When I first started DJing, over 10 years ago, I provided my mobile party disco in Norwich mainly to birthday parties. In recent years I’ve provided many DJ services to a range of birthday party settings, from private houses and inside marquees, right through to private hire rooms of clubs in Norwich. The parties were of varying ages, from teenagers to adults. Today’s blog is all about a particular 13th birthday party disco I provided near Norwich. I actually provided this teenage party disco very recently. The reason for choosing this teenager birthday party to blog about is because it was awesome fun, and I had lots of amazing feedback from not only the adults, but the teenagers who were partying the night away.
Date: A wet and dreary Saturday evening in October
Venue: Holt Community Centre, Near Norwich in Norfolk
Number of guests: Approximately 5 adults, and 30 13 year olds, plus a couple of older brothers. The party was a joint party with 3 teenage boys.
How the day evolved: I was booked approximately a month before the party by the mother of one of the 13-year-old boys. My details were passed to the lady by a fellow DJ who was already booked for this particular night (we’re a lovely loving bunch of DJ’s in Norfolk!). At the point of enquiry the lady asked if a I had any experience with providing my disco at birthday parties. My answer was yes! Not only for a couple of local schools to me, but I also have a pre teen daughter. I had also explained I enjoy interacting with children of this age and I know games the children would enjoy to play if I was their DJ. I’ll explain those in a short while! With the chat we had on the phone, and the amount of work she had seen on my social media the lady was keen to book me and have me DJ the birthday party. The party lasted 2.5 hours. I had worked at the venue before which the lady booking me felt was helpful. I kept in contact with the lady the week before the party, including the day of the party and when I arrived to set up the community centre looked awesome! The Saturday was near Halloween and so the party was of course Halloween themed. The whole of the inside of the centre looked great! There was lots of *danger, enter if you dare* tape over doors and windows, and once I was set up I had some of this round my mobile disco! There were lots of amazing costumes, including a brilliant, but scary looking dinosaur. The adults running the party had arranged for a slush machine and popcorn dispenser to be there as a snack for the children. As well as the awesome decorations there were a few items provided by the adults which include a game of hands free donuts on string, piñata’s, and some hot dogs as the mid party food. At the start of the night I welcomed everyone to the party and encouraged some song requests. I also asked if any of them knew the popular computer game of the moment, Fortnite. Obviously they all shouted yes back at me and some contend to do the well-known dance, The Floss. There are a few dance moves which are a spin-off from the game – ‘Bring the L’, ‘Disco Fever’, ‘Orange Justice’ and ‘Best Mates’ to name a few of the common dances. No, I can’t do all of these but I can certainly do The Floss! As the group all shouted they knew I wanted them a dance off would be imminent – boys vs girls. After playing a few of the current Top 40 tunes, a lot of grime and some of their requests we got down to some more party games. A popular game currently is ‘The Floor is Lava’. So as it was a Halloween themed party I put a spin on it to tailor it to the party. By doing this it also allowed the game to pass a lot more quickly. The Floor is Lava is a fairly simple game where someone (me in this case) shouts The Floor is Lava and the floor becomes somewhere to get off. If you’re in the lava (stood on the floor), you’re out of the game! By turning it into a Monster Version this meant the last person to get off the floor became my monster. The next time I randomly shouted ‘The Floor is Lava’ the monster then pulled another person into the lava and so they then became a monster too. This would go on and on with me randomly shouting ‘The Floor is Lava’ until everyone was a monster. The game was well received by the group as it was a little different to the standard version of the game and was pretty quick-moving. We also played a game of musical statues and some party songs – YMCA, Cha Cha Slide and Chocolate to name a couple. When the hot dogs were served I turned the volume right down and encouraged the food to be eaten. This was followed by singing happy birthday with the birthday cake candles being blown out, and the piñata’s to be destroyed. After all of this some of the guests requested a dance off in Fortnite style again but it wasn’t enjoyed by all… So we swiftly moved on to do the limbo. The Halloween tape which had fallen on the floor came in handy at this point to use as the limbo stick! This plus 2 of the adults meant the line of children were going round and round with the limbo getting lower and lower. It was very well received by all the group and the teenagers were all very flexible!
The whole night flew past for everyone and the feedback I received whilst packing down at the end was extremely flattering. Especially the comment from the older brothers that I must do wedding disco after parties rather than DJ a wedding reception in and around Norwich, which is ‘boring’!! I did laugh, and put them straight!
To concur, I love all aspects and events when DJing! I treat each and every event and situation whether it’s a birthday, wedding, shop opening or club night as its own individual event in its own right. This means no matter what happens I’ll be there ready to react to it in the very best possible way. I’m fully adaptable to what people want from me, whether it’s a full interaction with the crowd such as this birthday party near Norwich, or to mix hours upon hours of music. And as I’ve said before, be sure to ask your potential DJ some questions or about their experience to ensure they will give you the party you want, rather than what the DJ can do!
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