Santa Claus Among The Children.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18946, 17 December 1929, Page 19 (Supplement)

Santa Claus Among The Children.

(BY MARGARET RAYNARD) (Author of “Lively Games for Christj mas Parties,” etc., etc.) Santa Claus can make no better Christmas gift to his children than the gift of fun, and if he brings that in his sack, his mission will be fulfilled. It may be be that only very young children nowadays believe in the Santa Claus who comes down the chimney while they are asleep and fills their stockings, but all the same the whitebearded, rosy-eheeked, red-cloaked old ; gentleman remains a personality in the mind of every child, and stockings are still hung up in his honour—even by those who have outgrown their faith in him—to be filled, frankly, by mothers and fathers. Christmas Parties. The best Christmas fun for children is a lively party. It may be a fancy dress dance, carried out quite simply, all the little guests being asked to come as Christmas tree ornaments, with everything evolved from coloured paperand tinsel; or it may be a rollicking, mixed party of games and dances. In any case, for orchestra there is the gramophone. Besides dancing and games, the up-

to-date party may include a cinematograph entertainment. The programme for a Christmas party should be planned out well in advance, for there must never -be a dull moment to let down the spirit of the thing. If prizes are given, let them be of the simplest kind, but as amusing as you will. Remember that it is better to end a party too soon than too late, and get the children home in good time. Therefore, do not place all the best items at the end of the programme, lest they be crowded put because of the clock. Decorations play a very impressive part in a Christmas party. Children expect plenty of holly and mistletoe, scarlet ribbons, coloured air-balls, and gold and silver tinsel, and would be very much disappointed were there not a good display of all these Christmassy things. The indispensable gramophone should play the children in on arrival, so that they will find themselves at once in an atmosphere of jollity, for the whole idea of a Christmas party is that it shall be informal and merry. One experienced hostess is in favour of a children’s party beginning with a round romp or set of parlour games, or a dance of a jolly kind, the girls, holding hands, circling in one direction, and the boys, also handlinked, in another—one ring within the other. Music plays, and when it stops suddenly, the boy and the girl opposite one another are partners and dance off together. This starts the ball of fun rolling at once. Have Plenty of Crackers. Christmas would not be Christmas

without its crackers, of course, and the hostess who wants her party to go with a bang must provide plenty of crackers. Those that afford the greatest fun contain either squeaking toys or something to wear—comic masks, head-dresses, and so on. The new crackers are very amusing.

Directly the cracker-pulling begins, the ice is broken, wherefore crackers should be distributed early. Children feel much more sociable if they go to the tea-room or supper table in their paper finery. Whether the chief meal be a tea or a supper, the refreshments should be as carefully thought out as the games. Let them be simple, but nice to look at and nice to taste.

Children love meringues, pretty-look-ing iced cakes, cream moulds and wobbling jellies with fruits inside. And, after all, those atractive-looking cakes may be nothing more than sponge cakes with sugar coatings and dried cherries and holly stuck about them; the whipped “cream” that fills the split meringues is mostly white-of-egg; and the little raspberry and strawberry “creams,” that look so tempting are nothing richer than blanc-mange. If we feel we must have Santa Claus on our table, let us buy him ready-made and stand him on the top of the centrecake. To make the refreshment table amusing, hostesses should try to think out novel fillings for sandwiches and introduce hoax dishes, -such as small doughnuts, resermbling fried potato-balls, served on paper d’oyleys in vegetable dishes, with parsley garnish. How To Give Presents. Each little guest should receive, at

least, one present. It may be but an inexpensive one. but the manner of giving it can be delightful. Though there are various new ways of giving presents, children really love the Christmas tree way better than any other. Never give Christmas presents at a party in the ordinary way, but failing a Christmas tree, give them by means of a “Treasure Hunt” or a “Lucky Dip,” or let the children fish for them. A “Fish Pond” is always a success. It contains a labelled present for each child, who, given a rod (or a fishing net) with a hook on it, fishes for his or her gift in the pool, which is concealed by a large table. A confederate, under the table, slips on to the hook the individual gifts as the children fish in their turns, and the hostess calls out the name of each little fisher loud enough for the confederate to hear.

One of the most original ways of giving presents is by means of a “Christmas Bazaar," presided over by Santa Claus. Toys, small gifts, sweets, chocolates, and crackers are arranged on stalls and every article is clearly marked with a price. Each child is given a bag of .nuts to represent money—for instance, one walnut might stand for one shilling, twelve hazel nuts for twelve pennies, one Brazil nut for two shillings, and a peanut for sixpence. With this nut-money, each child can buy whatever he or she fancies most among the trifles on the stalls, up to their value of two shillings or half a crown, as may be arranged. This is a very amusing way for Santa Claus to distribute his gifts.