Treasure Trunks

[luvs]

i was just putting up a post about mine on another thread and it occured to me that you guys might like this idea.
this is one of the best gifts i've gotten.
you get a trunk or a cedar chest and slowly fill it with items for someone. here you give them away for gifts when your kids get thier own place but i think they'd make great wedding gifts or baby gifts. especially if you were to get together with several other people, you could all just pitch in one or two gifts and you could present the reciepient with the big trunk full of gifts and cards from all of the contributers. mine is filled with kitchen goodies but you could do one for anything.... a bathroom one filled w/ towels, lotions, candles, fancy soaps, etc., or a knick-nack one, or even a non-perishable food one for a college student. i have a set of good knives, juice glasses and some other little glasses, a milk bottle, a pepper grinder (had to try that out already, lol) a little roaster, a set of nice silverware, some cast iron items, glass canisters, antique glassware, a zillion different utensils, some pretty williams sonoma towels and embroidered aprons (i added those to it myself ), a dean & deluca spice rack (i added that, too), dishes, etc. in mine. my Parents and fiance will randomly add things to it. it's been being built for quite awhile now, several months. i'm was hoping for a new set of all-clad to appear but that hasn't shown up yet, lol, so i asked my Mom today if that can be my good-bye gift and she said she'd get me a set.
i love to go through it and see what's new in it.

 

[mrsmac]

Sounds a bit like the old fashioned "Glory box" my mum and I used to joke me having one, cause my grandma was really into them.
They are a great idea, traditonally women sewed things for their future home and saved them in a camphorwood chest. Not really sure of the whole tradition behind it- something to do with a dowry I think.
Yours sounds lovely when do you get married?

 

[Ishbel]

They used to be called Hope Chests - I suppose you bought things, hoping that you'd find someone to marry....

Even when I was a young girl, Mums started hope chests for their daughters - sheets, blankets, tablecloths, tea-towels etc...

And if you didn't marry.... then you had the makings of a first home without the immediate expense of going out and buying all the stuff at one time!

 

[luvs]

mine is just for when i move out again, mrsm, but i am engaged. but i want to live on my own for awhile before i get married. the wedding date hasn't been set. it was a very casual engagement. i'll let you guys know when it is!
ishbel, they are called 'hope chests' in my family sometimes, too.
i just can't wait to get my new all-clad. i love the sets i have now; i adore it, but variety is the spice of life!

 

[mrsmac]

What is an all-clad??? I am guessing saucepans or something maybe?????

 

[Claire]

Thank you, Ishbel, that was my immediate thought. Hope Chests have gone out of favor, and by the time my younger sisters were teens, I started one for one of them, and said it isn't a hope chest (as in "hope to get married some day because that's every girl's strongest wish in life"), it's just stuff for your first apartment. But in my mom's time every girl had one, usually a Lane cedar chest (the cedar keeps the linens best)(the company, Lane, actually gave entire classes graduating high school girls minniatures). She would buy and embroider her linens, her trousseau. If she chose a pattern, maybe she'd buy or get as a gift a piece of china, crystal, silver.

 

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

Hope Chests

I sooooooooooooooooooooo have a joke for this. But I cant tell ya how much I hope sometimes.

 

[SierraCook]

I sooooooooooooooooooooo have a joke for this. But I cant tell ya how much I hope sometimes.

Sushi, are we going to have to send you to visit Dove at the woodshed?

I have a hope chest. I keep my momentos from high school and college in it or anything else that is special to me.

 

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

Sierra what in heck are you talking about?

 

[SierraCook]

I dunno!!

 

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

I am above the crust. No dirty jokes HERE!

 

[wasabi]

Sush, there's ALWAYS hope.

 

[AllenOK]

What is an all-clad??? I am guessing saucepans or something maybe?????

Right on! All-Clad is the brand name for a line of cookware here in the US. Not sure if they have it in Austrailia or not.

 

[Barbara L]

I sooooooooooooooooooooo have a joke for this. But I cant tell ya how much I hope sometimes.

My friend's uncle's joke about her hope chest was that she was hoping for a chest.

I had a hope chest, but it wasn't fancy. Just a big orange trunk. My mom had a Lane cedar chest, and I would have loved one. In fact, I still want one. I still have my miniature box, Claire! 30 years later, I haven't lost the key either!

I used a lot of my babysitting money as a teenager to buy things for mine. I still use the casserole set I bought for it when I was 16. No matter what you call it, or no matter if it is is for marriage or that first apartment, I still think these are a great idea.

Barbara

 

[luvs]

I had a hope chest, but it wasn't fancy. Just a big orange trunk.
Barbara

tee-hee, i have sort of an extended treasure trunk, and so a lot of the stuff is packed into these 8 rubbermaid bins instead of the trunk. not very fancy, lol, but they do the job. it's amazing how much stuff you need for the kitchen.
the actual trunk itself was very inexpensive but it's gorgeous. i think i actually might ask for another one for Christmas; that way i can keep one in my living room as an end table and one in my bedroom at the foot of my bed.
here's what it looks like:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_11/601-1993670-4191314?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B0002TPEMI

 

[amber]

They used to be called Hope Chests - I suppose you bought things, hoping that you'd find someone to marry....

Even when I was a young girl, Mums started hope chests for their daughters - sheets, blankets, tablecloths, tea-towels etc...

And if you didn't marry.... then you had the makings of a first home without the immediate expense of going out and buying all the stuff at one time!

Hope chests is what we called them too. I purchased a chest by Henry Likly and co at some consignment shop when I was 18. It's a bit worn, but it will do well as a hope chest for my daughter. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Ishbel]

When we were children, my father (army) was stationed in Singapore and we got 3 beautiful camphor wood chests - one for me, one for my sister and one for my parents to keep. Mine was the least carved one (I got to choose), but my Mum started putting things in it from the time I was about 16.... The wedding came a lot later, but my first flat was fully stocked with bedding, tablecloths, towels, dishes and pans, courtesy of my Mum's foresight!

I've still got the camphor chest - it now holds table linens - and still smells of camphor