Daddy Daughter Ball

Our home school group's annual Daddy Daughter Ball is one event that all of the girls, and even the dads, look forward to every year. We usually hold this dinner/dance in either January or February. We usually try to keep it out of Lent, so sometimes it ends up being fairly early in the year.

The evening consists of a dinner made by the moms and served by some of the moms of the group. We recruit the young boys (usually between the ages of 8 and 12) to serve as bus-boys. There are plenty of fancy decorations and soft lighting to make any gymnasium look good.

Usually before dinner, the MC introduces the dads and their daughters. Each family walks down the designated aisle to their table. Dinner is then served buffet style, with lots of good food to go around.

During and after dinner, we usually have someone available to take pictures. This last year we had a friend of the group who is a professional take formal pictures of any family that wanted some taken. Needless to say there were a lot of girls getting their pictures taken, but not a lot of dads!

The dancing portion of the evening begins after dinner and dessert are over. The music has ranged from a string quartet to someone's compilation of music CDs. It doesn't matter, everyone loves to dance.

A tradition every year is for the dads to gather together and dance the Jewish dance from "Fiddler on the Roof". I hear that they don't do too bad of a job!

The theme of the ball varies depending on the time of the year. We've had a Snowball Dance in January, a Sweetheart dance in February and even one year a Valentine's Day dance right on Valentine's Day.

I know my girls have always enjoyed dressing up in their party dresses and doing up their hair for this special occasion with their Dad. Once the girls are about 2 or 3, they get to attend. One year a family surprised their father and all of his married daughters and daughter-in-laws, as well as the ones still at home, showed up to enjoy the evening.

If you have ideas to share about a Daddy Daughter Ball that you have had, feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to share them here.