It is a matter of congratulation that nowadays children's parties are arranged on more rational and healthy lines than was the fashion some years ago. It was then thought correct to cater in the same way for juveniles as for grown-ups. No wonder that nurses and mothers dreaded these parties and rich fare, with their natural consequences of irritability and "crankiness," if not actual illness.

Healthily brought up children are not any more pleased with elaborate, expensive dishes than with simple, but they have childish fancies, and love little things, and a tiny jelly or cream is infinitely preferred to a slice from a large mould.

When arranging a menu, bear in mind there should be some substantial, nourishing items as well as sweets. This is all the more important if the little people have some distance to travel to and fro.

it is an excellent plan to present each little guest with a small cup of hot but light soup as soon as he or she arrives.

Frequently the children are over excited, and perhaps eat little before starting. The soup will warm and sustain them, and they will be far less tired at the end of the evening.

Let the substantial dish be either chicken or turkey, as these are less rich than ham, and when boned and made into a galantine they are very easy to carve, and there is no waste.

Sandwiches of various kinds are invaluable. Do not forget bread-and-butter; children will frequently eat that when they refuse everything else.

The sweet dishes, of course, are a very important item in a menu for children, and they can be made to look attractive and yet be wholesome and digestible.

Pretty colours appeal strongly to children, and a delicate pink meringue to them will taste infinitely better than a white one.