Imagine a room of swirling dresses, elegant suits and amazing, creative and colourful masks! Wouldn’t it be amazing to host a masquerade ball for your next office function, fundraiser, birthday or even for your wedding? Here’s how to create the fairy tale masquerade ball of your dreams on the budget of your reality:

First, find a suitable venue. You’ll need a function venue that’s elegant, large enough to hold all your intended guests, and has a unique air of magic and atmosphere about it. Look for dedication function venues, ballrooms at hotels, and even old theatres.

Once you’ve secured your venue hire, it’s time to send out the invitations. Create an elegant and fantastical design and let your guests know they’re required to wear formal dress and a mask. Be sure to include the date, time, place, and admission fee, if any, and don’t forget your RSVP details!

You’ll need to provide food and drinks at the elegant ball – talk to the in-house caterer about creating a suitable menu – think delicate, colourful finger foods and exotic desserts. You could even create your own signature cocktail.

While some venues will need little in the way of decoration, you might find a few fresh bowls of flowers and some shimmery streamers, fairy lights or balloons add a magical atmosphere. You could hang gauze chiffon from the ceiling and entwine it with fairy lights to create a mystical night sky indoors.

For entertainment, you’ll need a band or DJ who can keep the dance floor full all night. You might even like to hire a magician or mime to entertain people in the crowd.

Another great idea is to set up a backdrop in a corner of the room and have a photographer taking people’s pictures.

As many guests will go to great efforts of create and source their own unique costumes, you should hold a costume competition throughout the night, with prizes for the king and queen of the ball, the best mask, and the best dressed.

Don’t forget to have a few spare masks at the door for the people who forget!