My mom had a Cosco Fashionfold card table with matching chairs like the ones below, which also did double duty as the "kids' table" at Thanksgiving and Christmas. She had fancy hand-embroidered linens, cute little score pads and special serving pieces with matching coasters, and almost everything was decorated in a playing cards theme.
Of course, no bridge party was complete without bowls of nuts and the ever-popular bridge mix candy, an assortment of chocolate covered morsels that were consumed by the pound and regretted the next day.
Bridge party night at our house was usually a grand occasion for my brother and me. Dad would take us to Griff's Burger Bar for a 15-cent hamburger, and then we'd go to the movies or go bowling. This kept us from bothering the ladies. After all, the only TV we had was a behemoth Zenith in the living room where the party was held, so that left us with nowhere to entertain ourselves, unless we wanted to lock ourselves in our bedrooms and read or listen to the radio. A special night out with Dad sounded like a much better prospect.
And, if we were really lucky, there might even be a little bridge mix left when we got back home.
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| Bridge mix figis.com |
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| Cosco Fashionfold card table and chairs ebay.com - libertysales2 |
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| Playing cards with Raymor pottery design ebay.com - modmarket |
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| Fabric-covered scorecard books ebay.com - debsplethora |
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| Playing card-themed plates ebay.com - bluemalchut |
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| Playing card-themed pewter bowls ebay.com - dentalteacher |
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| Quilted paper coasters ebay.com - bluemalchut |
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| Hand-embroidered napkins ebay.com - pattycake480 |
What a great post! We've tried starting a bridge club at the Casablanca but apparently my friends and I lack the patients (we play spoons instead). I wish I had about a dozen of those folding chairs and quilted napkins!
ReplyDelete@Mick: Both my parents loved to play cards. They had a couples' bridge club too. Strangely, I have never been a card player at all, unless you count solitaire. I have a Cosco card table and chairs from a few years back, and they aren't nearly as sturdy...or as good looking...as the ones my parents had. I'd love to find some of the old ones.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was a bridge player. I loved how they incorporated that into the movie "The Help". My parents however were pinochle players.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents liked to play dominoes. They played a game known in other parts of the country as Texas 42, but here it Texas they just calling it "playing 42." I guess cable TV has all but killed the regular weekend card and domino parties of the mid-Twentieth Century.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting nostalgic read, thanks for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteThose playing-card pewter bowls look awesome.
@I dream lo-tech: Those bowls appeal to me too, and I'm not even a card player.
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