Fundies and Hope Chests?

[tropaka]

This just popped out of my brain (and not yet onto Google). I know hope chests were the thing say a century (or more?) ago, and some Amish/Mennonites still keep them. Do any of our fundies have their daughters keep these? In all my reading I've never run across this particular custom among American fundies.

[QueenNocturne]

I know that within the past few years, a conservative woman's organization (I believed it was named after Clare Boothe Luce) was calling for the return of the hope chest. Other than that, I haven't heard it mentioned in a modern sense.

[CC3]

I had/have a hope chest and I am 54. I also embroidered pillowcases and made other needlework items as well as learning to cook and bake for our family at age 12. BTW, my parents did not believe in God and we never attended church. :D

[Witsec7]

I don't think it would be practical for large fundy families, who would have room for 8 chests, or be able to afford the contents for a half dozen daughters. And then there is the coveting aspects, coveting of worldly items for future use rather than contributing to the immediate needs of a particular family. A girl could make an idol of a hope chest.

riffle

[tropaka]

nothing about fundies, but I got a kick out of the alternate names for the same idea in other countries - "bottom drawer" in the UK (makes sense) and "Glory Box" in Australia (I'm immature but I find that quite amusing).

I didnt think that this was a particularly fundie custom, but since they are stuck on things past and the whole preparing-to-be-a-helpmeet hing I was just wondering if they keep it up....

[mnb357]

Not a fundie, not in the least. But, my mother kept a hope chest for both my sister and me. I never made the connection with "hoping to get married," because it was more of a "hope you study hard, because after college, you're on your own." She put linens, grocery premium China, silverware and glassware in them, along with a really nice cake cutter. (Which, in retrospect, was the homage to hoping for a happy marriage.) We took them with us when we moved to our first apartments after college. I am doing the same thing for my daughter. I have been collecting pieces of our open stock every day China when I see them at the thrift shop, and have been putting them in my closet to keep for her. When I find the perfect antique cedar chest at the perfect price, I'll grab it too, and store the things in the chest instead of my closet. I like to think of her taking a piece of home with her when she moves out on her own. Why not the boys? Well, actually, I have started collecting pieces for them, because they, unlike my brothers, actually notices things like patterns on plates, but I think the chest itself, is more of a mother/daughter thing. At least, it is in this family.

[Didi]

I was more fundie than my parents, but I was offered a hopechest or "promise ring" for my 16th b-day and I chose the ring. :)

I was JUST thinking this morning at church I'd love to do hopechests with my daughters if I have them, but not just for marriage, but for who they hope to be as adults. Like marriage/mommy if that is what they want, but other stuff if they want to be other things.

Most of my fundy friends growing up had hopechests - even if they were just those under the bed tupperware type things :)

And it was all stuff you sew/make yourself or buy at a thrift store. ;)

Didn't someone on here tell a story about a girl who saw a family lost everything in a fire, so she gave all of the nice stuff in her hopechest to them and then a few months later when she got engaged/married she was complaining because now she had to use cheap stuff?

[ladypuglover]

My older sisters and I had hope chests but I was the only one without a "real" hope chest. Anyway, we had things put away in there for our first apartment/house when we moved out. Not really for when we married but out on our own. As a matter of fact I was the only who didn't live on my own before marriage. Maybe my parents should have gotten me that chest after all instead of saying the chest was out of fashion and cardboard boxes would do as well. :twisted:

[fundiefan]

Nah, not particularly fundie. But, 'old fashioned' and we know how fundies go for all things from the past eras they idolize.

I had a hope chest, of sorts. It was full of sentimental things passed on to me from my grandmother and aunts. Not really necessary household stuff, but things to keep 'for later'.

Wedding/bridal showers have kind of negated the need to start saving stuff for your married life when you're a kid. At least that's how I see it.

There is nothing wrong with gathering stuff over the years for later in life, but I don't think it was ever quite as specific as fundies or the ''hope chest" concept make it seem. My niece, who is 16, has boxes and boxes of stuff in the basement for 'later'. Dishes, pots & pans, etc...all things that, over the years as someone in the family replaced household items, she got the old stuff. The same things was done for my older niece who is now in college and using the dishes, with her four roommates, that I got when I first got married. My first apartment was about 95% full of stuff like that. Not just used or hand-me-downs, but things that were saved for many years in the basement for just that reason.

[ladypuglover]

Not a fundie, not in the least. But, my mother kept a hope chest for both my sister and me. I never made the connection with "hoping to get married," because it was more of a "hope you study hard, because after college, you're on your own." She put linens, grocery premium China, silverware and glassware in them, along with a really nice cake cutter. (Which, in retrospect, was the homage to hoping for a happy marriage.) We took them with us when we moved to our first apartments after college. I am doing the same thing for my daughter. I have been collecting pieces of our open stock every day China when I see them at the thrift shop, and have been putting them in my closet to keep for her. When I find the perfect antique cedar chest at the perfect price, I'll grab it too, and store the things in the chest instead of my closet. I like to think of her taking a piece of home with her when she moves out on her own. Why not the boys? Well, actually, I have started collecting pieces for them, because they, unlike my brothers, actually notices things like patterns on plates, but I think the chest itself, is more of a mother/daughter thing. At least, it is in this family.

My sisters and I do the same thing for our kids, just nice things for them when they move out. We start when the boy/girl reaches high school and get nice towels on sale or silverware. My basement also hold furniture hand me downs for my boys. Example would be our first really nice breakfast table that is being held for my navy son, he is going to get it as we only had it for a week before he carved half the alphabet on it. we were so proud that our little preschooler knew so much of the alphabet that we just couldn't be to mad, anyway that goes to him. Nothing like a hope chest per say but my husband does call them get the hell out boxes.

[Queen of Serpents]

Huh. I never thought about a hope chest before. Mostly because my mom has one in my parents bedroom and it matches the rest of the decor well I thought it was part of typical furniture set. I know my mom has our baby books, weird family documents, scrapbooks, and hidden Christmas presents. (I liked to look at my baby book while growing up... what? I'm a narcissist! And the presents were an added bonus!)

My family are packrats so when I moved out I just raided the dishware and extra tables stored in the basement. My brothers have plenty of crap to pick through when they move out in 6-12 years.

[tropaka]

I think it is a good idea for anyone to save up things they'll want/need when they're out on their own....personally I collected a "kitchen in a box" (it was flatware and all utensils plus flatware tray, it may have come from IKEA), and a basic tool set...my mother, who got married in 1960, had collected some Royal Dalton china pattern (and registered for the rest, I think) - which we ate off of maybe once a year and which she is trying to get me to take now (storage issues all round) - I'm still getting use out of the kitchen in a box 20 years after I finished college, the china is sitting in a cabinet somewhere collecting dust.

I had a beautiful cedar chest made by the Mennonites in Ontario - but it was for blankets and woolens and I received it after I was married (alas, from my former in-laws, so ex husband now has this)....

[snarkbillie]

My husband's parents bought him a Christmas ornament every year and when he moved out they gave them all to him. I really liked that. His first Christmas tree was beautiful, I bet.

[mrs]

My grandmother wanted to start me a hope chest. I wanted it too. But nothing really amounted from it. My mom had a very nice one.

[PBrooke]

To answer whether the fundies do Hope Chests, the Mortons do. There's an old blog post that mentions Martha was given one for her 17th birthday.

[lilwriter85]

Huh. I never thought about a hope chest before. Mostly because my mom has one in my parents bedroom and it matches the rest of the decor well I thought it was part of typical furniture set. I know my mom has our baby books, weird family documents, scrapbooks, and hidden Christmas presents. (I liked to look at my baby book while growing up... what? I'm a narcissist! And the presents were an added bonus!)

My family are packrats so when I moved out I just raided the dishware and extra tables stored in the basement. My brothers have plenty of crap to pick through when they move out in 6-12 years.

My mom always uses a hope chest to store stuff like that too. My uncle made hope chests for his three daughters as part of their wedding gifts.

[mstee]

I don't remember which episode or special, but I'm pretty sure the Duggar girls mentioned having hope chests.

[LilMissMetaphor]

My mother made a big deal about putting some things into a hope chest for me when I was a pre-teen. I wasn't particularly domestically inclined so I looked at everything politely and thought "whatever". There's a bunch of linen pillowcases, some sort of quilted cushion I think she might have made, a set of china, and Mexican serapes. Pretty random.

[anniebgood]

I have mine and my moms. My daughter can choose whichever she wants when she is ready to go out on her own. I bought all the stuff for mine, towels and a nice set of stoneware and a bunch of other things I needed when I moved out after college.

[kb2]

My grandmother suggested I start one, but at the time I'd already gone to college and had linens and dishes and whatnot.

Not quite a whole chest, but Noah Sanders bought pretty dishes and saved them for when he got married.

http://www.refinersfireforge.com/blog/?p=1046

[CustardTart]

http://ylcf.org/category/love-marriage/

From the Yong Ladies Christian fellowship blog, there's an entry in the "marriage" section about having a hopechest.

[CanadianHippie]

Well I've never had an actual hope chest myself but... Well lets put it this way, I already have a kitchen table stashed away somewhere.

[CustardTart]

http://ayoungmomsmusings.blogspot.com/2 ... story.html

Another reference to a fundy hope chest, by Melissa "Young Mom", who left the fundamentalists.

Just from casually reading blogs, without looking for hope chest references, I found a couple right off the bat, so I'm thinking yeah they do hope chests, too.

[Clementine]

Meredith had a hope chest that she added things to.

http://strivingtoserveathome.blogspot.c ... t-one.html

http://strivingtoserveathome.blogspot.c ... chest.html

http://strivingtoserveathome.blogspot.c ... t-two.html

http://strivingtoserveathome.blogspot.c ... thday.html

I wanted to spend a lot of the gift money on items for my hope chest. Now, as a single girl, I want to buy cute dishes and decorations because I think I will feel guilty spending my husband's hard earned money on frivolous items when I'm married. God really blessed my shopping day and I found so many things greatly discounted.

I had one that my parents and grandparents started collecting things for when I was about ten. Not a hope chest really, but "this is for when you leave home". My mother used to buy good quality stuff when it was on sale or stores closed so I had very nice pots and pans, china, linen and towels in my first student apartment when I was 23. I still have most of it and remember that I was happy that I didn't have to go to Ikea to buy everything in one day.

[mockingbird]

I have one - it's a literal hope chest, says "HOPE" on the front of the chest. LOL. I'm not fundie; my grandfather is an amateur carpenter and he made it for me. I would guess he got the idea based on family tradition even though we don't really do that anymore. (I also think it could have to do with hope in the sense that I was a pretty sick baby. I don't remember ever not having the hope chest, so it might have been made as a gesture of hope for my future while I was in the hospital.) I'm the only one who has a hope chest in my family. My parents never saved future-home things in there, it was always a toy chest or for things like school papers. Now it is just sitting in my parents' house until I get a place big enough to display/use it. I guess it had part of the purpose in that it was a piece of furniture made for me at a young age that I would be able to take to my first apartment/house/etc. but not in the saving-up-things sense. It's a really nice chest; I'll definitely use it.