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[AngleWyrm]

Could add a musician to the party, that goes and gets an instrument, then plays it at the party. A song message pops up, the same style of art that appears on engravings. Everyone at the party gets a happy thought if the musician is good, or a bad thought if the musician's musical abilities suck. Reguardless, they still get a happy thought from attending a party.

[jei]

Maybe as a coming-of-age ceremony they get assigned one Hunter job, where they have to go outside the caves and hunt down some surface creature and bring it back for butchery.

or mine a piece of ore.

[Ullallulloo]

I wouldn't mind this. One rather off-topic thing that I don't think a new thread should get made for is: shouldn't dwarves get their parent/husband's last name when they're born/married? At least humans should, right? Anyway, I like most of the suggestions here.

[Farthing]

Now the question is, how can you make such cultural norms generalized in such a way that they could be implemented in any culture.

[Starver]

Given how I always thought that the existing toys should have something to do with jobs and psychology (if not alter inclinations, by repeated use of a toy of a certain material representing a certain form, then be more or less advantageous in some way based upon their existing ones), I'd certainly put a hypothetical vote down for such as:

1) The range of toys extended to cover all job-types (toy crossbows, toy millstones, toy furnaces, etc)

2) While keeping them useless for actual work, either playing a part in childhood that ends up in some form of eventual proficiency (perhaps building a 'hidden variable' tendency-towards-proficiency up, that comes into play as soon as the child-that-was gets beyond dabbling with a skill), or as teaching aids in an apprenticeship situation ("See, young Urist, how the barrels are organised so as to help dyers such as us to waste as little liquid as possible...").

3) Obviously as toys are given by the parents, then toys representing certain jobs should (if available) be first obtained by the
parents (then given to child... by possession, at least, if not re-assigning ownership entirely) based upon a wish to have an offspring of the appropriate skill-type.  Either to take over Dad's/Mum's line of work (assuaged for first child, so other parent gets a chance to indoctrinate any second offspring), emulate someone they admire/respect (or fear?) or in response to some actual need...  So woodcutter mother and carpenter father might try to gift a toy axe and a toy bench (or whatever) to the child, if not a toy sword on behalf of old Uncle Urist McVeteran, and then there's the attempt to curry favour with Urist McBaron with the posable Noble figurine (and accesories: throne (with table), desk (with chair), armour stand, three chests, two cabinets, fifteen assorted goblets, etc, all in Genuine Fake Adamantine-Effect Microcline) or of course the that toy millstone representing hunger mixed with wishful thinking...  What the child ends up actually getting (and formerly adopting) would depend on a number of variables.  Kids, and especially babies, aren't socially aware enough (or possibly far too much so) to not keep throwing the sword away, or indeed bursting into tears and bashing the posable doll whenever Urist McBaron looks in on the happy family...

4) Regardless of how much of that is implementable, toys should be subjected to wear by use.  A lot by babies, some by children, perhaps minimally if used in an apprenticeship situation.  And perhaps some when being kept as a keepsake (of either a lost/kidnapped child, or of ones own childhood fancies).  And when they eventually break: Bad Thoughts.

Sorry, a lot of separate ideas there.  I'm sure there's something usable in it, though...

[Owlbread]

Perhaps this could be used as one of our first examples of "Dwarven Culture", given that much of our Dwarf culture does not actually appear in-game at all, only on these forums. Toady could try and develop some of the common rituals in Dwarven life to make the race that bit more unique, an example being some sort of "coming of age" ceremony.

On the other hand, the greater challenge may be to make Dwarven culture even more driven by our own choices and world-gen, similar to religion.

In any case, I believe that we must improve on parties and the social aspects of Dwarven life in general, as right now, Dwarves don't even get drunk for god's sake.