Figure 1.--A little American girl, Lucia, is having a birthday around 1905. A little friend is all decked out in his very best blouse with a huge collar trimmed with eyelet lace. |
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Parties and other social events used io be much more formal than is the case today. Thus a boy's best outfit was his party suit. Of particular importance, of course, was a boy's annual birthday party. These events were often very formal, stilted events. The nature and dress at these parties has changed significantly over the years. These parties were almost always indoor events in
the 19th century, but in the 20th century the venue moved to some outdoor settings--perhaps to save wear and tear on the home.
There are of course many different types of parties.
No party is more important to a boy than his birthday party. It used to involved getting all dressed up, but since World War II, birthday parties like th rest of ,odern life have become much more casual. The birthday party: The development of the child's birthday party is a relection of the changing culture of childhood in American and other countries. I have been unable to find much of anything on the history of birthday parties, how and when they started as an aspect of American life, as well as how this practice has evolved into a regular ritual for children. One of the few sources I have encountered so far is a quote from Carl Degler's At Odds on page 71 which mentions briefly that birthday parties for children started in the 19th century. Family age grading: One interesting phenomenon of birthday parties is age grading. This approach is described in Howard Chudacoff, How Old Are You?, 1989. It's a useful history of age grading and associated rituals.
Unfortunately there wee not a lot of photographs taken at 19th century children's parties. We know a lot more about the 20yth century with the advent of the family snapshot.
We do not yet have much information about party trends in different countries. We do have an American party page.
There has been a evolution of party clothes. Children once wore their best clothes to go to parties like birthday parties. This varied somewhat by the type of party. Birthday parties in particular were dressed up occassions. Children often wore their best clothes to parties. One exception here was costume parties. Dressing up in elaborate costumes was very popular. This was generally the case until well after World War II. Parties are now primarily casual events. Costime events with the exception of Halloween are not as popular as they once were. Our familiarity with parties is primarily American, but hopefully our readers will provide some insights into other countries.
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