Boxes large enough to hold enough food for two people were decorated by females to be sold at the supper to the highest male bidder. Fried chicken, and sandwiches were usually the favorite main course. It was almost a contest for the women to decorate the prettiest box. The male who purchased the box got to eat with the lady who brought the box. It was supposed to be a secret who the boxes belonged to. Sometimes a male suitor would pay someone to find which one belonged to his lady of choice. Many times the older men bid a girls box up and a young boy might have to borrow money from his friends to purchase it. It was all done in fun. I especially remember my first Box supper. I was perhaps 6 or 7 years old. I was very bashful and did not want to participate in the event. The Box Supper was at a school where my first grade teacher, Miss Edith Miller, taught after moving away from our one room school. I did not know anyone who attended school there. Mama insisted that I was to take a box regardless. Mama covered a shoe box with colored crepe paper and added a contrasting crepe paper ribbon. She fluted the edges, made a bow and placed it on top of the box for a frilly look. She added two sandwiches, Hershey candy bars, bananas and stems of grapes for the person buying my box and me. I sat with mama and daddy as the boxes were chosen, held up and auctioned off. When mine came up for bid, I squirmed in my seat. It was sold to a boy a few years older than I was. Mama almost shoved me out of my seat to join him. I am sure he did not want to eat with a "baby" He did not want to eat with me anymore than I did with him. We ate our meal in complete silence. I never said a word even when he ate his candy bar then ate mine too. I was very upset with him. We never got candy very often during the war years because of sugar rationing. So a candy bar was somewhat of a delicacy to me. As soon as he finished my candy bar, he hurried back to the boys he was with before the sale. I went back and sat with my parents, sulking because I never got to eat my candy bar. When I was a few years older, Bob Waldschmidt was “sweet” on me and my feelings toward him were mutual. He planned to buy my box at our school sponsored Box Supper, but some ornery boy told him my box belonged to a much older lady, so he bought the lady’s box thinking it was mine. I was really hurt when he did not buy mine. Bob moved away to Kansas a year later. Our Mountain View country school was consolidated to Gore Consolidated #1, a much larger school. Bob and I lost contact. I never knew the real story behind Bob buying the lady's box until he told me many years later when he visited our home.. long time after I had married. It was then when he told me he really liked me and what had happened at the box supper. I wish I had known back then, I would not have felt so badly about him buying another lady’s box thinking it was mine. 
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Created December 19, 2020
Modified 19 June, 2021
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