Traditional Items

• Women were traditionally expected to bring a dowry with them upon marriage, and often this consisted of some money as well as most of the items required to run a household. Since women usually had to make their own household items, they often began to create their hope chest as a young teen and to fill them with quilts, sheets, table linens, silverware, pots and pans and dishes. She might also include personal mementos such as family recipes, photographs, books and other items.
  
  While the tradition of hope chests has faded in recent years, certain organizations are attempting to reinvigorate it. The Hope Chest society, a cooking and sewing club founded in 2005 by a Christian homemaker, recommends that mothers and daughters work together to create some handmade items for a hope chest. Their minimum recommendations for a hope chest include: 4 dish towels, 4 wash cloths, 1 oven mitt, 4 potholders, 4 towels, 1 apron, 4 washcloths, 2 small guest towels, 2 sheet sets, 2 pillowcases, 1 quilt, and 3 dresser scarves. Their suggestions for more elaborate chests include hand sewn baby clothing such as bonnets, blankets, gowns, and booties as well as knitted projects.
  
  

New Ideas

• Most women use hope chests today to preserve family heirlooms and cherished objects. You might consider including treasured photographs, special dishes, your mom's wedding dress, your christening outfit, family Bibles, and silver items such as baby cups or teething rings. A nice addition might be a scrapbook telling your family's story, created through photographs and interviews with different family members, especially elderly relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles.
  
  Another way to approach the creation of a hope chest might entail adding objects that represent things that you want in your marriage. Add baby items if you desire children such as a treasure book or a special stuffed animal. If you are lucky enough to have inherited items from somebody whose marriage you admired, add one of these keepsakes to your chest. If small luxuries matter to you, add extremely high thread count sheets in a sumptuous color. Some women add a small meaningful gift for their husband to the chest, perhaps something capturing a favorite memory or your first date.
  
  While some families still pass these hope chests onto their daughters when they marry, others offer it to her when she moves out of their house and into her own home regardless of her marital state.