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}.

I showed you the centerpieces we made for the Gala yesterday. They are super easy to make. 



I ordered 24" eiffel tower vases. They come in clear, white, or frosted. I wanted to use
 frosted vases because it would hide the 6" stem of the foam bouquet holder and the
 lights. But, they were several dollars more a piece than the clear. 

So, I ordered the clear and bought Frosting Spray {around $5/can at Lowes} and
sprayed several light coats on each. 1 can did about 10 vases.



Here they are after getting their frosting.

 Once we got to Harrah's, we lined the vases up and placed a foam bouquet 
holder in each. {see how the frosting helps to hide the stem}
 




I bought 2 sizes of ostrich feathers. The most affordable way to buy the {expensive}
 feathers is by the pound. One pound of the taller {21-24"} feathers had around 170
feathers. The shorter wing tips {14-17"} came with around 200 feathers per pound. 

**Tip--if you order by the pound, count your feathers and make sure you have the quoted amount. Don't assume
they are correct. I was shorted 250 feathers!! That's 8 arrangements!! They did, however send me the additional ones**

I used 14 tall and 14 short {wing tips} feathers per arrangement.  We started around the
 bottom of the foam holder with a row of 5-7 of the longest feathers pushed in on a 45
degree angle. Then, moving up the holder, created another row using both long and
short {around 5-6}. We continued creating rows until we were straight up in the middle.       



{my awesome assistants, Angie and that's Heather hiding}

It is best to make your arrangements at least one day in advance. The feathers will relax
and fall a little over night. There were 5 of us making these and we made 42 in about an hour.

We lined them all up as we finished each one.


    

Once they were all finished we moved them into the Event Center.





Notice that they are lit up?! The vase was placed on a 4" LED disc that contained 9 lights.
 These discs came with 3 AA batteries and an on/off switch {$12}. They are so bright that not
only do they light up the vase but also the underneath side of the feathers.        



These discs were not my Plan A. I bought little battery operated LED tea
 lights that were supposed to fit into the vase.





These were fairly inexpensive {$2/pc} and I planned on using 3 in each vase.
Great in theory, but the vases were only 3/4" wide in the
middle {skinniest part} and the lights were 3/4" tall.    





The light discs ended up working so beautifully and they can be reused in next years gala.

With the addition of the feathers, we ended up with a 40" tall arrangement. This is great
 because it in no way blocks your view while talking to others at your table. But, as you can
 see, the bottom of the vase is super small--and it was placed on the 4" light disc. This made
 me a little nervous thinking that someone might knock into a table and end up with feathers
 in their martinis.

I decided to attach the vase to the light disc with zots dots.


   


{thanks to my friend Donna for giving me a box of these!}


I used 4 of these super sticky dots on the bottom of each vase and then stuck them 
down onto their light disc. They are not permanent, but, you have to work super hard
 to pull them apart! 





Since we still had the tealights, I wanted to add even more drama to the top
of the feathers by dropping a tealight into the middle of the feathers resting on top of
 the foam bouquet holder. There are so many feathers in the foam that it balanced
itself without needing anything else.

Just the one light added so much drama to the arrangement and allowed the middle
of the feathers, all the way to the tips, to glow. 






Jordan and Shelby made gold metallic table numbers that they threaded on a 
black tasseled rope.

 
 


They picked up the bouquet holder and placed the other end of the rope into the vase
and then placed the feathered bouquet holder back in, securing it in place.

Our Gala went off beautifully!! We decorated Friday and Saturday and the red carpet
was rolled out to welcome our guests at 6:30pm Saturday night!




































































Stop by tomorrow and I'll show you how we made the feather arrangements.

An extremely late post for an extremely busy day!!

A friend of mine, Darlene, who was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago has decided to
 raise money for those uninsured or underinsured in our county who can't afford a mammogram .
She is doing such an important, necessary, heartfelt task. She is calling it Hula for Hope. 


This is her cute logo! 
 
 I was honored to be asked to be a part of it. She asked me to paint some hula girls to use as
 a photo op. People pay a dollar to have their picture taken with their heads in the prop. 

So, I got to work.



I started with a 4x8 super thin piece of plywood. I had my Lowes guy cut it down to 4' x 6 1/2'
{so it would fit in my van}. It got primed and painted and is ready for its luau!



My hubby cut out the girls faces and then braced the back and added the supports.

It made its debut today at 'Mustang Roundup' . Our high schools fun day full of inflatables,
water balloons, face painting, olympics, food, obstacle courses, jousting, dunking booth, and
yearbook signing.  
.  


It got good reviews! And raised money for the cause! Along with the pictures, they could also
purchase bracelets, t-shirts, raffle tickets and tickets to compete in the hula hoop contest.



 Here are some of the contestants getting their instructions.
































Taylor and Maris held on for 15 minutes! Because there were so many left towards the end, they
 had them spin around, jump, double spin, hands in the air.....all while keeping the hula hoop spininng!
These kids {and a few teachers!} were goooood!!   

The hula girls will now move on to their next party--raising $ for our community's health. Until there is 
a cure, there is early diagnosis. It's a simple idea, but thanks to Darlene and her Hula for Hope, local
lives will be saved.