First off I would like to acknowledge that I get to work with some pretty stellar people on some really awesome things. This week was no exception.
I got to be a part of designing, and decorating for a Prom. Xtreme Youth Ministries is the youth group I grew up in, and I still volunteer a big chunk of time to them, because I love what Xtreme is about. Every year they put on a prom for all of the students, and it's always loads of fun. There's music, food, games, and tons of fancy dresses and dapper suits.
Amanda and Denton admiring the dance floor on one of our late nights.
This year the theme was glow. To our huge advantage, we had 4 UV LED lights on hand that we could use. So those made just about anything either glow, or at least change colors. When we first settled on the theme, there was one thing we all knew and all agreed on: we wanted an incredible dance floor. We thought about renting one, but that proved to be too expensive. Then there was talk about physically building one, but that might prove itself to be a liability. So Kevin (the guy in charge, also another MVP) had that ingenious idea to paint it directly onto the floor. Obviously the tricky part of this is a) Finding a paint that will glow, and b) Finding a paint that will wash off our concrete floors with ease. With some experimentation we found that Sargent Art's fluorescent tempera paint was just the stuff to do the trick (and spoilers: the whole floor came off with just water and a floor machine, easy peasy.) A little masking tape, some post it notes for planning purposes, and some foam rollers later this lovely floor was born.
So much disco.
The next thing we worked on were our chandeliers. After getting inspired by some of the art we came across at the poetry slam at Living Arts in Tulsa, Denton and I did our research on how we could make some similar things. Party backdrops were $9 for 2 8x4 sections, which is a deal if you just want one....we wanted about 40 of these things. That stuff adds up, yo. Denton had a stroke of genius when he suggested using mylar thermal emergency blankets. They are essentially made from the same material, and are very close to being the same size. The only difference? One is shredded for photo ops, and the other is stored in the backpacks of people who are going hiking for long distances (or maybe other people too...I have no idea. I bet smart people keep them in their cars. Maybe I should do that.) So we bought sixty of these little guys, and they came out to about a dollar a piece. Also cutting them up was easier than expected, we (I say we, there were a bunch of fantastic people rocking thier, scissors and tape skills) just cut along the fold lines and taped across the top. Then with some zip ties and a hole punch we attached them to some PVC pipe frames that we had.
The one draw back to the mylar was that it tore very easily once it had a cut to follow. So we had a rule, "If you tear it, you wear it."
Some pre-party shenanigans with Amanda and Nate. It's hard to tell in the photo but both of them are wearing mylar accessories.
Overall I think the party was a huge success. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time, and me...I had a blast!
Tap the pictures to see more from the party.
