My first ball is quickly approaching. Just yesterday a friend of mine started giving me tips on what will happen there.

Now I've never been to a military ball, so seriously I have no idea what to expect.

I was told about the receiving line. Don't greet the first person in line, I need make sure my shaking hand is free, my right, don't bring your drink through the receiving line. Don't call the people in the receiving line by their first name.

So what do you do if they tell you their name is Joe? Would it be appropriate to say "hello Joe nice to meet you!"or more appropriate to say "Hello Sir, nice to meet you!"

I'm so confussled! It's a lot to take in. And the seating arrangments. HAHAH! I wanted to sit together with my friends. I was told that the battery would get a few tables to themselves, so we can probably switch seats with people we know. They'd probably want to sit next to their friends as well Any who..

So much information! Okay. I need help

Navy balls are done so differently, there is no receiving line. Commands can sit together (sometimes they even have a prize for the best centerpiece - one of dh's commands used the Augah siren and it went off every few minutes).

Usually when I meet someone if I am not sure who they are and what they do (ie not in uniform) and are older than me I will call them Sir or Ma'am. In the uniform it might be easier but I met a Retired Admiral at the last Ball didn't know who he was because of course he isn't in uniform and he introduced himself as Mike to all the wives. It wasn't until afterwards we found out he was an Admiral. I did say back "It is nice to meet you sir" because I was taught to respect my elders

Thanks NWIP. I was also taught to respect my elders.

And since being a military spouse, I've been calling everyone sir. I just don't have the heart to call them by name.

I hope someone with Army Ball experience will let me know what to do

I'm anxious. Because the sites I've been to, don't really give much, except for don't drink too much, don't talk with your mouth full, things of that nature.

The only one I've found with much information was for a Army Ball for JROTC and it had a powerpoint presentation. It was interesting and helpful, but I want to make sure that is how it's done.

I was always told to use whatever name they told me when introduced. So, if they say I'm Rear Admiral So and So, that is what you use. If they say I'm Joe, you use that. We are not in the military, our spouse is. If you are uncomfortable using their first name then use Rear Admiral So and So.

I was raised in the South and raised with calling everyone Sir or Maam. So, that part comes second nature in these situations.

You'll do fine!


Mom

Ive been to about 100 of these things-although they are somewhat different in the Guard than in the Active component. The info you were given about the recieving line is correct-the role of the first person in the line is introductions-hes going to look at hubbys name and rank and say to the person next to hime "SGT and MRS Bunny""=and thats gonna get passed to the other who greet you.
Because of my husbands rank and job we are generally seated with some of the guests-usually at ours the senior officer and Senior NCO from each staff section( S-1, S-2,S-3 and s on) are seated with invited military and not military guests-the rest of the attendees are allowed to choose their seats. How we address people varies somewhat according th length of aquaintance. Officers and Civilians to whom i have just been introduced are always Sir-Enlisted persons to whom i have just been introduced are Sgt, Specialist,1sgt ect. Because we are guard my husband has served with some of these people for a very long time-and there are a number of Sr people in his unit whom we have known since elementary school-including the state Adjutant General. Those people i address by first name except in front of invited guests-then as Sir or SgtMajor as appropriate.
Relax and have fun-and once you get into the swing its really not that complicated.

I guess as long as I mind my manners I'll be okay.

I've met most of his SGTs and the CPT and his wife are the FRG leaders whom I associate with quite a bit. So most everyone is Sir or Ma'am. But those in the FRG I use by their first names, the women.

I often get, don't call me sir I work for a living But still I do out of respect, because they've all told me to call them by their name.

1SGT calls me Mrs. Cepeda, I feel weird, but I understand that it's out of respect. So I don't bother to correct him. I call him sir.

I guess I'll just go with the flow and follow the lead. And if I goof up, then I'll learn from there Thanks!

Now, I'm hoping my dress is appropriate to. It's nothing fancy, just a floor length gown, velvet blue, no sequence or anything, mid arm length sleeves. My bunny bought me gloves that go up to my elbows, and we are currently looking for a nice shawl or a hood cloak, and a nice pair of boots I'm wondering about the cold, so I'm going to wear my thermals under my gown, at least my thermal pants and trying to get a girdle in there too. HAHA! It's about 5 degrees Celcius here. And I don't know if I can survive not wearing more clothes going to the ball.

Ok...I'm a little scared of things like this. Are they a requirement? Or is it just something that it's only required for certain people...or how does that work?

I'm not "royalty" or "royally acting" by any stretch of anyone's imagination outside of the fact that my Facebook religious affiliation is "princesita de Dios" (princess of God). I highly doubt that any amount of prayer will give me the decorum necessary for a military ball.

Help? Before I like freak out?

quote:

Originally posted by Wyldheart:
and we are currently looking for a nice shawl or a hood cloak, and a nice pair of boots

You might want to rethink the boots. I have to say, I have never seen boots under a gown worn to one of these.

actually,my cousin wore boots to the ball she just attended over there..soemthing about there being several feet of snow on the ground. she changed at the castle, though... heheheheh

quote:

Originally posted by weildgirl:
Ok...I'm a little scared of things like this. Are they a requirement? Or is it just something that it's only required for certain people...or how does that work?

they can be a requirement for him.. not necessarily for you.. that being said..at some point it will reflect badly on him if you do not attend. but this won't happen until he is very senior..say E6 and up.

the Navy has the Birthday Ball every year in October that isn't really mandadtory for anybody unless you are the CO. But they are a lot of fun and I usually walk out with at least one door prize.

BUT they do have something called a Dining In.. and if it is command wide, he MUST attend, period. he has no choice in the matter. YOU are not allowed to attend. no outisders allowed( and from what I hear goes on at them, that is just as well). for Dining OUTS.. again ..mandatory for him..and highly suggested that you attend as well. I have been to two of these and they are a blast.

me, I have no choice, if there is a formal command occassion, I gotta be there. one of the perks of my spouse's rank and my own position as Ombudsman.

In a cold weather area, I would think you could go with boots if they are dress boots. You wouldn't want to wear mukluks or Doc Martins but ankle high dress boots or the knee high boots that Lindsay Lohan seems to like would be appropriate (but under the dress and not with pants stuff into them like she does). I was always in warm weather so that wasn't a consideration for the spouses at the submarine ball.

Wyld, please post about how your experience goes - as many posts as we get in a year about military balls, it would be really helpful, even if it only covers Army. I, at least, want to know, because I'm hoping 2009 will hold the first one that we go to.

just me mindfull of your actions and be polite and you'll be fine. Once the official part of the ball or dinning out is done. You can go and sit with your friends and what not.

-when they to the toast you don't actually have to drink every time. Hehe I'm allergic to grapes so I just hold my glass up for the toast but don't drink.

- eat a little before hand. Just in case the food isn't good or for some reason they run out. ( happen at our last one).

Our last dinning out was a disater. so I wont even go there. But our ball this year is suppose to be very nice.

I hope you have tons of fun.

Thanks everyone!

I will post here when it happens. Which is in about a few weeks from now! I'm so excited! I wasn't at first, but as it gets closer, the excitment just continues to build! Mostly because I get to get something for myself.

As for the boots, nada worries, my Bunny is particular in taste. And no, it will not be mukmuks! HEHE! I don't think I can handle heels in this ice and snow either! But he's looking at dress boots. People won't see it, but I usually never wear open toed shoes. usually NEVER! HEHEH! Especially now that my toe is dying since my Boy crashed the heavy wooden dining chair on my toe.

So we will make sure it looks formal

Also, I plan on wearing my thermal pants underneath my gown. I know not very good. But it's like -4 degrees Celcius here! Tights nor panty hose will help that! My bunny will not win that fight.

All the balls that I went were similar.You do the line,the will say your name,I can't remember what I said exctly but I think I just said hi,nice to meet you and answer any question they had if they had any.
About seatings,they had names on the tables (at least us).

About the boots,I never saw boots under dresses no matter how cold it was and believe me the last one for me was freaking cold.I was shaking for 30 minutes after I got in the building.lol
They were really picky about how we were dressed.
Check before buying it,so you don't waste money...unless you want them anyway.

Don't be scare just do what everybody else.Money see monkey do and have fun.

So will they know if I was wearing boots? Or closed toed pumps???

My dress goes all the way down to my ankles and the only thing that would peek out would be the front of my shoes. That's why I said boots For the life of me I can not find any shoes to wear without wearing socks. I can't wear high heels or uber flat shoes because of my achilles tendon. I tend to strain it badly and I won't be able to walk. So by my doctor's recommendation, I always wear shoes with lots of flexibility and shocks. And those gel thingys you insert don't work for me. HEH!

I'll let you all know the verdict about my shoes

Wyld (and anyone else)

Don't worry about the recieving line. It goes so fast and is so rushed! Usually you don't even have time to do a full address. I just smile and say hello and shake the person's hand. If I have time I say pleasantries it is “How do you do?” or “So nice to meet you”

Mostly there is a lot of talking, and speeches. The presenting of the flags. The whole "seat your ladies" thing.

All the dining outs that I have ever been to have had assigned seats. People do switch but if you had any choice in food, say chicken or beef, that would get messed up if you switched seats with someone. An important note here- if you have souvenirs out on the table, go put them in your car the first chance you get. People love to take these things for some reason. You’ll either have to keep an eye on them all night of may go home without one!

My biggest tip is make sure you go to the bathroom and get a drink before the speaking and events start because it will be a while before you can get up again.

Order of events usually goes like this:

Cocktail hour
Find your table
Announcement that it is all about to begin
Presentation of the flag and national anthem
Speeches
Various Unit traditions such as the grog (big alcoholic punch with ingredients that represent important events in history to the unit)
Dinner
Closing remarks
Flag goes back out
Dancing (to be honest- this is when most people leave)

Just try to have a good time. Be polite and everything will go just fine. And try not to look like you are going to prom…lol

Wyld- I have to say no to the boots. I can’t think of any boots that would go with a formal gown. Wear them in, change your shoes in the bathroom, and have your husband run the boots back out to the car 

HEHEHE!

It seems the consensus is saying no to my boots HEHEHE!

I promise you all, that when my Bunny is through, I probably won't get the boots you all think I would be wearing I would prefer to wear my sneakers if I could I'll let you know what happens this week! And I'll post up the picture too!

Oh and what about hair? is there etiquette about hair and make up too??? I am going to have to wing it on my own. I've been watching youtube and have found some how to's on eye shadow, basically that's my biggest problem. And I have short hair. Can't really do much.

Have you ever looked at Aerosoles? They're supposed to be a pretty comfortable type of shoe but are still fashion forward.

I don't think you're talking about Uggs or anything, I'm assuming you're talking about like leather boots, the ladies' kind (I have a friend who LOVES boots, she has like half a dozen pair of knee highs), but I do have to agree that if your dress is only ankle length - they'll be able to see 1/3 of your boot, and let's be honest there will be a lot of women there just waiting to nitpick and look for women to make fun of.

When you sit down, too, and cross your legs you will naturally show more leg no matter what so the boots will really show then.

As far as hair and makeup- With short hair, I would take the front section (like where your bangs are) and tease it up a little so there is a bump. Then I would pin it back with a pretty hair clip. I am going to try to post a pic of Reese Witherspoon here. (EDIT- It didn't work so I am going to send the link through your profile)

Make-up: You definately need mascara and blush and lipstick. You can't go wrong with an eyeshadow that matches your skin, but has a shimmer to it. Eye liner would be optional. If you are not familiar with wearing eye liner practice a few times before the big night or just opt not to wear it.

The most important thing is for you to be comfortable so you can have fun!