On Saturday 13th December 2025 the Jane Austen Festival will be holding a very special Yuletide Jane Austen Birthday Ball.

The Yuletide Birthday Ball is the finale of the Jane Austen Festival's 250th anniversary celebrations. Taking place on Saturday 13th December 2025 we will celebrate Jane Austen's Birthday a few days prior to her actual birthday on the 16th December. Join us in Bath for this extra special Regency Ball celebration. Tickets will include a welcome drink, followed by a 2-course sit-down dinner.

Please keep reading below to check what information you will need to have prepared ready for booking - this will enable you to navigate the booking system faster and secure your tickets!

Doors for the evening ball will open at 20:00, with the event finishing at 23:30. We are planning a pre-get together before the ball, with a suitably christmassy stroll to the Pump Rooms for 20:00 to begin the ball. More details of this event will be shared with ticket holders later.

The Regency dancing will be led by the Jane Austen Dancers of Bath, with live music from Beau's Band. Our Master of Ceremonies will lead us in a birthday toast to Jane Austen, with some other little Christmas/Birthday surprises along the way!

This Ball is a Regency costumed mandatory event and we request that all ladies and gentlemen dress in the style of the Regency or late 18th Century period. NO HIGH HEELS ARE PERMITTED IN THE VENUE.

A Pre-Ball Dance Workshop will be held in the afternoon before the Ball. It will run 14:00 - 15:30 in the Percy Community Centre on New King Street in Bath. This workshop is exclusively for those attending the Yuletide Birthday Ball, it's the perfect chance to learn and practice your Regency dancing moves ready for the ball in the evening.

Please be aware that, due to venue capacity, we cannot accommodate all ball participants at the dance workshop.

Tickets for the Dance Workshop are not sold separately, please select either ticket type when sales begin:

- These tickets will be offered straight to general sale, on a first-come, first-serve basis. September Festival Friends and Summer Ball Friends will not receive priority booking on these tickets. Please be aware that we are expecting high demand for these tickets.

- Please note that tickets in your basket cannot be held, your tickets are only secure once you have completed the payment page transaction. Up until this point, other people who are quicker may still purchase the event tickets that are in your basket.

- The maximum number of tickets you can purchase per transaction is 4, so if you are a larger group, it may be a good idea to have multiple people booking 4 tickets at the same time.

So you are ready to book with all Regency haste, please have ready the following information:

• Each ticket holder’s name
• Their choice of an alcoholic or non-alcoholic welcome drink
• Their dinner choice from:

Meat dinner choice

Starter
Pressed ham hock, with Bramley apple chutney, chicory, on rye toast.

Main Course
Black Barn free-range turkey, with fondant potato, pigs in blankets, glazed carrots, and creamed Brussels sprouts.

Vegetarian/Vegan dinner choice

Starter
Mushroom and chestnut pate, with tarragon and fermented cranberries (v)

Main course
Pumpkin and sweet potato nut roast, with baked cauliflower, red pepper and onion puree, and rosemary oil (v)

• Any further dietary requirements
• Seating preferences: Tables for dinner seat 10 people each, and we will try our best to accommodate all requests. All group bookings will automatically be sat together.

Regency costume is mandatory at all our balls. So, we look forward to admiring your Regency finery, and spotting any references to the festive theme with which you wish to embellish your outfits!

We also wish to inform our visitors for this event that the Bath Christmas Markets will be finishing on this weekend, so the city centre, parking and any public transport is likely to be very busy!

*All Jane Austen Festival tickets are non-refundable. 

If the Yuletide Ball is sold out with a waiting list, you may contact the Festival if you would like to re-sell your ticket. However this MUST be done through the Festival, we will not accept any tickets for events that have been sold on separately.

If the Festival does manage to re-sell your ticket you will be refunded, minus a 10% per ticket administrative charge.