Hope Chests

[Trynn]

I kind of made my own hope chest-- only my hope was that someday I'd be able to move out of my parents basement. My "hope chest" (more like, "hope tubs") consisted of a crock pot, some measuring cups, a pan or two, fine china handed down through my family for generations....

You know, things you will need when you have your own apartment or house someday. I started collecting the stuff at 15-18ish; which isn't terribly unreasonable.

[bjr70]

On 1/30/2016 at 8:01 PM, CTRLZero said:

Times have really changed.  I graduated from high school in the late 70s.  All the high school girls were taken on a field trip to be shown hope chests at a furniture store.  We were each given small keepsake versions of the hope chests courtesy of Lane furniture company!  Even then, we thought hope chests were old fashioned.  My daughter (now in her early 30s) boggles at the concept.  Memories...

I got one of those in the 80's. I still have the mini one, but had no interest in a big one.

[SolomonFundy]

Hope chests are absolutely a thing in some fundy circles. The Boyer sisters each have a hope chest, and have each done a series of posts related to the types of things they buy, and how they store it all. One of my favorite seamstress fundies mentioned her hope chest during the posts leading up to her wedding a couple of years ago, and I'm 90% sure that Fresh Modesty's Olivia and her sisters have them. 

My maternal grandmother brought a hope chest into her marriage with my grandfather. My mom and her sister had hope chests in a very loose sense of the word (they collected things in crates in the walk-in attic), but they both eloped at young ages, and didn't get the full benefit from their saved items since they couldn't carry it all with them. My mom is the one who first introduced the idea of a hope chest to me, since my grandmother's cedar trunk was a feature of one room in her home. That trunk is actually right behind me as I type this.  Though I didn't use it for my personal hope chest, I did have one of my own in an Army locker. I started collecting things for it when I was about 9.

We weren't fundy, or even particularly religious. My family is from the rural southeastern US, and hope chests were just kind of a logical way of hoarding things that you would someday need. I think it's a lovely concept. My hope chest didn't have baby stuff and marriage-dependent items in it; I collected lengths of fabric for future projects, dishes and cookware (some of which I still use now), useful small appliances that I found at good prices, and sheets, etc.. Having that stuff ready and accessible when I moved into my first apartment was great! I didn't have to run out to Walmart and attempt to buy it all at once on my minimum wage salary. 

[Imagine20]

My mom has this nice cedar chest that I think she got even she graduated from high school, she has put all kinds of memories in it: her wedding bouquet (even though my parents divorced), some of my baby things and achievements growing up. Some things she inhereted from her mom. Things from her childhood.  She is starting to downsize and I'd love to have it. She's not willing to part with it yet. 

When I graduated from high school (late  90s), every senior girl received a small cedar box, maybe 5" by 8." I still have it, but never found a special use for it. 

[grandmadugger]

I have a hope chest.  I'm 36.  My parents bought it from a local woodworker.  It's gorgeous, I was probably 8 when they bought it.  Why so young?  He was a very old man and they wanted me to have a chest made by him because he was very special not only to my parents but to the whole town.  My dad put in a silk table cloth he bought when he was stationed in Japan because everyone should have a very nice table cloth.  When my mom was diagnosed with cancer she made a baby blanket for her first grandchild and a quilt for my bed when I was an adult.  My grandmother put in a set of fine china because she was sure she wouldn't see me marry.  It wasn't so much about the goal of me getting married but their fears of not seeing it happen and making sure I had something from them on that day.  The only one who made it was my grandma.  The baby blanket will be used to take home my mom's first great grandchild since I won't have a kid but I do have a step-son who is about to be a daddy.  It was nice to have gifts from them when I got married and it was even nicer to rub it in to all my friends' faces that I have a Chief (nickname of the woodworker) chest all of my own and they have to hope they get it left in the will to them.

[purple_summer]

I know the Wilsons ( of purity ball fame) have hope chests. I have two, one from each parent (they're divorced). It's mostly family heirlooms and a few things my mother has found that I'd l like but don't necessarily have a use for at the moment (like a fine Japanese bone china tea set). I haven't /made/ much to go in it and it wasn't something that I ever felt like I HAD to do.  

I'm 25.

[Georgiana]

2 hours ago, Just_Jane said:

My niece is 17 and she has one but I don't think it's intended for marriage. she wanted to start collecting things for when she moves out into her own place. so her's is filled with things like really cool plates and a nice set of cookware she bought at a store closing sale.

I had one just like this!  When my family members would update things in their house (like dish sets, silverware, bedding, etc) or I inherited things from my great grandma and great aunts, my mom would put them in a box in the back of the shed for me.  Then when I moved out, I had everything I needed for my home...and it was extra nice because it was stuff I grew up with/from my loved ones, so it made it feel like a "home" right away!

[Kylolo]

I have two cedar chests but never called them hope chests. One my mom got (was gifted?) before marriage and it is in my living room. The other was made by my papaw as part of a cedar bedroom set he made my dad; I have that set as my guest room furniture now. 

Both store sweatshirts and fleece pants. 

[FundieFarmer]

I know the Wilsons ( of purity ball fame) have hope chests. I have two, one from each parent (they're divorced). It's mostly family heirlooms and a few things my mother has found that I'd l like but don't necessarily have a use for at the moment (like a fine Japanese bone china tea set). I haven't /made/ much to go in it and it wasn't something that I ever felt like I HAD to do.  

I'm 25.

I swear every time you post I'm more convinced we're the same person. [emoji2]

[anniebgood]

I have mine and my moms. If and when my daughter moves someplace by herself I'll let her choose which one she wants. Both are Lanes, My moms from the mid 40's and I got mine for my 18th birthday present. When I saw things that I figured I would need when I eventually moved out, I'd buy it and put it in there. I had a whole set of dishes and side dishes, pots and pans, silverware, table cloths and some other things. I graduated in 1971 and mine now holds my wedding dress from 1985 and some old quilts and sheets. I don't know what's in my moms, since it's below my husband's dresser. 

 

 

[ck29_2000]

I had a hope chest, now a cedar chest that holds sentimental things.  Though I get why there's this knee jerk reaction of horrible, if it wasn't for my hope chest we'd have been eating off counters when I married.  I didn't have a large circle of friends, so no big parties, all of our household goods were things I had collected starting around middle school.  Now it holds old quilts, my sari, the American Girl doll I bought myself since I couldn't have one as a kid, and other misc. sentimental items.  I'll probably buy the spawn one each soon, at the very least you need something to sit on to put your shoes on.

[CyborgKin]

All I know about hope chests, I learned from Back To The Future.

[Karma]

Any other Australians know them as glory boxes? That's what my mum called hers. Not as fancy as your cedar ones, I think it's just pine.  She collected household things in hers before she married in the early 60s at 20 years old.  I didn't have a glory box, but I did collect things for my moving out/marriage (when I was 25) under my bed and on top of my wardrobe.  Money I was given for my 21st (in the mid 1980s) paid for a canteen of silver cutlery. I bought a Royal Albert set of china when I was about that age, then relatives would add to it for birthday/Christmas presents.  An every day dinner set on a super special.  I knew when we bought a house that there wouldn't be money for luxuries.  I still enjoy using these things, but my 19 yo daughter thinks I was mad.

My parents downsized a year ago and the glory box was set to go to the tip (we have no room for it) but my youngest brother took it, and now it's in the covered back of his ute with tools, life jackets, beach toys etc in it.  Mum was half horrified and half happy that it had found a new home.

[ADoyle90815]

Hope chests weren't a big thing in my area as far as something for girls to take when they get married, but as a way to store linens and wool sweaters to protect them from moths. Sometimes parents might have things for when their children move out, but that doesn't mean that they expect their children to get married. Usually, dishes and linens might be put aside so those adults have fewer things they would need to buy for an apartment.

[Percy]

I am also used to the 'glory box'.  I never had one but I think they are a good idea to slowly gather things for when you move out of home.  My 19 year old girl swears she will be living with us until she is 34, but the 18 year old could benefit from one of these.  It is expensive to try to buy all  You  need as well as rent, insurance etc.

[EmainMacha]

I didn't have a hope chest but my mum used to occasionally give me things for my 'bottom drawer' like a nice vase or a tablecloth. There was no physical place for things to go, it seemed like it was just a saying. Maybe it's an Irish thing.

[Paperplate]

I have a hope chest, but I inherited from my grandma after I had move out already. It's from her mum's cousin or something, so probably from the early 1900's. It's very pretty and really useful! I keep some workout stuff, spare blankets and random crap that's hard to store anywhere else in it.

When I was younger, my mum and other relatives would give me nice towels, table cloths, pans, plates, wine glasses, heirloom stuff etc. but not for when I'd get married, but for when I'd move out. I was a bit bummed out sometimes when I was 15 and got towels for my birthday, but when I moved out it was really nice to pretty much have everything already. And mostly I got the hope-chest items in addition to other presents, not instead of them.

[Bretta]

SAHDs are big on hope chests. I've read several blogs that describe thrifted antique teacups, baby clothes, etc. - seven sisters?  I don't think it's a wrong thing per say, but perhaps the time would be better spent getting an education if they aren't already getting one.

[Leftitinmysnood]

Oh yes, all the fundie girls I knew in the late 90s had hope chests or places to save things for marriage. I remember Kindred Spirit magazine suggesting using a drawer "if your parents couldn't afford a chest." Making things to put in them was a big deal. One girl made vintage pillowcases into dolls for her hope chest. 

I never had one, being the college bound harlot, but that didn't stop my mom from giving me dishes for gifts in high school or buying fabric to make dresses for my kids before I was dating. The girls in our church also gave me sachets and recipe cards for my nonexistent chest because they couldn't fathom not bring prepared for a young man to come whisk you away a la Matthew and Maranatha.

[nokidsmom]

I didn't have an actual chest though I did collect some things for my jokingly called "Hopeless Chest".  It was actually a cardboard box with things for when I eventually left the home, whether married or not.

 

 

[HereticHick]

I doubt the Duggar J'Slaves have them--that is way too much organization for that family.

[picklepizzas]

The Morton girls have hope chests. Addie's mentioned them a couple of times. 

http://mortonclanthree.blogspot.com/2010/01/marthas-17th-birthday.html?m=1

http://mortonclanthree.blogspot.com/2013/12/gracies-wedding-shower.html?m=1

 

[tehfanglyfish]

Not really related to fundies, but I read a dissertation once on hope chests in Turkey and how they've changed over the decades as women's roles have changed in Turkish society. I wish I could remember who wrote it/the title as it was a really fascinating read.

My family didn't do hope chests, though I kind of wish that we had. (My family was a mess, honestly.) I really wanted some of my great grandmother's dishes and quilts, though that was more to remember her by than anything else. I never got them but I wanted them. I think in the present (outside of fundy circles) a chest could be, as some other posters have remarked, a way to get established in adulthood; they don't have to be preparation for marriage. Married, single, living with a partner, you're going to need stuff when you leave home. When I moved in with the Mister in my late teens, his best friend's mom gave us a ton of old dishes, silverware, and kitchen utensils she had. (The woman had TONS of kitchen stuff.) Almost 20 years later we're still using some of it. If it hadn't been for her, we would've had a rougher start. (Our families both pushed out  - he got told to get out or be arrested. My mother made home life so stressful that my feet were cracking open. Neither of our families were really warm or supportive.)

[SassyPants]

15 hours ago, FundieFarmer said:

Mine needs refinishing- a friend set a martini glass down on it without a coaster and left quite the ring. My grandmother would be appalled

My dog chewed one of the corners of mine- thank god for sandpaper.

I guess I should have gone with an English Cream Golden instead of the typical Golden Retriever.

Ditto on the GM sentiment

12 hours ago, anniebgood said:

I have mine and my moms. If and when my daughter moves someplace by herself I'll let her choose which one she wants. Both are Lanes, My moms from the mid 40's and I got mine for my 18th birthday present. When I saw things that I figured I would need when I eventually moved out, I'd buy it and put it in there. I had a whole set of dishes and side dishes, pots and pans, silverware, table cloths and some other things. I graduated in 1971 and mine now holds my wedding dress from 1985 and some old quilts and sheets. I don't know what's in my moms, since it's below my husband's dresser. 

 

 

Mine is a Lane too. Now filled with linens.

[nausicaa]

14 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

 

We weren't fundy, or even particularly religious. My family is from the rural southeastern US, and hope chests were just kind of a logical way of hoarding things that you would someday need. I think it's a lovely concept. My hope chest didn't have baby stuff and marriage-dependent items in it; I collected lengths of fabric for future projects, dishes and cookware (some of which I still use now), useful small appliances that I found at good prices, and sheets, etc.. Having that stuff ready and accessible when I moved into my first apartment was great! I didn't have to run out to Walmart and attempt to buy it all at once on my minimum wage salary. 

Yeah, my mom and I bought a Lane hope chest for my room when we redid it when I was in seventh grade. I didn't know the significance of it. I also collected future apartment stuff through the years (ironically, stored in cardboard boxes, not my hope chest which holds board games, old journals, day planners, and extra shoes) and it was really fun to look for tea sets, pots and pans, and other things on sale and at antique stores through the years dreaming about my first apartment. It was also great not to have to scramble for these things when I did get my first apartment (which, granted, was later than most) and to have unique items and not just what everyone else had from Target.