Middle School Dance
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Middle School Dance
| Fri, 04-27-2007 - 1:50am |
My son's school FINALLY agreed to let the 6-8 grade kids have an end of year dance (the only dance). I'm one of the handful of parents planning this. We have a small MS, about 150 kids. Broad mix of socio and economic backgrounds.
We have $600 we can spend, with about $200+ going to a DJ.
Any suggestions on how we can make this wonderful at the last minute? Ask your kids for me, will ya?
Thanks
We have $600 we can spend, with about $200+ going to a DJ.
Any suggestions on how we can make this wonderful at the last minute? Ask your kids for me, will ya?
Thanks

Since it's end of the year make it a summer is hear type celebration. Make some beach, surf type decorations. Surf boards, beach chairs laying around, maybe some play sand and pails and buckets in the corners. Have the kids wear Hawian shirts and buy some leis. Make sure your dj has lots of surf songs and summer music.
stacy
I forgot to mention a couple things! Obviously, the "photographer" was just a parent member of the PTO, not a professional.
Second, at our middle school dances the focus is on 'group dancing' rather than one-on-one boy/girl dances. The dj plays music that is designed to get everybody out of the dance floor ... The Electric Slide, The Macarena, etc. There are typically only 2-3 'slow' couple dances and imo, this is a really great idea for middle school kids, especially the younger ones.
Based on ds's MS parties being all rap, please vary the music so the kids can find something they like!
Lots of different non-messy finger foods are great. Avoid cups with ice as the boys sometimes get a bit rough with that loose ice once they get their hands on it.
Make more to do than just dancing; maybe hula hoop competition, free throw competition, etc. Polaroids are fun.
Sue
Good suggestions, particularly about having basketball or something also available. For middle school, the number of boys who will voluntarily dance can probably be counted on one hand. If they're sitting around with nothing to do, they will find their own amusement, and the chaperones will be ready to tear out their hair.....
The summer / beach theme suggestion was great. If you have a ton of inexpensive beach balls for people to toss around, it makes things fun; and beach balls don't do as much damage as heavier balls.
If you have several patient adults, one fun thing is to have colored hair spray (variety of colors) and have the ADULTS add streaks of color to the kids' hair. If the kids get hold of the hair spray, things could get out of control, so you need to be careful with that one.
You can also have inexpensive washable tattoos for kids to apply (be prepared for water on the floors because you have to dampen the tattoos to get them to work).
Check with parents who have recently hosted, or attended, a bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah. They will be able to tell you what worked and what was a disaster for that age group.