Angelina Ballerina Party Supplies, Decorations and Ideas

An Angelina Ballerina party is a lovely idea for budding ballerinas, and has been one of our surprise hits. You may be surprised that she first made her appearance in 1982, and there are now over twenty popular books by Katherine Holabird.

Of course what popularised it no end was the cartoon series, with Judy Dench as Angelina's mother. And if you were luck enough to catch the English National Ballet's Angelina's Star Performance you're probably a bigger fan than even us!

We always think it's nice to give the children characters at a themed Angelina Ballerina party - of course the birthday girl will want to be Angelina Mouseling, the mouse who loves to dance. Mr and Mrs Mouseling are Angelina's parents - one for the grown ups. Alice is Angelina's best friend, and if there's a little brother to entertain you might want to suggest he be Henry. (Alternatively you might just get him a pirate sword and have a friend round to play. Boys and ballet is often not a great combination.)

We have some lovely invitations (with matching thank-yous) to get the theme off to a head start. If you're confident that your guests are all ballet fans (especially if the child goes to ballet classes and is inviting her friends) you can ask for the children to come in leotards. Music from the Nutcracker is a sure-fire hit. Our hair-clips, bracelets and lip-gloss are useful if you want a dressing-and-make-up activity. It's a good idea to do this while the children are arriving and they can all make a fuss over each other.

Two excellent dance-type games are keep-the-balloon-in-the-air and musical statues. Again, you'll need some ballet music for the full effect. We know some mums even get their ballet teacher round for a quick twenty-minute session.

While you're setting up lunch / tea, you might get an adult to read an Angelina story. That always calms everyone down.

For Angelina Ballerina party decorations - as many pink and silver balloons as you can manage! Our Angelina paper bunting looks great strung up around the wall too.

Trivia - did you know that Helen Craig, who does the pictures, is actress Ellen Terry's great-grand-daughter?