Practical Simplicity ~ For His Glory

What Is A Hope Chest? Part #2

This week we will be focusing on the second question  “What is a hope chest meant for?”.

The chest itself was usually a hand crafted labor of love from a young woman’s father of brother.  The chest could also have been a special gift handed down from mother or grandmother to a young lady approaching womanhood.  Typically money was scarce so the items acquired were made from scraps, or made from fabric given to the young lady to learn how to do handwork/embroidery.  As her skills improved she would save up to purchase fabric/linens to make dresser scarves, cloth napkins, pillow cases and simple hand towels that she would tuck away in her hope chest for her future home.  A friend of mine shared this wonderful quote that I thought was appropriate for this post!

“ It is not hard to imagine how the Hope Chest idea grew out of the
custom of a dowry. Young Girls realized the part money and possessions
played in winning a husband. Thus in Rumania, for instance, girls begin
at a very young age to make their bridal finery and the linen they will
require for their homes. It was even customary, at one time, for a
bridegroom to examine these trousseaux and determine whether or no they
were complete. The choice of the bride depended in many cases upon the
value of her outfit. “
-The New York Etiquette, 1924

Dowry: (The money or goods a woman brings to her husband in marriage;
the portion given with a wife)

I know that this is not the case today, but we still should strive to put good, wise, sensible, simple, useful godly, and practical  things into our hope chests!  There are REALLY good articles about “Stuff” on the “Living Sacrifice” blog HERE!  When I was a lot younger, I thought that my hope chest (given to me by my dear mother, and blessed with another by my Grandmother) was just a big box to put whatever I wanted to keep forever in it, not having marriage on the brain whatsoever (nothing practical, or useful)!  But as I got older, I realized how important filling my hope chest with items that would be useful for my future home was, so I cleared out quite a bit of “stuff” that really did not need to be in there!  Now, I am focusing on hand embroidering some things, sewing, and collecting useful items to store into my hope chest!  Keep in mind that hope chests, do not necessarily have to be wooden chests, but can be a cardboard box, or a plastic bin as well!

I would also strongly recommend a book called “The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love” by Rebekah Wilson!  A dear friend of mine is letting me borrow her copy as I do not have mine yet, and it is so wonderful, I would recommend this book to any young lady/and or/mom who would like to start a hope chest!  It is a very insightful book and one on my wish list!

I hope this post was encouraging to you, and that it would help you in your endeavor to look and store wonderful things for your own hope chest!

Next week, I will post about “Ideas For Hope Chest Contents”.  This one will be a lot of fun as I will share what I have put into my hope chest so far.   I pray this will encourage you in giving you some ideas for your special hope chest (even if you don’t have one yet, it still is a good idea to know what to put in one!).   I would also LOVE to hear some ideas from YOU about some wonderful ideas you might have for items to put into our hope chests! You can e-mail me at : Mail(at)practicalsimplicity(dot)com

and who knows, I just might put your ideas in one of my posts!

Hope everyone has a blessed week!

Grace and Peace,

Miss. Antoinette

Filed under: Family, Practical, Random, friendship, miscellaneous on November 30th, 2009