THE HAIRCLUBIN CHARITY BALL 2016

So I flick to my ‘content planner’ in my bullet journal to see what delights I’ve scheduled for blog posts this week and it says:

Hairclubin Ball

Nothing else. Just that. No angle, no social comments, no fashion slant.

I obviously recognised that it’s one of my favourite occasions of the year (close with Christmas, my Birthday &  Crufts) and therefore it needs it’s very own special post to summarise why it’s so dam sparkly.

So I’m gonna give you a full run down of Saturdays shenanigans and summarise some real highlights.

But first, lemme explain. The Hairclubin Charity ball started 28 years ago, before I even existed, before the Spice Girls formed and before Nutella was invented. Uh huh, long ago. My Mum & her sister basically wanted to find an excuse to get all dolled up in special dresses, and that excuse led to the very first Hairclubin Charity Ball. It was a shiny, poofy 80’s dress affair with more  big hair and big dresses than an episode of Saved By The Bell (best. show. ever).

And it continued. The dresses changed shape, the hair got smaller but the concept stayed the same – getting dressed up fabulously to raise money for a different charity each year.

This year marked the 28th Hairclubin Ball and boy did we have fun. I’m gonna make a note of the highlights because I love a list I do:

 

• The theme. My Mum & I couldn’t remember who exactly offered this years theme up but serious hats off to you. I had the most fun styling the event this year. Midsummer Night’s Dream; all nature and creams and candles and good old Shakespeare. In fact, it looked slightly wedding-esque but I swear that has nothing to do with any subconscious urges on my part. Max did you just drop your phone? Lols.

• The boy that decided to have his pony tail cut off for charity, because why not? I mean that’s normal right? To attend a black tie do as a guest and to suddenly decide ‘y’know what? I’m willing to let these crazy people I’ve just met hack off my man bun with office scissors to raise more money’. Absolute trooper. Thanks to him, we raised an extra £350 and also donated his hair to charity.

 

• Surprise footballers & their surprise auction prizes. I don’t know football but other people in the room did. And it was awesome for the two ex-West Ham players to auction up a golf day and breakfast in aid of the charity on Saturday evening. You da best.

 

• Zoe Tate’s Dad dancing to Madness. That guy got moves.

 

• Our fantastic range of raffle prizes from all our lovely, lovely supporters. Urgh, I swear every year people get more and more generous. We had some laaaaavly stuff to give away this year, including two day passes at Athenaeum, a £100 shopping voucher donated by Warren Plumbing, a £50 voucher from Bonar House and a £15 voucher from Blume, Rayleigh. This is just to name a few. I mean, I’m not even bitter or nothing that my table won zero raffle prizes. Wah.

 

• The unicorn head in the Photo Shmoto photo booth. And actually, the whole weird and wonderful collection that Aley bought along with her. But the unicorn head deserves a special mention because oh my, it was freak-ay. Can’t wait to see some of the cracking photos from the evening. Always some stunners in there.

 

• Seeing all the flippin’ ace dresses. Okay so my top fave outfits of the evening go to (drum roll please) Leanne Johnson in her lilac ruffle ASOS number, Chelsea Holland in a figure hugging black gown from Quiz and Christina Manstrangelo in her cream, lacey dress and beaut fishtail hair which basically said ‘hello, Midsummer Nights Dream‘. Ladies, you were so on point it hurts.

 

• The talented Quill & Ink. You know when you see something on Pinterest and you’re like ‘yes mate, gonna make that happen’. But then you remember you have the ugliest handwriting known to man. Doh. In comes Quill & Ink, my calligraphy queen who baaaasically made it possible for me to create my table plan of dreams. Thanks Daisy, you absolute babe. (Get in touch with her to make all your Pinterest dreams come true).

 

• The baffled winner of Heads ‘n’ Tails. It was a strange one this year. Usually, our traditional fundraising game is a tense affair that ends between two people concentrating very hard on either their head or their buttocks, tables cheering & stomping away. But this year, a whole gaggle of contenders got knocked out in one fell swoop, leaving one very confused winner in the middle of the dancefloor with a ginormous basket of wine in his clutches. I’m not 100% sure he knew what was going on, but he looked fairly pleased with himself, if not a tad confused.

 

• Band 208. Always a classic highlight of the evening, the resident band have played the ball for the last 15 years or so. Quite a feat don’t you think? The start of their set signals to everyone that it’s A-okay to undo your bow tie, kick off your heels and throw yourselves around the dance floor in a provocative manner. YOU ARE BEYONCE/FRED & GINGER/MICHAEL JACKSON (It’s always such an eclectic mix of dance moves on that floor, but the bottom line is – you can be anyone you wanna be darling).

• The helium stealers. I’m not sure who the cheeky so & so’s were, but a gaggle of party goers decided to untie my precious white balloons and steal all the helium for mega lols & squeaky voices. Hope you guys had a blast.

 

• Raising a super duper amount for The James Hora Trust. Obvs, the absolute highlight of the evening was coming together to raise a fantastic amount of just over £4000 for such a deserved cause. So to all the people that purchased a ticket, raised a note for the raffle, placed their hands on their heads or tails, or partook in a furious auction battle – thank you. Your generosity is astounding and we are so thankful for all your support.

 

If you fancy coming along next year to join in the fun of the Hairclubin’ Charity Ball, make sure you go and ‘like’ our Facebook page to find out the details for next years event.

Until next time folks…