An easy, chic, and fun way to pull together striking, spotted celebration
We love a theme and when we pick one for an office birthday party—or any party!—we think about the person we’re celebrating. Our colleague Lexi loves polka dots, so we decided to fill her birthday celebration with the graphic shape. Here’s how to throw a party inspired by polka dots—complete with a shopping gallery and links on where to buy polka-dot supplies.
Settle on the Shape, then Spread it Around as Decor
We found some polka dot party accessories online. But we also realized how easy it is to turn anything into a polka dotted by using round stickers. You can :
• Cover a plain white paper tablecloth with round stickers—or dab on ink circles with the dot markers we all used in kindergarten.
• Add stickers to blown-up balloons for a polka dot effect
• Use a hole punch to cut dots out to scatter across the table as confetti
• Stick round post its on the wall to turn it into a polka dot pattern.
You could do something similar with another bold shape if you had stickers or paper punchers in that form. Think stars for an Oscar party or a “star is born” baby shower.
Choose a Color Scheme
We settled on black and white to reflect Lexi’s style. But you could make your polka dots red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July, red and green for Christmas, or any color combo you (and the person you’re celebrating) like.
Dress the Part—It’s So Easy!
Once you have the colors in mind, a polka dot party makes for the easiest dress code there is. Ask guests to come in solid colors that fit the palette, then “accessorize” them with circle stickers. You can turn any outfit into a polka-dot pattern by adding stickers to plain shirts or scarves. We also had polka-dot ribbon handy to use as scarves or hair bows.
Feed the Theme with Polka-dotted Party Food
So many foods are already round polka-dot-shaped (that is to say: round). Think:
Savory options like:
• Sliced cucumbers
• Mozzarella balls
• Pepperoni on pizza
Sweet options including:
• Donut holes
• Necco wafers
• Oreo cookies
• Mini cheesecakes
• Macarons
Drink options such as:
• Lemon slices in round martini glasses
• Boba pearls in drinks
And our baker friends at The Rounds make the prettiest round cookies!
But you can also add round shapes to non-circular food to create a polka-dot treat. We placed nonpareils in cups of chocolate covered raisins, added chocolate chips to silver dollar pancakes, and unscrewed oreos, then stuck the cookies on a white frosted cake to create the appearance of dots. You could do the same with M & Ms, Necco Wafers, or any other round candy.
If your shape isn’t a circle, but, say, a star, all you need is a cookie cutter to shape finger sandwiches or cookies to fit your theme.
It’s easy to accessorize your food, too. We filled champagne glasses with candy, then tied a polka dot ribbon around them. Candy sprinkles come in lots of shapes that might fit your theme. And the right ice cube tray can help you make fill drinks with spheres, squares, stars, whatever!
As for flowers, we chose dahlias for the centerpieces because they’re the right shape—but billyballs or ranunculus would have worked, too.
For spot-on ideas to help you throw your own polka dot party, check out our shopping gallery below.
