Just in case you are throwing a 70's party {and you really should!!} and want a disco ball centerpiece, I will show you how we made ours. The boxes below contain our 40 vases.  

We used 6" x 18" vases to support our very large 16" disco balls. I wanted the centerpieces to be tall for 2 reasons--the room is enormous and so we needed an enormous centerpiece to feel proportionate, and the other reason -- I wanted the centerpiece really tall so that they would be above everyones line of sight {when sitting at the table} so that talking to the people across the table wouldn't be obstructed. 

We filled all of the vases about 2/3 of the way full with water. In playing with the set-up, we found that this water height allowed a really good reflection of the ball on to the table. A smaller vase with less water would allow the water to be even more dramatic, but we went big!  

We purchased 80 highlighters in 4 colors. With a hammer, we cracked open the plastic pen and took out the wick of each. Each vase got 2 highlighters {of the same color}. The girls wore gloves and squeezed all of the wick 'juice' into the water and then let them float in the water to get every drop of color out. {After a few hours, the wicks were taken out and thrown away}

What we learned: The yellow highlighters glow the best of any other highlighter color. The pink does not produce enough color to see a change, so instead we found hot pink food coloring and squeezed 9 drops into the 10 vases that were to be pink.  

The table numbers were made out of old 45 records. I was able to find several lots {150 total} on ebay for very little money. 

I drilled a small hole in the top of 40 records about 1/4" from the edge. These are really easy to drill through. Then I used 12" of blue glitter ribbon and fed one end through the hole and then hot glued the tail to the back of the ribbon. 

The middle 'label' area of a record is 3 1/2". We ran off numbers on orange cardstock in a 3 1/2" circle and the girls cut them out.    

Then using spray adhesive, they attached the numbers over the original labels on each record.

 Two people are needed for the next step--a disco ball was placed upside down on top of each vase, but before it is put in place, a ribbon was tucked just over the lip of the glass and then the ball was placed. The weight of the ball held the ribbon in place.  

 A 4" battery operated LED light disc was placed under each vase. They were reused from last years gala.

The rest of the records were used to make a {really simple!} 'record curtain' that hung behind the registration table.

I laid them on the floor to figure out the width and length I wanted. With the tiniest drill bit in the box, I made a hole in the top and bottom of each record. Using fishing line, I cut 11' pieces of line. Starting with the bottom record, I strung it through the bottom hole and then knotted it. Then I poked it through the top hole and knotted it. I continued on to the next record, spacing them about 2" apart. 

Each string of records was tied onto the pipe and drape framework that Harrah's provided us. I extended it to 10' tall by about 12' wide.

I have to give kudos to my fabulous teenager assistants that you see in all of the pictures!

Maris and her besties got up at 8am on Saturday--AFTER a late night school dance to help us discofy Harrah's!! I am so appreciative of their hard work!!

I love these girls and their help was invaluable!!! Thanks Maris, Tate, Sierra, Sarah, Katie, and Steph {not pictured because she had to leave early to take an ACT class}.