement. A dance on lawn is delightfully picturesque... ...Refreshments are simple as befits the hours, which are usually between 4 and 6 or 5 and 7. There is a refreshing fruit punch*, which is a strong lemonade... sandwiches (and, if wished, a salad), an ice or frappé, and small cakes. These are served from a large table by maids in black dresses, white caps and aprons, or, more informal still, the young girl friends of the boy or girl giving the party. Among the dainty sandwiches and cakes suited to a lawn party are the following...”

Rose Petal Sandwiches: Flavor fresh unsalted butter, if you can get it, with rose, by packing a closed vessel surrounded by a thick layer of rose-leaves. The more fragrant, the finer the flavoring imparted. Allow them to remain overnight. Cut the bread for these dainty sandwiches in thin strips or circles, spread each slice with the perfumed butter, and place several petals from fresh roses between the slices, allowing the edges to show.

Lettuce and Chicken Sandwiches: Cut thin slices of white bread, and butter. Cover with finely shredded, crisp lettuce, then a thin slice of boiled or roasted chicken. Cover with another thin slice of buttered bread, press with a knife and cut in small oblongs, diamonds or other fancy shapes.

Ginger Sandwiches: Chop preserved ginger very fine, and moisten with the syrup until of spreading consistency. If liked, add a few chopped dates or figs to the paste. Spread between thin slices of white or brown bread, then cut in strips or circles.

- from The Book of Parties and Pastimes, Mary Dawson & Emma Paddock Telford, 1912.

(Courtesy of the T. L. Parker Collection)

*The fruit punch that is mentioned in very similar to the Sparkling Lemonade recipe given below using strawberries, oranges, pineapple and carbonated water.

Sparkling Lemonade:  36 lemons, 3 pounds granulated sugar, 6 oranges, 1 pineapple, 1 box strawberries, and 4 quarts carbonated water. Squeeze the juice from the lemons ad remove the pips. Put it into the punch bowl with the sugar and stir until dissolved. Slice the oranges, shred the pineapple, hull and wash the berries; then add them all to the lemon juice. Put a large cube of ice in the punch bowl. Just before serving, add the carbonated water, which has previously been chilled. • Great for a spring picnic or family gathering!

- adapted from Mrs. Curtis's Cook Book, The Success Company, first copyright 1909.

(Courtesy of the T. L. Parker Collection)

• Like to try more old recipes? For Candy History Fun Click Here! where you can also download a copy of a 1908 Montgomery Ward & Company grocery catalogue candy page illustrating all kinds of tasty goodies of long ago including Easter candies! Click Here to try your hand at baking a genuine wedding cake from 1909.

• For an 1885 Popcorn Ball Recipe Click Here!

• Don’t forget to check out our Historical Fun Page with links and more!

We would enjoy hearing from you. Click Here! to email us at the Rosson House Museum with your cooking/craftmaking results or if you have a pre-1920 recipe that you would like to share (perhaps one from your family that has been passed down through the years). 

This fun fact page brought to you by the 1895 Rosson House at Historic Heritage Square in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. For historical trivia, optical toy flip books you can download & print, early candy history and more Click Here! to visit our Historical Fun links page.