A game or contest is usually enjoyed, and the award of a trifling prize to the victor makes a pleasant climax to the evening's fun. In this case the article should, of course, be of leather.
A description is given of an actual wooden wedding anniversary celebrated recently. The invitations were printed on paper that looked like wood. In fact it looked so much like it that it could hardly be told from wood. For decorations as much real wood was utilized as possible. In one large archway were hung twelve wooden plates, each with a painting on, and joined with white ribbon. Twelve young ladies served on the reception committee and the twelve plates were given them as souvenirs before they departed. In another archway there was a toothpick curtain which attracted much attention. This was made on silk cord with the toothpicks tied about two inches apart, crossways, with a small loop in the cord. They were draped back and tied with a bunch of silk cord. In the small doorways were clothes-pin curtains. A large wire bell, covered with shavings and goldenrod, hung from a canopy of the same, under which the bride and groom stood to receive their guests.
A large wooden flower-stand was placed in the reception hall and it was banked with goldenrod and cut flowers, with a large palm on top shelf. Several wooden bowls and baskets of goldenrod and cut flowers were scattered about the house. On the mantels, stands, table, sideboard, and piano, were large palms and goldenrod. All the chairs had been moved out of the house, except in the dining-room, where they were arranged around the wall. In the centre of the room was the polished table, with neat doilies, and for a centrepiece was a large yellow cake with the figure "5" in wood. This cake stood on a high cake-stand and around the edge of the stand were a row of clothes-pins, the kind with a spring, and a row of toothpicks sticking all around the edge of the cake. On two corners of the table were little wooden shoes filled with cut flowers, and on the two diagonally opposite corners were large apples stuck full of toothpicks. The guests were seated in the dining-room for refreshments and as soon as it was filled, the reception committee closed it with a large rope of goldenrod across the doorway. For refreshments ice cream and cake were served on wooden plates with wooden spoons. The ice cream was made to look like wood, the caterer using a mixture of vanilla, chocolate, bisque and lemon flavors. The different kinds of cake were also made to look like different kinds of wood, such as walnut, oak, cherry, and so forth. The souvenirs were large wooden butter moulds on which were printed the year of marriage and the year of celebration. An orchestra of eight pieces played all through the evening, under a canopy of white cloth on the porch, the porch being carpeted and curtained like a room.