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I was quite dreading my 21st party when I started planning it in the Summer of 97. I felt it had a lot to live up to as my 18th had been the most talked about party for a while, and people still remembered it!! Nevertheless, the invites went out (eventually!), and then the big night came...
In England, we'd been having a few high winds over the Christmas and New Year. The night of Saturday 3rd Jan 1998 was no exception! There I was, quite happily starting to put up a few decorations, when suddenly, at the time of 5.50pm, the lights went out. I thought to myself, "It's a big place. They're bound to have a generator to take over", and carried on putting up the decorations by the lights of the emergency signs.
They didn't have a generator :( I decided to decorate anyway, in the hope the lights would come back later. Dad seemed convinced everyone would be sitting and talking in the smaller of the two bars all night, though :((
It got to 7.10pm, so I went home (next door!) to get ready by candlelight. The party was due to start at 7.30pm, but I thought I'd be a bit late like most others would be. Well I had to find some more candles and chop up a few more carrots, didn't I?? (A party's not a party without carrots!!) I eventually arrived at 8.00pm and was rather shocked at the 20 or so people who had beat me there!!!! I immediately went to see how Paul and Tristyn (my DJ's) were doing, and also to say hi to Chip who had been helping them set up in the big bar. When I walked into the smaller bar with them, I was just struck by the romanticism the candlelight gave to it! I felt MUCH better about the power cut then, but was still a bit upset that it meant less time to dance.
I refused to let anyone eat until my Mum got there. Last I'd seen her, she was washing her hair by candlelight! She said she'd get there about 9pm, but then Dad said she'd be another half hour, so I decided to let everybody eat. I had to use my wasted teacher voice to get a bit of quiet to tell them my decision, but they thanked me for it!
My Mum finally arrived at 9.50pm, followed by my sis and her boyfriend. That signalled it as time to cut the cake by my book! I thought I'd better do a little speechy bit (was 10pm by the time I got round to cutting the damn thing!). Was just saying how if we had some power, I'd tell them all to get up and dance, and then, as if by magic, the lights came back on!! I immediately told them they now had NO excuse not to dance, as Tristyn and Paul ran into the other room to put some music on! Someone then asked why I couldn't have cut the cake two hours earlier!!! The power of a speech, hey?! :))
Not sure how many people there were at my party, as I'm really naff at estimating numbers! One of my friends said there were over 60 before the lights came back, though. There were also a couple of other things going on that night (like another party, and a youth group bowling trip), so some more came later, making it about 90, I guess, which wasn't too bad considering!! :)
The thing I like best about throwing a party myself, is I get to see people I haven't seen for a while. Take, for example, my good friends from Fressingfield, about 60/70 miles from where I live. I hadn't seen or heard from them for about two years before my 21st party! Was really good to see the ones that went again! :)) Then there's people nearer to home who I don't see much even when I AM home! Of course they were all invited, and so I was able to see those who could make it. Last, but by NO means least, we have my D.J. Paul. I never see him unless he's DJing somewhere. Was an honour and a great priveledge to have him and Tristyn providing what was squeezed down to two hours of music for me :)
I had a GREAT time at my party, despite all the odds. I think most others did too. Some people even told me they thought it worked better having the first half by candlelight in the smaller bar (as it got people talking) and then having the second half in the big bar where we could dance. All I know is it was a really good night to remember :))
Click here for pictures of the Party by Candlelight (Sorry, I was too busy dancing to take any of the other half of the party!!!!)
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