A hope chest is traditonally a place where a young lady would beging to collect items for her future household when she marries. I think it is an excellent notion- and I have very much enjoyed filling my own cedar chest....which has over the years spilled over into several other antique chests/trunks that I keep in my room, not to mention quite a few boxes in the closet and storage building....:^)
Not only is it fun for girls to begin collections for a home - it is much more important that they develope the skills that will be needed to run a household efficiently. Cooking, sewing, meal planning, organizing, gardening are just a few of the things that girls can be taught during the teen years, and before. Too often marriages begin with the wife not having the foggiest idea of what it takes to make a happy home, which creates unhappiness and domestic chaos. Don't let that happen with you! Learn to be confident and effecient in your household skills, and not only will you be able to look forward to what God may have in your future, but you will be able to be a huge help and blessing to your family now!
This is the beginning of a blog series where I will share finds and ideas for filling your hope chest with beautiful and practical items, also tutorials and projects for useful and fun household skills. At a future date I will also invite readers to share pictures and their own thoughts and ideas.
For now - here is a short list of ideas for collecting and making for filling a hope chest....
Pictures and links from many lovely Etsy shops.
At antique stores, thrift shops, and estate sales, some of my favorite things to shop for are
Enamelware dishes. So durable. Speckled are the most common - but I love the plain colors, too.
You can also begin a recipe collection. Ask friends, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, etc. for their tried-and-true recipes!
Do you know how to sew or crochet?
A girl can never have too many
aprons!
I'd love to hear any ideas for my new series - please let me know if there is any particular thing you would like to see blog posts about. ;^)
