Simple Ballerinas and Bows Birthday Party at Home

Borrow some of my ideas to host a beautiful and simple “Ballerinas and Bows” birthday party at home!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always admired a themed party. I blame Martha Stewart. Since childhood, I couldn’t resist getting my hands on a crispy Martha Stewart magazine while my Mom was shopping in the grocery store. For a while in the nineties, I remember her publishing small little magazines that were just full of fantastic themed kids birthday parties. Does anybody else remember those? I still have one that I cherish and that has somehow escaped the numerous magazine purges I’ve done over the years. What really drew me to the parties in her magazines was the simplicity of them. The beautiful and aesthetic simplicity was probably magnified due to the excellent photos and lighting and the even more excellent venues, but even so, I’ve been hooked ever since.

So Many Birthdays

Over the years I’ve hosted many birthday parties at home. Five kids with birthdays every year really adds up! I have to say that I really enjoy using my creativity in this way. I definitely don’t do it out of obligation, trust me, if it didn’t bring me so much joy, I wouldn’t put in so much effort. My kids also enjoy and appreciate it when I go all out for their birthday parties, but I know they’d be happy with something less extravagant as well, and we’ve done exactly that many times also.

Here’s How I Organized The Party

Theme: “Ballerinas and Bows”

My youngest recently turned four, and like many four year olds, she practically lives in a tutu. When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to “move all the furniture and have a dancin party with her friends”, so it was the perfect year to create a “Ballerinas and Bows” birthday party for her. The “Ballerina” part of it was obvious and I added the “Bows” because I thought they would be the perfect complement to the “Ballerina” theme. When I think of ballet I always see pretty pink satin bows and they were a simple way to decorate for the party. Plus, I have a ribbon hoarding problem and this was the perfect opportunity to use some up!

Color Scheme: Pink and White

This was easy. Pink is my daughter’s favorite color, and the ballerina color of choice. White is the next obvious choice and makes everything simpler since I have so many white things around my house to decorate with.

Guest List:

Since my daughter is only four she doesn’t have dozens of friends to invite which makes things easier and since her friends are her age or younger, we invited a few little friends from Church, some cousins, and their Mothers. All in all we ended up with six little girls (including the birthday girl) plus their Mothers, some Dads, two big sisters, and a bundle of brothers who kept themselves busy boiling sap outside for the afternoon with my husband while the ballerinas twirled.

Invitations:

Honestly, this is one area of a kids’ birthday party that I usually skip. Usually we are much less formal and I end up inviting people in person or through text. However, my daughter loved the idea of handing out invitations to her friends and cousins so I whipped some up last minute. This is where being a craft supply hoarder really pays off. I still had a roll of some fancy pink paper left over from my wedding invitations… yes that’s right… my wedding… twenty years ago… Anywho, it was the perfect shade of pink and looked sweet with a simple printout glued to it. I made the invitation in Canva and printed it out, four to a page on regular printer paper, cut them out, and glued them to the pink paper. Then, I punched a couple of holes at the top and tied a bow with some handmade chiffon ribbon.(I had some white chiffon fabric that I purchased on sale to make ribbon with and simply ripped it into about 2 inch strips, super easy.) If I owned a color printer, I probably would have simply designed the invitation with some color and skipped the fancy pink paper altogether, but I’m happy with how they turned out, and my girl enjoyed giving them to her friends.

Decor:

The decorations are always my favorite part of putting a birthday party together and this “Ballerinas and Bows” birthday party was no exception. I do have to say that my living and dining rooms look like they were made for a Ballerina party so that helped a lot. We already have vintage pink sofas, a soft gray dining room with white trim, and the living room has wallpaper with a lot of pink in it. (Ugly wallpaper that I can’t wait to get rid of, but it worked in this case.) I usually host parties in these two rooms because they are adjoined, have lots of natural light, and hold a lot of people. It wasn’t difficult to create a ballerina party in this space at all! Besides the food, I didn’t spend a penny! So what exactly did I use?

White Tulle Fabric

• Lots and lots of white tulle. I have to acknowledge that most people don’t have a bin of white tulle in their garage, but I do. Back in my wedding planning days I had lots of different colors of tulle to choose from. I got rid of the other colors over the years but I held onto the white. I’m so glad I did because I have used it so often! I highly recommend buying a bolt of white tulle for all your future party needs. You’ll thank me later. My big kids helped me hang the tulle up in my giant windows and in the opening between the living room and dining room. We also used some to layer on the dessert table to cover the table legs. I bunched it so that it looked kind of like a tutu skirt. There were a couple of small pieces of tulle left over so one of my daughters tied one up into a big bow and we set it on the mantle. The other small length of tulle was used to make a wreath. I wrapped it around a blank wreath form and topped it with a bow and a ballet slipper hat pin.
• If buying a bolt of tulle fabric for your four year old’s birthday party seems a bit over the top to you, don’t stress over it. If I didn’t already own it, I probably wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of buying it. That said, it’s pretty easy and cheap to find tulle in buy and sell groups, especially after wedding season. You could always buy or borrow just enough to decorate one wall or table to really create a focal point for the party.

Pink Tablecloth

• I have used this pink tablecloth for so many birthday parties and events over the years. I started out as just a cheap end of the roll bargain piece of fabric. I used it for years without even hemming it. Finally, I hemmed it and it’s been a staple decor item for me for years.

Pink Ribbons

• Did I mention I have a ribbon hoarding problem? I just so happened to have lots of this double satin ribbon in a beautiful ballerina shade of pink in a few widths. I made lots of bows and put them everywhere around the room as you can see. I used the thicker ribbon to top the windows and mirror with and the thinner stuff for small bows in my frames on the wall. Pretty ribbon is such a versatile decorating tool. This color of pink also happens to be one of my favorite colors and I already reused this exact ribbon for my daughters first birthday, Christmas, and Easter. I’m sure I’ll find more uses for them in the future. These are hardworking ribbons!

Ballet Slippers

• My oldest daughter has a pair of beautiful ballet shoes that she hangs in her room. I almost forgot that she had them! They were a last minute addition to the party and I hung them up in an empty frame on the wall. The little girls loved looking at the “real” ballet shoes. Ask around and see if anyone has a pair that you can borrow. Even a used pair of baby ballet slippers would look adorable hanging from shiny ribbons.

Mouse Ballerina “Brie Doll”

• My daughter received this adorable crocheted Ballerina Mouse doll named Brie for Christmas and she is very loved. Since Brie is all dressed up as a Ballerina, we invited her to the party where her cuteness added to the theme. You can invite Brie to your party too! Find the crochet pattern to make her (and so much more), over at: Oak and Marlow

Disco Ball

• Now hear me out. A small disco ball sitting on the table at your pretty “ballerina and bows” birthday party may look a little odd, but if you can squeeze it in next to a window, it’s pure magic. The sun hit that little disco ball just right and the whole room filled with sparkles! They’re easy to find at a party store or dollar store and very affordable. I found mine several years ago at a dollar store and it’s been making magic ever since. My little Disco ball is my birthday party secret weapon. I put mine in a pretty footed bowl and she blended right in.

Birthday Banner and White Bunting

• I made the wooden “Happy Birthday” banner several years ago and use it for every birthday party. It’s completely neutral so it works for all ages and party themes. The little white bunting was made out of different scraps of white fabrics and some vintage lace. I made it to hang above the birthday girl’s bassinet when she was born. Again, it’s neutral so it gets a lot of use.

Tiny Ballerinas

• Last but not least, our cutest “decorations” were the tiny dancers themselves! They all came dressed in twirly tutus and were just the sweetest real life decorations.

Party Favors:

Instead of loot bags, I decided to give the girls a little accessory to wear during the party, and a little gift box to take home. The gift boxes are made of that same pink paper as the invitations, because, (shocker) I still have some left over paper origami boxes that I made for my wedding favors once upon a time. They made the perfect little favor boxes for this party and I wrapped them in the same white chiffon ribbon that I made for the invitations.

Hair Bows

• Remember that ribbon obsession? Well, it turns out that I also have a large roll of wide, pink, sparkly, tulle ribbon. I made bows out of it for each of the little girls. They were very simple to make and I hot glued them onto hair clips. (The birthday girl got a pink one and a purple one!)

Ballerina Peg Dolls

• I love to be able to gift my hand painted peg dolls, and this was a good opportunity since my ballerina “peeps” fit the theme so well! They fit snugly into the little pink paper boxes and were a fun surprise for our guests to take home. For more ideas on ways to use peg dolls, take a look at this POST.

Activities:

The sweetest thing about this ballerina and bows birthday party is that I didn’t have to plan much for the girls to do. My daughter had it all planned out. She ordered that we move the living room furniture to make a large space in the middle of the room. I found a classical ballet playlist, and the girls danced and danced. The moms all sat on the sofas around the perimeter of the room and the tiny ballerinas just loved it. We chatted and watched while they danced their little hearts out. It was adorable. To break up all the dancing, we had many breaks for drinks and snacks. After lots of dancing, we sang happy birthday to the birthday girl, ate dessert and she opened her presents. A little more dancing and voila! Party complete.

Food and Drink:

This party took place in the afternoon so there was no need to serve a full meal. Instead, I made pinwheels, served cheese and crackers, veggie trays, and a couple oven appetizers from Costco. For drinks I made a pitcher of Shirley Temples. The girls polished off the punch pretty quickly so once it was gone I just served ice water.

Dessert:

My daughter really wanted to make cookies for her birthday, so earlier that week we made sugar cookies together and she and her sisters decorated them with pink icing and sprinkles. I also made little biscuits and we served them with butter, jam, and pink whipped cream. Of course no birthday would be complete without a birthday cake. I made a small cake to put candles in and a bunch of cupcakes as well.

On top of the cake, I put another peg doll ballerina and a hand painted “happy birthday” topper. The little cake was a hit with my birthday ballerina.

This was such a fun birthday party to plan and host. Little kids’ birthday parties can just be so magical. What do you think? Would you plan a “Ballerinas and Bows” birthday party for your daughter? Hopefully you’ve found some of my ideas helpful or at least inspirational. This theme could easily be adapted for a bridal or baby shower as well. I’d love to hear from you and if you’ve ever hosted a party like this or are planning to.

Although I’m sure she won’t remember every single detail, I hope my daughter will remember turning four and feeling so, so special.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindi joe