IT'S PARTY TIME (Happy Birthday VPTP)

What a cool photo!

Thanks, Rick!

so much fun to see the clothes that were worn. they are from my mother's vintage, but the clothes seem different from old images of hers. thanks for sharing this sweet photo.

found in 'Flickr Refugees'

Thanks for your visit, Raingirl!
These are party clothes but I also suspect there might be a "dress-up" theme of some sort going on. At least, for some of them, which might explain the difference you see.

Very nice! I recall it as "The Farmer in the Dell," but I'm not sure if it was played as a game. I'll add my thanks, too, for all your lovely photos, Deborah!

Thanks, Lisa and Alan! I can't remember if I sang it as Farmer in the Den in England, ( I think I did) but it's certainly Dell in the U.S. The tune is similar but not the same. The game is a circle game with the farmer the first one in the ring. Then the farmer chooses a wife who joins him. The wife chooses a child, etc. etc. In England it goes on until the rat chooses the cheese, and then you sing (and pinch) "we all pick the cheese." In the U.S. the usual version is the rat chooses "the cheese" and then everyone inside the circle goes and forms a circle again, and sings to the cheese, "the cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone, hi ho the derry-o, the cheese stands alone."
And thank you both for your kind comments!