Girls Holiday Party Dresses: What to Pick for Each Party

The best girls holiday party dresses match the party, not just the season: a printed dress she can sit on the floor in for a school party, sparkle for a family evening, and long sleeves for anything dressy in a cold room. Before you pick, ask two questions. Where will she be sitting, and how much food is involved?

December can mean three parties in two weeks, and they rarely want the same dress. Here is how we'd choose for each one, what size to order, and how to keep her warm once the coats come off.

Girls holiday party dresses by type of party

The school or classroom party

A classroom party happens on a rug, at a low table, with frosting. She needs something she can sit in and forget about, so leave the floor-length tulle at home. Our red plaid Christmas puff sleeve dress is the one we'd send her in. Puff sleeves stay out of the cupcakes, and the big bow does the dressing up without any fuss.

It comes in Red Plaid, Red Candy Cane, Green Candy Cane, Red Star and Green Star, in sizes from 0-3 months to 13-14 years, for $60. Before you lay it out, check the class newsletter. If the party turns out to be pajama day, you'll want to know the night before.

The family party at someone's house

Picture cousins, a basement, a staircase and a dessert table with no adult nearby. This is the party for a dress with some fun in it, as long as she can still move. For a toddler or preschooler, we like the pink sequin princess dress with ruffle sleeves. It has a sequin bodice and a full tulle skirt, comes in 12-18 months through 5-6 years, and costs $80.

The care notes recommend adult supervision for young children because of the sequin details, so if she's still at the stage where everything goes in her mouth, keep her close or save this one for a year or two. If pink is already her color, our pink dresses for girls are worth a look side by side.

The dressy evening party or a night at The Nutcracker

Older girls start to care about this one. An eight-year-old going out at night with her parents wants to feel grown-up, and she'll stand in the lobby looking at everyone else's dress. The sparkly pink sequin tulle party dress goes further up in size than the princess dress above, from 12-18 months through 5-6 years and then 8, 10 and 12. It's $80, with a sequin bodice and a layered tulle skirt.

If she has outgrown pink, go with the long sleeve lace dress in wine or red. It has a lace bodice, an open V-back and a floor-length tulle skirt, and it's $65. The sizes go by height from 80cm to 160cm, so it works for a tall twelve-year-old too.

A floor-length skirt is lovely and also takes some managing. Show her how to lift the front before she climbs stairs. If she's under five, plan on going with her to the bathroom, because she won't be able to gather all that tulle alone.

Picking the size when every dress is labeled differently

You'll notice these four dresses use three kinds of sizes: months and years, plain numbers, and centimeters. The fix is the same for all of them. Stand her against a door frame in socks, mark the top of her head, and go by height instead of age.

• For centimeter sizes, the number is her height. 100cm is about 39 inches, 120cm is about 47 inches, 140cm is about 55 inches and 160cm is about 63 inches.
• If she's between sizes, size up. A little extra room also leaves space for tights and a layer underneath.
• Watch the gaps. The puff sleeve dress goes from 18-24 months straight to 3-4 years, and the sparkly dress goes from 5-6 years to 8.
• If you're still unsure, send us her height and we'll tell you which size we'd pick.

Have her try it on at home the day it arrives, with the tags still attached. We take returns within 30 days as long as the dress is unworn with tags on, so a quick try-on in the living room is fine, but the tags come off only once you're sure.

Keeping her warm in a party dress

The party itself is usually warm. The trouble is the driveway, the parking lot and the church hall with one door that never stays shut.

• Under short sleeves, add a fitted long-sleeve top in white or a color from the dress. On the puff sleeve dress, red under Red Plaid looks planned.
• Pick thick tights in white or cream. For a toddler who'll be crawling around on a cold floor, the thicker the better.
• Skip the chunky cardigan over sequins, since knits can catch. A smooth jacket for the car is easier, and it comes off at the door.
• Over the open V-back, a small shrug or cardigan is enough for a chilly theater lobby.
• Let her wear boots to the door and carry the party shoes in a bag.

The night before, hang the dress up and let the creases fall out. Don't iron sequins. On the lace dress, you can steam the tulle on low heat.

Count back from the party, not from Christmas

Our dresses take 15 to 30 business days to reach you, which works out to about three to six weeks. For Christmas we ask you to order by November 12. Parties come earlier than that, and it's easy to forget. A school party in the second week of December needs the dress on hand well before the 25th, so count back six weeks from the party date itself.

If that date has already passed, let her wear something she owns to the first party and save the new dress for Christmas Eve. We walked through the whole calendar in when to order a Christmas dress so it arrives in time.

Shipping is free on every order. If this is your first order with us, the code WELCOME10 takes 10% off the sequin and lace dresses above, though not the puff sleeve Christmas dress.