Location
London
Guests
120
Type of Event
18th Birthday Party
This was an 18th birthday party that William and his friends won’t forget in a hurry. It had all the elements of a classic night out, recreated in the comfort and safety of his parents’ back garden.
The brief
We first met William and his family when we organised his dad’s 50th a few years ago. William wasn’t entirely sure how he wanted his own party to look, but when we showed him the photos of the party that we created for Tom a few months back he had a flash of inspiration.
Yes to a club night with a DJ; yes to a marquee in the garden; yes to epic lighting… but could we give it a Hawaiian twist?
Concept design
What do you get if you cross a nightclub, UV lighting and a tropical beach? Neon Hawaii, of course.
We blacked out the marquee with drapes and installed a twinkling, LED ceiling, starlit dance floor and tropical sunset backdrop. Surfboards, totem poles and a driftwood bar enhanced the beach vibe; whilst LED seating cubes, UV paint and special effects lighting supplied the neon.
The front of William’s house was illuminated with coloured uplighters to make it clear where the party was; then guests entered the marquee via the side passage, past portable toilets that were camouflaged with a foliage wall and flanked by enormous totem poles.
Two full-scale, orange LED palm trees marked the entrance of the marquee, before guests stepped into their very own private nightclub for the evening.
Unique considerations
To prevent things getting out of hand, we supplied a doorman to check guests’ names against a list and calm things down if the kids got rowdy. William’s parents were at the party, but they wanted to relax and enjoy themselves rather than be responsible for crowd control.
Clownfish team members staffed the bar and ensured that guests were sensible with their drinks. William provided a short playlist to let our DJ, Dan, know what he liked, and then Dan put a set together that kept everyone up and dancing all night. The finishing touch to the Neon Hawaii theme was a UV face paint artist, who created some incredible make-up that glowed in the UV light.
William didn’t want a photo booth, so we sent along a professional nightclub photographer to capture plenty of fun shots. After the party, we added a custom-designed ‘William’s 18th‘ overlay to each image and sent him a link to the entire gallery so that he could download, print and circulate them to his friends.
Want a party that they’ll talk about for years to come?
Our box of tricks
