Party people in the house tonight... or maybe the day.

OK, go get yourself a coffee and a bum massage, you'll be sitting for a while. Sorted?

BabyG put in a request (around 5 minutes after her mermaid party) for a disco party for her 6th birthday, having been to a couple. I looked around our house, open plan, lots of natural light, and wondered how I'd pull off disco lights in the middle of the day. Soon after, having a look at what the incredible Karen was up to, I was delighted to learn she was flogging off a giant roll of black lycra she had bought at auction. I sent her an email, we had a chat, and she waved me off with a roll taller than me of black fabric. My plan? Well, a bit unhinged at that point. I knew I was going to use it as draping of some type, in some area of the house. My issue- I didn't want holes in the wall, and I wasn't sure if our playroom had enough space. Answer- of course, our garage. My next issue? The piles of crap- a lawnmower, a ride-on lawn mower, four bikes, etc etc etc etc. Still, when you have a strong will (or suffer from obstinancy, you decide) things will work out for the best. The Man was onboard with the plan, so away we went:

I spent an hour or so cutting the roll into 3 metre lengths and then gave each length a thick casing. By cutting, I mean hacking, as you can see above. Next, four days before the party, The Man and I cleaned out the garage, filling the old ute in the process, before threading each length onto curtain wire, and hanging around three walls of the garage:

We left the door for the night before, and I'm so glad we had a head start, as the hanging took a good couple of hours. Then, the daY before BabyG's birthday, we cleaned the house inside and out (ably assisted by my parentals, and only partially inhibited by my dad and his ruthless access to a water). We tucked the cherubs in bed, not before being told in no uncertain terms:

'You (mum and dad) can dance, but under no circumstances are you to kiss. I'm serious. If you need to kiss, go downstairs."

 Duly informed, we set up for the party:

BabyG and her sister woke to almost a nightclub- just one sparkly light and a sparkly garland/curtain to walk through, but enough to get them dancing until the DJ arrived with her light machine, bubbles and smoke machine:

And then we had four hours of 'when is everyone coming?' When her friends finally arrived, the fun really started. There was karioke, limbo, musical statues, and general rocking out:

They paused for lunch and some facepainting, and even a great-grandmother got into the disco spirit:

Then a conga line made it's way around the disco, out the front door, down the side gate, through the living area, back out the front door, and into the side door of the garage:

Birthday cake followed, and then 19 little girls barrelled into the sunlight. Some of these cherubs live in apartments and townhouses, and ran like they'd been locked up for 20 years. One cherub in particular did cartwheel after cartwheel up and down what could never be referred to as lawn, but she didn't seem to mind.

After that it was 'release the hounds' time, the small guests left, the bigger ones stayed to pop a couple of bottles of bubbly (including a glass much needed by la mama) and the birthday girl opened her presents. 

All in all, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and BabyG came home from her first day of Grade 1 telling me that some of her friends told her that it was the best party they'd ever been to! Lofty words, but my cherub had a wonderful birthday, and that's all that matters to me!