Imagine this: a whirlwind of yellow dresses, red roses everywhere, and the happy shrieks of children digging into “The Grey Stuff.” That, my friends, is the magic of a Beauty and the Beast birthday party.
I’m guessing you want to throw your child a birthday bash that’s more than just cake and balloons (don’t worry, there will be plenty of both!). You want an immersive experience, a celebration that sparks their imagination and transports them to a world of talking candlesticks and enchanted roses.
Well, I’ve done just that! This guide is your one-stop shop for transforming your living room into Beast’s castle and throwing a Belle birthday party that will have your little one singing “Be Our Guest” for weeks to come.
Every aspect of my daughter’s Beauty and the Beast party was DIY and on a budget. This theme is perfect for any age group, from toddlers to tweens, and offers endless possibilities for creativity and fun. So, let’s get this enchanted party started!
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The Invitation
I always design my kids’ birthday invitations in Photoshop, and this is one of the easiest I’ve done.
A Google search for “damask wallpaper” provided me with the background. The same method helped me find a ballgown silhouette and a red rose. I pieced those three elements together, added the text, and it was done!
The invitation’s reverse side was the same damask wallpaper, but instead of yellow, I changed the color to royal blue in honor of the Beast.
I ordered the prints from Mpix.
Decorations & Unique Touches
This party was held in our home, which isn’t huge. The plus side is that any decorations I make impact a small space more!
Color Scheme
For my darling daughter, the day was all about Belle! So red for roses, yellow for her ballgown, and gold for the castle’s metallic accents were the main colors.
I did sneak in some of Beast’s royal blue for a cool contrast to all the warm colors.
Welcome Sign
Belle is my favorite princess, and Gaston is my favorite villain, but Lumiere is the next-best character in the movie!
I designed a welcome sign in Canva saying “It is with deepest PRIDE and greatest PLEASURE that we welcome you TONIGHT!” (4:00 pm is not, of course, nighttime, but who cares?) It was printed on white cardstock.
Knowing the party was falling on a stormy day, I laminated the print (I love my Swingline laminator) before punching holes in the top and running some pretty yellow ribbon through it. I used an outdoor Command hook to hang it on our front door.
Balloons
Amazon has an affordable pack of navy, gold, white, and confetti balloons perfect for a B&TB theme. We filled them with helium and attached them to balloon hooks all around the house.
I even taped some straight to the wall as part of the backdrop (as shown below)!
Backdrop
My wall display for this party was relatively simple but beautiful and it made a big impact. I manually spliced the final stained glass image from the movie so I could print it on sheets of 8.5×11 cardstock, and then I taped them all together before hanging the finished image on the wall.
The gold 6 balloon came from Dollar Tree, and Amazon has much larger ones.
Table Covers, Plates, & Cutlery
I struggled with what colors to use for the table covers. The server was covered in a shiny gold plastic cover, which I loved, but I did not love the dull gold color of the one on the kitchen table.
If I could do it over again, I would’ve used a royal blue or rose-red cover on that table instead.
The dinner plates were yellow while the dessert plates were royal blue. I also found royal blue cutlery and presented it in a yellow plastic cup I purchased from Walmart long ago. We used white napkins.
All of this came from Dollar Tree!
Roses, Roses, and More Roses
I had small glass vases with a couple of silk red roses placed all over the house, many with fun little cards next to them.
No, I wasn’t too lazy to put filler in the vases; I wanted the roses to be by themselves as a callback to the glass-encased rose in the West Wing!
One vase full of silk roses was one of the first things guests saw when they entered the house. I found cheap paper doilies that I placed under many items, including this vase.
We have a wide opening between our living room and kitchen, so I hung a homemade garland of fake roses and paper rope vines.
I chose to space them out quite a bit so that they could hang down pretty far but taller guests could still walk through them easily.
You can see exactly how I made the garland!
DIY Chandelier
There are two particularly memorable scenes in Beauty and the Beast: the kitchen scene with “Be Our Guest” and the ballroom scene.
I combined the ballroom’s iconic chandelier with the dancing utensils in the kitchen to create my own cutlery chandelier! It only took an hour to make.
If you’d like to put your own together, I made detailed instructions.
Printable Birthday Banner
When you first walk in our door, there is a cabinet and a blank wall directly across from it. I use the cabinet for holding party favors, treats, and decor during birthday parties and decorate the wall.
I designed the printable birthday banner in Canva and found the clipart at DisneyClips. All of it was printed on glossy photo paper, and then I cut it all out by hand – yes, even the clipart!
Punched holes in the banner corners and characters made weaving yellow ribbons and twine through them easy. They were lightweight enough to simply be taped to the wall.
Fun Deep Cut Decor
As a massive B&TB fan, I couldn’t resist sneaking in some fun extras (that less-familiar guests probably didn’t “get”). This little Gaston quote card rested ton top of a pile of carefully chosen books.
The silver cardholder came in a pack of 16. I’ve used them at ALL of our birthday parties since I got them!
Lily’s Yellow Belle Dress & Crown
Or should I say “ball gown”? I was thrilled when this dress came in. It fit her with room to spare in the body, but it didn’t drag the ground or fall off her shoulders.
But it’s also completely stunning! The satin golden-yellow material, the off-the-shoulder look, the red gemstone brooch on the collar… perfection.
She wore this dress frequently over the next few years, including on our Disney Wish cruise when she met Belle!
Themed Foods & Drinks
As usual, all of my refreshments were accompanied by themed puns. Here’s what I came up with:
- The Grey Stuff: I had to make the “grey stuff” for a Beauty and the Beast birthday party, but I also knew most people wouldn’t eat it as well as cake. So I offered the grey stuff to guests as soon as they entered the door!
It set a fun, faux-fancy tone to the party (since it was served in these plastic goblets) and didn’t stop anyone from digging into the other food available. By the time other activities were finished, they were ready to eat the cake!
- Ham & Swiss on FRENCH Bread: Famous French dishes like French onion soup and escargot aren’t gonna go over well at a party for kids. Not even French cheeses (like brie or bleu cheese) would’ve worked on the sandwiches. But French bread? That I could use!
- Strawberry Roses: This was too easy and cute. I just stuck some sturdy candy apple sticks into the green end of the strawberries. I chose not to manipulate the strawberries, but you could slice the tips into quarters or sixths and gently splay them to resemble blooming roses!
- French Onion Dip: I personally prefer French onion over ranch, and to be honest, I don’t think the kids even noticed the flavor. Creamy dip is creamy dip!
- Chip’s Chips: Well, you can’t have a dip without chips, can you?
- Gaston’s Deviled Eggs: This is one of Lily’s favorite foods, and Gaston is a bit of a devil who eats dozens of eggs everyday. So I made the pun work. (The pun has to work!)
- Lumiere’s Candlesticks: I don’t do full dessert tables, because I want everyone to eat the massive cakes I make so we don’t have a ton leftover. But this was too cute, and marshmallows aren’t too sweet! Yellow gum drop “flames” covered the ends of the skewers.
I wrapped a shoebox lid in shiny paper to hold up the skewers, then poked holes through the top where I wanted the sticks to go.
- Belle’s Punch: I came up with this punch in an effort to create a rose gold-colored drink, and it was pretty dang close! This was 59 ounces of pineapple juice, 32 ounces of mango juice, and 34 ounces of guava juice.
The dispensers were purposefully half-full to show off the roses we tucked into the ice cores.
- Lefou’s Brew: This was a non-creamy version of the stuff they serve at Gaston’s Tavern in Disney World. I mixed three 12-ounce cans of no-sugar-added frozen apple juice with 33 ounces of sparkling tangerine mango-flavored water and 6 tablespoons of toasted marshmallow syrup.
In keeping with the fancy-ish vibe, everyone used plastic stemless champagne flutes for their drinks!
Mirror Decorating Activity
For a fun activity and party favor, I set up a mirror-decorating station for the kids at the main table.
The mirrors came from Dollar Tree, and I already had a ton of gem sticker sheets.
If you’re wondering where that gorgeous metal mirror with the red back and rose accent came from, you can get it here!
DIY Belle Dress Cake
When Lily described the type of cake she wanted, it seemed simple enough, so I asked her if she wanted me to do it all in buttercream or with fondant, and she chose buttercream.
She also chose the flavors, which were strawberry cake and lemon frosting. I wasn’t sure the two together would be great, but it was AMAZING.
The cake resembles Belle’s yellow ballgown, but I added red roses for contrast. The larger roses were premade edible flowers, while the smaller ones (and all greenery) were buttercream.
Unfortunately, it was an extremely humid weekend and I didn’t make the frosting dry enough, so the buttercream details ended up quite droopy.
I wanted it to look like the enchanted rose from the West Wing was “floating” on the top. I bent the stem of an artificial rose to look more natural, wrapped the bit going into the cake in plastic wrap, and pushed it straight in. It had no trouble standing on its own!
I found the glass cloche on sale at Hobby Lobby, but Amazon has one closer to the one in the movie.
Edible Party Favors
I’m a big fan of edible party favors because most people enjoy having sweets to take home and you’re not cluttering their house with junk they don’t need.
In an idea that combined the “grey stuff” with the cloche around the enchanted rose, I got mini cake stands with lids and a bag of grey sixlets. I filled the lids with the candy, securely snapped on the golden bases, and carefully flipped them over.
I took a risk by not taping them shut, but none ever popped open! These would also look cute filled with red sixlets to resemble the rose.
Since every kid present was either a toddler or a very young child, I also had some candy bracelets for them to wear during the party. Because everyone should be wearing jewelry when they dine in a castle! 😁
And there you have it! With a little creativity and my ideas to inspire you, you’re all set to host a Beauty and the Beast birthday party that will be the talk of the kingdom. Happy party planning!
You Might Be Interested In:
- Toy Rotation – I fall back on this practice after every birthday party.
- Sleeping Beauty Birthday Party – If your party will incorporate multiple Disney princesses, my daughter’s 5th birthday party has some great Princess Aurora ideas!
- Frozen Birthday Party – Count Elsa and Anna in for a multi-princess party!
This is adorable!! Is there a way I can purchase your signage? I would love to use it for our school play cast party!
Thanks so much Sarah! I am working on getting all of the prints I designed into my shop!