Explain a Hope Chest to me, please!

[tiff211]

I don't have one or know what is is or what's it's for? Is it something I give my girls? Something I prepare for them when they get married/grow up? What goes in it? Do any of you have one?

 

[beckmrk04]

Taditionally, a hope chest is something given to a girl before she's married, and it has things in it for her marriage (from what I understand) i.e.- passed down china.

My grandmother had one made for me, and honestly I use it more for storage.

 

[Crankyshank]

This is a hope chest
http://www.donahues.com/Lane_2485-61lg.jpg

I have a rattan one from Pier One but I'm looking for an antique lane one from the 40's or 50's. My parents got it for me when I went away to college for my dorm room. My Mom has one like the link I posted. It's cedar on the inside and smells wonderful. My Mother keeps our baptismal gowns in it, baby books, the flag from my Grandfather's coffin, and some quilts in hers.

Mine is smaller and I just have the afghan my Meme crocheted, some nice sweaters, and that's about it.

 

[liamsaunt]

My parents gave me a Lane cedar lined hope chest when I graduated from college. I store my sweaters in it.

Edit: I just checked and they still make my chest! Here it is:

http://www.lanefurniture.com/Products/ProdInfoDet2.asp?MasterNo=9019&LHF=

 

[clarabelle]

Yes I have one -it is a Lane cedar chest.
I have always understood that you would have the chest and that when you were too big for toys for Christmases and B-days you would get things "for your hope chest"
My Grandmother would give us stuff like a relish tray or a nut dish in silver plate
I was not that excited about it at the time -but now at Thanksgiving I pull out some of the things she gave me and they have real meaning.
Now the chest is in my guest room with blankets in it -but when my DD's get a bit older maybe I will give them something for their hope chests.
I don't think it has as much meaning as it did when my Mom (who is 65) was coming along. Women did not necessarily work for a while and be able to afford their own stuff before they married.
I still think it is not a bad idea though.

 

[clarabelle]

Crankyshank -that is my chest!

 

[SC Minnie]

I have one that belonged to my Grandmother. Traditionally it was filled with items a young lady would need to start 'keeping house' when she got married.

I use my for storage. Someday it will be handed down to DD.

 

[Crankyshank]

Crankyshank -that is my chest!

That's just like my Mom's

 

[budbeerlady]

My Dh got me one for Christmas when we were dating. I dont know if others do this, but he had given me an opal ring our first Christmas and then next ring would have been a pearl. I worked in a factory and am not a girly girl, that poor pearl wouldnt have stayed in its setting very long. So I asked him (after explaining why) not to get me a pearl but my birthstone (which is also his). That Christmas he had gotten me the hope chest with an amythst ring inside. I love it! I had little to put in it at the time as I was only 19. But it sits at the foot of my bed with all the special things I want to keep. DD's first shoes are in there, a chocolate box of rose petals from flowers Dh had given me over the years we dated. I have my grandmas silver in there, just special things that I want to store. Some day DD will get it but it is very important to me.

I would see no problem in starting one for your girls, it would be a wonderful keepsake.

 

[va32h]

The tradition my family had was that the hope chest was empty and the girl filled it with things that she or other family members made for her, in preparation for her eventual marriage.

This was generations ago of course - back when women did all the family sewing. The ladies of the house would make quilts, sheets and pillowcases, and kitchen linens for their hope chests after they were done with their regular household sewing.

And when a girl was actually engaged, she would start working on her "trousseau" - the set of clothes and underthings she would wear in the first year or so of marriage.

 

[alabamaalan]

So it isn't the bust enhancing exercises that young girls attempt in PE?

 

[NAB]

I had one too that is cedar lined. I have keep sakes in mine now.

Most people these days have houses already set up before marriage so I don't think many people use them anymore other then to store stuff. But the main purpose was to collect house hold things, linens and such for when you got married so you are prepared.

 

[luv2crash]

I have one that a very dear friend of our family made for me. He said he had made one for all of his daughters and wanted to make one for me as well. My Daddy helped him (he had cancer and nobody knew but my daddy) and they surprised me with it on Christmas Eve the year I turned 16. He died a week later on my birthday. It is beautiful all cedar and he put my name in the top with wooden dowels. This treasure is prominately displayed in my home.

Later, his wife gave me the first item to go in my hope chest-his gold cuff links. I filled it to the brim before I married my husband. Now it holds afghans and blankets my grandmothers made. It will become my daughters some day.

 

[smartestnumber5]

I never had one. When GF and I moved in we just asked all the members of my family if they had pots and pans they no longer wanted and they donated things to us. We got a lot of stuff that had just been sitting in their garages. My mom did have a cardboard box full of some things for me that were just extras or weird presents she received but didn't want (like a whole set of bowls that say "PASTA" on them--we're Italian, but come on!).

I assume for my future children I'll just do the same thing in the future--box in the garage that collects our left overs and unwanted presents. Unlike my family though, I'll be collecting for my son (if I have one) as well as my daughter--everybody needs dishes.

 

[TallyLassie]

The "hope" part comes in because you "hope" you will get married. A friend of mine's brother use to tease her that her's was a "miracle chest", although she did finally get married at age 35!

 

[MyGoofy26]

So it isn't the bust enhancing exercises that young girls attempt in PE?

We must. . . we must. . . we must increase our bust

I'm having Are You There God? It's Me Margaret flashbacks

 

[Cool-Beans]

I got a hope chest when I was 16. It was an excellent place to throw all the junk in my room when mom said I had to pick it up. Mom was a little disappointed that - even when I got engaged - I never stored linens or anything in it.

Of course, mom also bought me new underwear before I married, because

he couldn't see the old, stained ones. Mom and I saw things a little differently.

Now I store blankets in it.

 

[N.Bailey]

We must. . . we must. . . we must increase our bust

I'm having Are You There God? It's Me Margaret flashbacks

I LOVED Judy Bloom books when I was growing up.

 

[Poohbear123]

Had, that was given to her by a friend. I have it now, and keep some Momentos of my Mom in it. Its Cedar on the inside, and I believe it dates back to the early 1900's.

 

[pogo791]

Tiff,

You've got your answers already: a hope chest is something in which linen, clothing and other things are collected in anticipation of marriage. It's an old tradition, way back when, when a married couple would basically start off with nothing, and there wasn't the modern custom of having wedding parties and the *very* extensive use of gift registers.

The original idea was that the young woman herself would make or otherwise collect the things into the chest, over the course of many years. Now, it tends to be something that the bride's mother (or in practice both parents) give her, often in something like the very beautiful chests other posters have mentioned.

I think it's a beautiful tradition, but one that should be used selectively. It would probably be even better if the chest includes something that has been handed down in the family (such as heirloom linen) that the bride would then take out for special occasions, and in time pass on to her daughter.