On Saturday 28th October we held a Silent Disco to raise money for our charity, The Birth and Babies Appeal at Warwick Hospital.

Every year I hold a number of fundraising events to raise money for charity and so far we’ve raised over £7000 for our local hospital and for Meningitis Now. One of the events I hold year in, year out, is a Half Term party during October. The last two years it’s been a Halloween Party, last year we had crafts, a bouncy castle and lots of dancing. We raised lots of money and fun was had by all!

Last August we went to The Big Feastival as a family and it was there that we took part in our first silent disco. We had so much fun I decided there and then that I’d hold one in the future for our charity. The children’s eyes just lit up! After lots of research and calling around I found a company and wonderful DJ who offered his time for free for our charity.

It was a bit of a gamble I’ll admit. It’s something a bit different and I wasn’t sure if our families would embrace the idea, but it seems lots were intrigued and the tickets began to sell.

I really wanted this event to be something a bit different and what I loved most about the silent disco we attended was that we were able to enjoy music and dance with the children, it was really important to me that our families had that chance to enjoy the party together too. Often when I hold events it’s with the children in mind, which is lovely but we as parents rarely get anything out of it except possibly the chance to have a hot drink. What I noticed at our party was that parents were able to do both. Immerse themselves in the music and dance with their children but when it was time for a break they were able to pause, have a drink and the children carried on. I felt it was a brilliant balance.

A quick explanation if you’ve never been to a silent disco: The idea is that each person has a set of wireless headphones, which have three options of music, which can be changed by switching channel on the headset. You’re able to see what everyone is listening to by the colour of the lights on their headset, which changes according to which channel you’re listening to. One channel was our DJ who was playing party tunes and taking requests. The other two were playlists I created on two iPods.

Our children are individuals and what works for one, doesn’t necessarily work for another. For some children walking into a room with loud music and lights is too overwhelming. I am always mindful of this when I plan events. I had some craft tables where I made some play dough and we had some pumpkin and bat making, sticking and some colouring too. I cannot tell you how much I love the images below because you can clearly see children enjoying quiet crafts while listening to their choice of music at their own volume, humming or singing way to the songs.

Even as an adult I have to say that having the headphones on does transport you into your own little world, you almost lose some of those inhibitions and its THE BEST thing listening to people singing out to party songs in an otherwise quiet room!

I’ve had so many comments since the event that it was one of the best yet. I am so happy that everyone enjoyed it. As always I’m ever critical of myself. I didn’t raise as much money as I’d hoped as I didn’t sell all the tickets. Usually we raise more at our events, but of course I don’t normally have to pay to hire equipment as I did this time and they didn’t offer a charity discount sadly.

However, onwards and upwards, I’ll continue to try and break the mould and think outside the box and hopefully now that people have tried it, they might return 🙂

Thank you to everyone who came along on the day and special thanks to some of my friends and family who came and helped sell tea, coffee and cakes and glow sticks. I couldn’t do it without you guys.

Thanks also to Emma from The Rainbow Glitter Fairy who spread her glitter magic. Kevin from Quasar Discos who offered his services without charge and to whom I’m really grateful! Sweet As Cakes also offered some ghoulishly gorgeous cupcakes for us to sell, we are really thankful to all of you!