# Ladies did you get a hope chest before leaving your parents home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410 "2011-04-06T16:30:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/41 "2011-04-07T16:06:44Z")
Hope chest? Didn’t even know those were for real. I got a so long and a good luck. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/42 "2011-04-07T16:22:36Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Given the meaning of “glory **hole** ,” I’m not sure I want to find out what a “glory **box** ” is. Especially given the alternate meanings for the word “box” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/43 "2011-04-07T16:24:42Z")
No. However, when I bought my home my dad presented me with my very own tool box, complete with a full set of tools. I have to say I’ve used the drill, measuring tape, hammer etc. quite a bit more than I would have used a lace tablecloth, I suspect. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/44 "2011-04-08T00:20:29Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > However, when I bought my home my dad presented me with my very own tool box, complete with a full set of tools. That was one of my Christmas presents when I was a senior in high school! I now have a small collection of various tool boxes and tool sets, all of which are extremely useful. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/45 "2011-04-08T00:40:35Z")
My grandmother started collecting things for me like sheets and towels and a nice set of cutlery. I guess she gave up on me ever getting married, so I got what she had been holding on to for me for Christmas one year. I realized later that what she had been doing was making me a hope chest, just without the formal container. I miss her. She was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/46 "2011-04-08T00:43:06Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Given the meaning of “glory **hole** ,” I’m not sure I want to find out what a “glory **box** ” is. Well, for one thing, it’s a [song by Portishead](http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DyF-GvT8Clnk&v=yF-GvT8Clnk&gl=AU). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/47 "2011-04-08T03:17:17Z")
I furnished my first apartment with all kinds of random family hand-me-downs, but don’t know of anyone who had a hope chest, and I certainly didn’t. My grandparents were antique dealers, though,so I did have a few nice odds and ends of household items. And there were nearly 20 years between that first apartment and my wedding, so I’d acquired a fair amount of household stuff by then - some of it was even worn out/broken from plain ordinary everyday use. ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/48 "2011-04-09T03:06:33Z")
I got a hope chest, empty. It is good, because I have an old house with few closets. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/49 "2011-04-09T13:04:02Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Pretty much, but you could put dishes and other items in too. As I’ve heard it, traditionally sons would inherit the land, and daughters got portable property–so they would fill up a chest with linens and dishes and whatnot, and ideally have some furniture as well to start a new home with. Quite literally, this was _paraphenalia._ ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/50 "2011-04-09T16:01:59Z")
I said yes, because my grandfather (who does woodworking as a hobby) made me and my sisters each a cedar chest when we were about middle school age. We just used them for storage of our regular stuff though, not things for our future homes. My chest actually did not go with me when I left home, as I’ve only lived in apartments and none have been big enough for a chest in addition to my desk, bed, table, etc. The chest stayed in my mother’s basement for years, and wound up going with her to her new house when she moved. ---
**Author:** ![minionkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@minionkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minionkat)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/51 "2011-04-09T16:19:59Z")
I have the ones that belonged to my grandmothers. As the only granddaughter on my father’s side, it went to me when she moved into assisted living years ago. It is a beautiful cedar-lined chest and has her things in it. Pictures from the war, my grandfather’s hat, a fox collar, etc. When my maternal grandmother died, I was the only unmarried granddaughter and it was given to me. It is full of my books and serves as a window seat. It is a simple box with a padded lid. My grandfather made four of them, three for his eldest daughters and one for my grandmother. I don’t know why he didn’t make one for the youngest daughter. I am 33, single and staying that way, but I like having them. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/52 "2011-04-09T16:24:40Z")
I’m 54 now. I wanted one so badly when I was a young girl. I didn’t get one. To be fair, Mom was so broke she could barely furnish our home, much less my future one. So I made one for my daughters 16th birthday and filled it with pretty dishes and towels and sheets and what have you. She was never so disappointed with a gift in her life! I felt so terrible. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/53 "2011-04-09T17:31:50Z")
I never had one, but my husband made one for our older daughter (she graduated high school in 2003). It’s made of oak with cedar lining. She did put a lot of household-type items in it as she went along, also things which she received as gifts which were meant for the dorm room at college. He needs to get on the stick and make one for the 2nd daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Roseanne\_Rosannadanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Roseanne\_Rosannadanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roseanne_Rosannadanna)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/54 "2011-04-09T17:54:03Z")
My grandmother kept her cedar chest in her basement, and when she died, my mom offered it to me. I guess grandma never passed it on to her. I was about 20 and in college then, so I spent one summer stripping it, sanding, and refinishing it. I just kept special things in there, but didn’t really use it for linens or to accumulate items for when I got married. I took it with me when I bought my own condo at 26 years old, and kept extra blankets, etc. in it at the the foot of my bed. Now that I’m married, it’s in our new house at the foot of our bed. I never used it to store things in “hope” of marriage though. I keep things I collect in there now. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/55 "2011-04-11T21:58:11Z")
If by ‘hope chest’ you mean ‘all your older brother’s castoffs from when he got married then divorced’, then yes! Except I scored the awesome set of pots and pans that our side of the family kicked in to buy for the aforementioned wedding. This is also how I ended up with 2 bottle cap openers and no can opener. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410/56 "2011-04-11T23:32:33Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I’m familiar with the concept from books I read as a kid, but I didn’t know anyone still did the hope chest thing. (Obviously, I didn’t get one.) Same here. I think I read about them in a book about talking dolls or something, so I assumed they were mostly fantasy, or at least from a bygone era. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-did-you-get-a-hope-chest-before-leaving-your-parents-home/577410.md?page=2)