As was passing out cigarettes and cigars to all the guests, didn't see this so much in the USA but very common in Europe even into the late 1990s.

Elementary school children would make ashtrays as gifts for Father's Day.

If dad didn't smoke, surely he had guests who did.

Yeah. I remember that too. It was such an odd thing to make at schools and kids clubs. But that’s through the lens of modern life.

I vaguely remember living room chairs with built in ash trays (like how some have cup holders now).

And in the late 90s, being on a plane and the chairs had a metal folding door on the armrest that exposed an ash tray. Smoking on planes was already gone or going away, but the hardware lingered for quite some time.

Think these bins persisted on some aircraft until fairly recently. Maybe 10 yrs ago?

Ha my first ceramic project in elementary school art class was an ashtray. Smoking was everywhere.