1950s Hollywood Glamour Ball
Team Glasgow arrived at the hotel after lunch to begin
setting up for the big night! Car loads
of prizes, table decorations, balloons etc were brought into the hotel and with
the help of the staff (and of course our mums) we transformed the venue for our
1950s Hollywood Glamour Ball.
The evening began at 6.30pm, with guests arriving to find a red
carpet at the entrance and our life size Oscar statue directing them up to the
private foyer. Our glamorous guests
were met with a complimentary glass of bubbly and had some time to wander
around the foyer area where we had various stalls set up. The most popular of course was the tombola,
with around 200 prizes to be won.
We
also had a pot luck stall, where guests could choose a small ceramic pot, all
of which contained prizes of varying value hidden inside. The silent auction items were on display and included
a sushi school for 4 people, a chocolate factory school for 8 people, a C’esta
facial worth £150 and tickets for Sister Act the musical. We had two bear factor smurfs you could win
if you chose the correct birthday, which proved very popular. Also of course was the giant drinks hamper,
which we sold raffle tickets for in advance but many more on the night.
We had tried to carefully coordinate our styling
from the 1950’s polka dot boxes for tombola tickets and silent bids, to the
classic black framed signs explaining what each stall was and polka dot ribbon
tied around prizes.
Dotted around the
foyer were glittering vintage globes, adding that extra touch of glamour. Giving
guests a chance to work out the seating, we had a fabulous homemade (by
Victoria) table plan in the foyer, with each table named after a 1950s
Hollywood icon.
Our photographer Stuart from Scottish Vision was on hand to
take photos of individual and groups, and also managed to snap the main events
throughout the evening. Most of the pictures posted here are courtesy of Stuart so to see more pictures visit his link! To create a
backdrop for photos we also had a kind donation of helium balloon displays from Infinity Balloon Art.
At 7.15pm we had the call for dinner and for the first time
our guests were allowed into the main ballroom. The tables were set with black table and
chair covers, with white napkins. This
was offset with red and white chair bows, which looked stunning. A handmade programme per table (by moi) explained the
format of the night and a framed picture of each movie icon marked the tables. We opted for a simple decoration of a large
red Gala rose in a vase, kindly donated by Occasions Flowers and a candle for some softer lighting.
Our lovely host (and comedienne) Jay Lafferty introduced the evening and we started
the night with a give away of six classic 1950s movies to those guests lucky enough to
find a gold star under their side plate!
The 3 course meal itself was beautiful and wine was provided on the
tables, finishing with coffee and petit fours. During the meal, the fantastic
magician Chris Dinwoodie intrigued guests with his table magic. I still can't work out the card trick...!
At the end of the meal the guests were able to sit back and
relax for some entertainment. We started
by showing a video, put together by Kirsty, featuring CF patients. It was the soundtrack to Lady Gaga “I was
born this way” with CF patients miming along and dancing – basically showing
that despite this illness we know how to live and have fun!
This was followed by some fantastic performances
from Confidance Musical Theatre school students, including two group dances,
solo dancing and some amazing solo and duet singing performances.
All set in front of a glittering star lit
backdrop, provided and set up by the lovely girls at Modern Love Events (who also provided
chair bows and globes for the night).
At this point we collected our raffle envelopes for our main
raffle, prizes including a kindle, luxury Scottish hampers, Scottish opera
tickets and a night at the Radisson.
Each guest was provided with an envelope and pen at their table place
and they put in a donation, write their name on the envelope and this is their
raffle ticket!
Caitlin winning a lovely bouquet of flowers!
Carol Ann winning Scottish Opera Tickets
Our lovely DJ Dave then played some great music and everyone
hit the dance floor!
I rarely sat down but managed to stop for a few minutes to get some photos with Andrew (who has had to provide the emotional support required during planning of this event!)
Also a quick dance with my lovely cousin Sarah (who provided us with all the pots for the pot luck game, most of the hand made jewellery prizes in them and the sweeties for selling - we love sarah!)
We then stopped for a
little break to do some live auctioning of a 5 day mystery holiday, a voucher
for shower and screen to value of £400 and a £200 bottle of whisky. We announced the winners of the silent
auction prizes, the smurfs and then invited everyone to have some cake donated
by Cakes by Mhari. The cake not only
looked amazing but tasted fantastic!
Then it was on with the dancing! Throughout the evening people visited the
foyer to play the tombola – with all prizes being won that night. We
also had a slide show running on loop all evening featuring the logos of all the companies
who helped to make our night a success.
Two of our lovely volunteers agreed for us to dress them up
as 1950’s cigarette girls – only they were selling sweetie cups instead! I made the trays with red satin ribbon to
hold them, Victoria made the sweetie cups and her mum made the cute hats to finish
the look! The girls were great and
helped all night with running our stalls while looking amazing in their 1950’s
outfits.
We rounded off the evening by thanking everyone for coming and thanking
our lovely volunteers who worked so hard to make the night a success. We do want to also thank the companies who
kindly donated prizes and services for the night, and to the Radisson Blu, who
provided a first class service and helped the night to run smoothly.
All money raised will be donated to CF
inpatient fund at Gartnavel General. Team Glasgow are proud to announce that from ticket sales, raffle
tickets and money raised on the night we have a running total of
£7,000!! There is more money to come and I will post the final total
as soon as it is confirmed......!
CF team with myself, Victoria, Kirsty and Louise (all lung transplants recipients)
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