Don't ask why I was wikipedia'ing Teddy Bears' Picnic, but I was, and I found the entry to be the most hilariously melancholy thing I've ever read:
A teddy bears' picnic is a party for young children which involves a picnic and to which the children are invited to bring their teddy bears. Teddy bears' picnics may be held as a form of birthday party, or by primary schools or elementary schools or other organised children's groups.
The concept probably originates with an instrumental version of a 1907 march entitled "Teddy Bears' Picnic", written by Tin Pan Alley composer John Walter Bratton (credited as John W. Bratton). Bratton wrote 250 songs in his fifty-year career, mainly for Broadway musicals in the 1890s and the early 1900s, but only "Teddy Bears' Picnic" has any prominence today.
Ah fame, you are a harsh mistress...
