THE INTERNATIONAL DEBUTANTE BALL

The International Debutante Ball is a white-tie evening in New York between Christmas and the New Year, in 2026 at the Plaza: a receiving line, cocktails in the Terrace Room, dinner and dancing in the Ballroom, and the presentation of young women from across the United States and abroad, one at a time, each accompanied by a young man in white tie and tails while the orchestra plays a song for her state or country. It is by invitation, and it raises money for charity.

“The Lester Lanin Orchestra has played for kings and queens, and at every one of our Balls since 1954.”

Mrs Joyce's Ball

The ball was founded in 1954 by Beatrice Dinsmore Joyce. Since 1983 her niece, Margaret Hedberg, has been its General Chairman.

Its first balls were held at the Plaza. It moved to the Waldorf-Astoria, and from 2016, when the Waldorf closed, to the Pierre; the sixty-fourth was held there on 29 December, with twenty-two presented. In 2026 it returns to the Plaza.

Two thousand six hundred young women, from seventy-five countries and forty-six states, have been presented at it. About a quarter come from abroad each year, most often from France, England, Italy and Germany.

The International Debutante Ball Foundation is a charity, and the ball has given in part to more than fifty charities.

The Presentation

The days after Christmas belong to it. Families usually arrive on 27 December; the festivities begin on the 28th, with luncheons and a cocktail party before the ball, and the rehearsal and the ball are on the 29th.

The evening begins with a receiving line on the balcony of the Terrace Room, and cocktails in the Terrace Room. Dinner and dancing follow in the Ballroom, and then the presentation: each young woman is presented alone, accompanied by her escort, while the orchestra plays a song for her country or state. The committee will find an escort where one is needed.

The dress is fixed. Fathers and escorts wear full evening dress: black tailcoat, white piqué waistcoat and white tie. Only the evening’s debutantes wear white.

In 2026 the ball is held on Tuesday 29 December at the Plaza, 768 Fifth Avenue, from six in the evening.

What to Know

It is held between Christmas and the New Year: in 2026, on 29 December. The 2027 date has not been announced.

There are no tickets on public sale; the ball is by invitation.

White tie, as the ball publishes it for fathers and escorts: full evening dress. Tailcoats can be hired in New York. A lady wears anything but white.

The Plaza is at 768 Fifth Avenue.

The mistake is for a lady to wear white. White is kept for the young women presented that evening.

The Court

The International Debutante Ball is not the Court’s own, and the Court will not pretend it can buy a member a place: the ball is by invitation. The Court goes only where a member is invited, as a guest and a supporter of the Foundation’s charities, and has no part in the presentation, which is the families’ affair. For a member who is invited, the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay in New York for a member coming from out of town, and the table afterward.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.