Lest you think I’ve lost my ever-lovin’ mind, let me assure you that I did not just blurt out this phrase without any inspiration. My inspiration was, in fact, a little booklet published by Swift — the meat company — with tips and tricks for holding different types of parties. The back of the booklet touts the “meat power” – and it’s a graphic that I’ve seen in various vintage groups. I mean, c’mon . . . it’s funny.
Here we have the usual selection of 1950s animatrons (I want to know what mom is thinking in that middle picture!) with everyone living their best life. They even have some spectacular ideas for holding a stag party. Forget those plans of visiting the strib clubs! Here ya go:
Decorations: Make a cigar centerpiece, using at least one cigar for each man present. Write humorous fortunes on narrow strips of paper and tie them on each cigar with ribbon bows. Guests helps themselves to cigars after dinner and read their fortunes aloud.
Games: At a stag party, men usually get together for games of their choice. For extra entertainment, have a soap box contest. The only thing needed is a soap box for the guests to stand on while they deliver a 3-minute talk on silly subjects that they draw out of a hat. Write the subjects on slips of paper for the guests to draw in turn. Sample subjects: “If the barter system is adopted, how much should. a good wife be worth?” and “An effective method of stopping snoring.”
Now doesn’t that sound like FUN?
It’s on page 5 if you need a complete menu for said stag party.
Smack dab in the middle of the booklet is a nice colored insert touting all of Swift’s new products, like square shaped turkey roasts (I wish I were joking). It also contains a nice little reference for how long to roast different types of meat and types of boneless oven roasts.
You can head over to the “Miscellaneous Catalogs and Cookbooks” section, or you can check it out directly here.
Whoever owned this cookbook must have used it quite a bit, for many pages wear the proof of various dishes being made, which you can see on the scanned pages. That’s how you know that the recipes must be fairly good.
And remember:
MEAT POWER.
