Honeymoon High Jinks

Somewhere between the wedding and the honeymoon, “friends” of the couple will play tricks on the newlyweds. Friends will often decorate the bride and groom’s car as they leave the reception. The tomfoolery used to be limited to signs of “Just Married” and a trail of tin cans fastened to the back of the car. I’ve even heard a note saying, “Just Married,” fastened to the inside of the gas cap for gas station attendants to see and comment.

The most recent matrimonial jokesters have been filling the inside of the car with wadded up newspapers, covering the car in clear plastic wrap, stuffing balloons inside, or packing the car with Styrofoam peanuts. There are other ingenious tricks I’m sure, but this reminded me of stories from the past. Several families were noted for their “one-upmanship,” not allowing other family members to outdo the other as newlyweds were united in matrimony. The first I can recall was liberally applying limburger cheese to the manifold. As the engine heated up, the interior of the car would fill with the horrendous smell. At another wedding, hub caps were filled with shrimp. Again the odor from decaying crustaceans was putrid. I believe gravel inside the hubcaps made enough noise that the newlyweds thought there was a problem with the car and almost postponed the honeymoon.

When all of the tricks to the cars the families could imagine were tried, they started doing things to the clothes in the luggage. Tying clothing into knots was the first. Another time the pranksters crushed shredded wheat and spread it throughout the clothing. The couple kept finding scratchy bits most of their honeymoon even after they made a thorough sorting and shaking of each item. Another prank was replacing the nuptials’ summer clothing with clothing more appropriate for a winter vacation, coats, boots, and gloves weren’t in fashion for the beach. The newlyweds were forced to buy a second outfit, until parents could priority ship replacements.

We can’t forget past “shiverees.“ A shiveree is a word that describes a noisy, late night serenade of the newlywed couple at their home. The clang of cowbells, blowing of horns, and there were those who would fire shotguns into the air. Some of the revelers might bring bullroarers, or an instrument that cranks leather pieces together like applause, and a few men carried a huge circular sawmill blade suspended on a stick; they would clang on it with hammers. With my Aunt Helen and Uncle Jake, the crowd was wondering why they weren’t coming outside, but were surprised to find that they’d slipped out the back and joined the crowd banging pots and pans.