Civil War Ball

First of all, ignore the dates on these pictures. I put new batteries in the camera and it defaulted back to that date.

Our homeschool group has a spring formal each year. It is a family event that we say is like a wedding reception without the wedding. It's a chance for us to dress up in fancy clothes and come together to have a good time. This year we chose a Civil War theme and the event quickly turned into a Civil War Ball. We were able to find dance instructors who came and taught us not only the dances of the time period, but also spoke to us about ettiquette. We also had a professional photographer/decorator come in and transform the room on the lower level of our local Ag center. This was a social event, but something families could put into their homeschool portfolios as well.

I think pictures are worth a thousand words, so I have a few to share.


The woman to the far left is a mom in our group who volunteered to coordinate the spring formal. While she was taking care of the details for this event, she made the dress she is wearing.



Although period attire was not required, I had fun borrowing this dress complete with hoop from another homeschool mom.
Our dress code was simple enough. We asked everyone to dress modestly (no cleavage, skirts below the knee, etc.). Attendees did not have to wear formal attire either. They could come in their Sunday Best with men wearing ties and women wearing dresses, skirts or dress slacks. We specified no sneakers or flip flops (doesn't matter how fancy they are).



Me with my little southern belle. She found this dress last summer at a thrift store for $5 and she knit her shawl. We did go into Gettysburg to get accessories like gloves and jewelry.

DD13 having a great time.

Amongst the Civil War dances, we also squeezed in the chicken dance. It was rather interesting to see that dance being done in a hoop.

This is DS7 popping in on someone else's picture. We were able to outfit him in CSA gear. My husband is from Alabama and DS just had to be a confederate soldier.
This couple was very gracious in sharing this photo with me and not being upset with him for butting in.

At the end of the evening, all the decorations were taken down and the tables were put away, but several of our young people continued to dance.