23207

Black and White -16yr- Disco Ball Dancing

September 2011

Julianna in Westchester, New York, USA

Special Mention

This party was planned as a sweet sixteen but I do believe with a couple changes here and there this party will be successful for any occasion. We rented out a restaurant with a nice sized room that could fit the guest list (about 50 kids and 5 adults). I know not everyone can afford a room so you can attempt to alter it to fit it into a house setting. The party was on a budget and we were able to cut an AMAZING deal with the restaurant owner. The place is very convenient and is very beautiful inside and out. I didn't want a crazy theme that took months of organizing so I decided just to do a color scheme of Black and White.

INVITATIONS: I'm someone who doesn't particularly care about invitations so I chose a simple design that was all black and white and had a nice modern black and white floral design on the sides. They were nice and cheap at our local party store allowing for us to spend more money on decorations. We did though use black and white glitter on the envelope to make it look a bit more formal. All we did was get a bottle of Elmer's glue and do a swirl pattern and throw on some glitter. It was a simple way to bring out a simple invite.

DECORATIONS: The room we rented already had white tablecloths which was very nice and therefore made it so we didn't have to spend money on tableware. Using the OrientalTrading.com website I was able to order lots of decorations for really cheap prices! We bought black and white streamers to decorate with, a Metallic silver door cling to enter with style, black and white hanging disco ball part swirls, and from our local party store we ordered 3 bouquets of 5 balloons that were black, white, sparkly silver as centerpieces. This was really all we needed decoration wise.

ACTIVITIES: We decided to do a How well do you know the Birthday Girl" question are as guests arrived to start the night out with a bang and ease some tension. We awarded 3 prizes to who knew me the best who knew me the worst and funniest answers. We wanted to make the prizes funny so the person who knew me the best received a framed and autographed photo of me the person who knew me the least received an invitation to a different party and the person with the funniest answers received a rubber chicken. Not to waste money on a DJ I bought nice speakers and made a party playlist and just put it on shuffle.

The party was mostly dancing and from OrientalTrading.com we also bought a disco ball strobe light a flashing light and a spot light. We already owned a light up turning multi-colored disco ball. They were placed all around the room for the full effect. It really looked like a club! We also planned 2 other games. The first is a scavenger hunt type game. The announcer (my mom) made a list of about 12 different items that could be found in the room (IE. Napkin streamer piece permit) Things people would have. There are about 12 chairs that are put in the middle and after the announcer calls an item you try as fast as you can to get that and return to the chairs with each time a chair being removed. It was a big hit and the winner received a $10 iTunes gift card. The other game we played was freeze dance which was surprisingly was fun and the winner received the same prize as the other game.

FOOD: The price we paid for the room also included food. Since we were at a Mexican restaurant the food was all Mexican (and delicious). We had a taco bar a fajita bar a burrito station and vegetable quessadilla's (because I have quite a few vegetarian friends). There was also rice and beans a salad chips & salsa for an appetizer and lots of sour cream and guacamole! The food was a big hit because it was all fun and kid friendly!

HAND-OUTS: Like all dance parties there are usually hand-outs. We got everything from orientaltrading.com We bought two dozen disco ball necklaces in silver one dozen sparkly black top hats one set of 48 personalized black bubble containers (everyone loves bubbles and it made for great photos!) one set of black mardi gra beads one set of white mardi gra beads personalized black and white pencils to fill out the questionnaire with 50 white glow sticks glow necklaces and one pack of streamer wands. Not everyone would get everything but everyone would get multiple things!

DRESS CODE: Although the theme was black and white nobody was mandated to wear black and white because I personally don't like when I'm forced to wear a color or costume. Many people did however wear black and white because they are strict theme goers. It made me very happy to see that!

PINATA: We decided it would be fun to bring everyone back to their childhood days and brought out a festive pinata filled with glitter and candy each attached to an accompanying number which lead them to a favor bag.

FAVORS: Since the party was in early November we stocked up on Halloween candy the day after and filled large white goo-die bags to the top! Each had black tissue paper and a silver ribbon with a thank you card attached so we'd save money on postage! This was a HUGE hit!   Overall everyone had a great time! The party lasted 4 hours and then as an added bonus my 2 closest friends slept over. My friends all brought there cameras and my mother handed out a couple throw away cameras to save money on a photographer. I had a great time and I know anyone who uses this idea or a similar idea will have a great time too!"

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