The curtain is red velvet, the guards are nutcrackers and the ballerina is mid-turn: this invitation is a stage set for Christmas, hung with gold tassels and garlands of ornaments, and the middle is kept clear for two names in gold capitals.
It is made for a family evening before or after the ballet, a Christmas party with dressed-up children, a dance school holiday gathering, or a dinner where the theme is simply the season at its most theatrical. Name the hosts, set the evening and the place, and the curtain is up.
Match the party to the card: the Tchaikovsky suite playing, a tray of sugared nuts and candied fruit, red and gold on the table, and a wooden nutcracker by the door for photographs. Children who know the story will spot the soldiers before they read a word.
