The Most Amazing Snow Queen Celebration: Classic Winter Tales

This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

While many of us may be very well familiar with a particular magical snow queen (we’ve even had our fair share of parties celebrating Elsa & Anna – check them out here), we decided to throw a winter party in celebration of THE ORIGINAL SNOW QUEEN story! Written by Hans Christian Andersen in the 1840s, this version is quite dark, quite sad but well worth the attention given how many stories this one has inspired!

While the actual story is comprised of seven different stories with different settings, the story is ultimately about the battle between good and evil, and follows a young girl in search of her friend Kay, who has been taken by the cruel and evil Snow Queen.

Our party featured nods to the food mentioned in the story as well as wintry decorations and even a quest that followed Gerda’s journey.

So, if you’re looking for a bookish theme to your winter celebration with a nod to the First Snow Queen, read on to check out our ideas!

DECORATIONS

Turn your party area into the Frozen Far North!!! Since this was a winter party, we leaned into the snow queen’s realm with snow, ice, and winter decorations. (Note: the beginning stories do feature gardens and warmth, but we opted for the winter settings since this was a winter party).

To give our party area a winter theme, we used a lot of white and light blues. We also brought out our snowflakes, white table cloths, snow tablecovers, and winter backdrops to bring in the winter theme. We also added some Glitter Snowflakes, Fake Ice Cube, Blue Acrylic Gems, Clear Acrylic Gems to scatter around the tables.

PHOTO AREA

Photo backdrops are a great way of setting a theme and double as a nice and easy activity! Pick a backdrop that functions as decorative, add a few props to the scene and you’ve got a great place to hang out!

For this party, as a nod to the Frozen Far North where the Snow Queen’s castle is lit only by the northern lights, we opted for a winter scene with Northern Lights in view: Winter Snow Scene.

Note, you don’t have to go all out with a photo backdrop stand either. Grab a few pieces of tape and an empty wall & you’re all set!

THE TABLE

We had two tables for this party. We used disposable plates and utensils for both tables, but one had a few more decorative items for those interested in the story and one with more trinkets to fidget with 🙂

For our first table, we set up each setting with a Plastic Reef Charger Plates along with a blue Glitter Snowflake. Then we placed Clear Silver Plastic Plates on top and finished off the settings with Silver Plastic Cups and Plastic Wine Glasses Silver Rim, Linen-Feel Guest Towels, Heavy Duty (Silver) Plastic Silverware.

In the center, we placed a copy of the Snow Queen book and a full volume of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales along with a sleigh pulled by a reindeer. Then we scattered a few more Glitter Snowflakes, Blue Acrylic Gems, and Clear Acrylic Gems to complete the look.

For our second table, we set out some snowflake plates and used solid blues and whites to create a snowy, wintry look. We added a small snowflake favor box filled with a few sweets (They don’t appear to be available online anymore, but you could opt for a Mini Silver Favor Box, Silver Hourglass Favor Boxes, or a slightly larger Snowflake Favor Box). We also used the castle from Frozen Cupcake Stands as our centerpiece and the snowflake pieces in the center. Note: the set comes with two, so we used the second one to hold some cupcakes on the food table 😉 Instead of acrylic gems, we had softer, small white pom poms spread out on the table.

PARTY FOOD

No party is complete without some party food! When our parties are inspired by books, we like to add some signs with quotes as special nods to the authors’ works! This party was no different – there’s quite a few references to the food that Gerda finds in her journey. Throughout the fairy tale, mentions of herbs, berries, nuts, ham, and fruit abound! We also had to bring out some winter favorites – white fudge covered oreos, blue jello, etc.

Holding our food labels were Diamond Place Card Holders, which worked out fairly well with our cardstock signs!

ACTIVITY TABLE

We typically set up an activity table for kids to keep entertained while everyone arrives AND after all the games are done. These activities are simple and easy and typically don’t require too much supervision!

Snowflake Stamp Decoration: This is a simple ornament craft that guests can create a take home.
Guesstimate Game: We set up a ‘Guessing Game’ with a few objects from the Snow Queen stories. The person who guessed closest to the actual # of items in the mini snow globe won! We used Snowflake Stickers as the Queen’s “Sentinels”, Clear Acrylic Gems as mirror fragments, and mini marshmallows as ice blocks.
Puzzle: We like to add a themed puzzle to our parties as we usually have puzzle fanatics. For this party, we brought out a few winter scene puzzles but also had a few printouts on cardstock that we cut into a few pieces for the younger ones.
Build an Ice Palace: If you’ve got little ones at the party, this activity may arguably give them a sugar rush, BUT it’s a variation of a gingerbread contest where everyone has to make an ice palace using sugar cubes, marshmallows, and icing!

GAMES

Games! Games! Games! What is a party without a few games 🙂 We had a few simple ones that kept the kiddos busy throughout the party! Since we had quite a few crafts that we knew everyone would want to focus on, we had just a few games

Scavenger Hunts: For those of you familiar with our parties, we often create some visual scavenger hunts for our party guests! For this party, we had two versions – one where little ones just needed to find the item & mark it on their paper, and a second harder version where there was a clue to discover after they had finished finding all the images! The two versions work great when there are multiple groups AND the images provide some added themed decoration to the party area!
Treasure Hunt: We also had a more complex treasure hunt filled with riddles that took our treasure hunters along Gerda’s journey. This one was perfect for the entire group to work together!

GOODIE BAGS & GIVE WAYS

For our goodie bags, we filled up blue stockings with some treats and snowflake trinkets and added a few snowflake stress balls!

THE PRINTABLES

If you liked our party & are interested in the signs & labels, they can be found here: Snow Queen Storybook Party Printables – Party Signs & Food Labels. Let the winter magic begin — download your Snow Queen party now!

The signs for the activities and treasure hunts can also be found here: Snow Queen Party Printable Treasure Hunts & Signs for Activities. Let the Snow Queen’s icy magic swirl through your celebration. Print, hide, play — and watch the fairytale unfold.

THANK YOU

Thank you so much for checking out our Winter Party! Hopefully this has helped or maybe even inspired more ideas! If so, we’d love to hear it! Let us know in the comments below or follow us on Pinterest.

Also, if you’re looking for more Snow Queen inspired ideas, check out our Narnia Party and our Frozen Parties!

Happy Holidays!