A red carpet and tiny teacups set the scene for Saturday’s 39th Annual Doll Fair at the Sheldon Museum.

Thirty-four girls and boys dressed in their best took part in dress-up, crafts, a parade, and a tea party with mini treats and Russian tea.

To fit the “At the Movies” theme, volunteer Leigh Horner helped kids make doll popcorn containers, Jila Stuart and Becky Nash made doll tiaras and hair extensions and museum assistant Aly Zeiger helped participants paint award statuettes to model Academy Awards.

The kids had a chance to walk the red carpet dressed to the nines and strike a pose with their dolls for a photo shoot.

Museum director Helen Alten led the group in the traditional doll parade through the main gallery and into the new children’s room for a tea party with bite-sized sandwiches, cookies, cupcakes and other mini goodies. This was the first year the tea party was held in the children’s room.

Museum community coordinator and event organizer Madeline Witek said staff rushed to get the floor finished for the tea party and is still putting the finishing touches on the room.

“The doll fair was a nice introduction to what the space is going to look like,” Witek said.

Witek said the museum is hoping to digitize some of the videos they have from previous doll fairs dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s to play for next year’s 40th annual doll fair celebration. The kids will find it “mind-blowing” to see video of their own parents in the same space at the doll fair when they were young, Witek said.

The doll fair started in 1978 when Nancy Nash read Tasha Tudor’s “A Time to Keep” to her young daughters and they decided to hold a doll fair in their house. The fair was moved to the Sheldon Museum shortly thereafter.

“It’s a really neat tradition,” Witek said. “Next year will be a good celebration.”