Masquerade!!!

This Saturday I was able to go to my friend, Natalie's, sweet 16 party (November 5th). She threw a "Phantom of the Opera" Masquerade Ball! The invitations were awesome. If you haven't seen the movie, you might not get it.

This is the envelope:


And here's the invitation:

It was so fun to put together my costume and the whole idea was just awesome. My costume consisted of Rachel's prom dress (thanks Rach!), a mask we found at the hospital gift shop (who knew!), gloves from my Cinderella costume (they still fit!), a fan Terrah gave me (I still use it!), some earrings I got from Kelly, and my really cute shoes!



Mom did my hair. We were going to try to do a bun style, but it didn't end up working, and I think the way we did it was cuter anyway! :)


At the party, they did a pretty awesome decorating job. There were black plastic roses everywhere and candles everywhere. In the middle of the room they had hung a chandelier with real candles in it, and they had a fog machine at the beginning. The fog was that thick, sweet smelling stuff, so they didn't leave it on the whole time. There were red, white, and black balloons all over the floor, and the same colors of steamers on the walls.They had a "professional" DJ (he wasn't very good), and that was fun. Surprisingly they played a lot of pop music, and only like three or four "Phantom" songs! That was kind of sad, but it was still really fun.

Natalie's parents had a nice red chair with some black roses up on the stage for pictures. Everyone got an individual picture, and then we did any individual pictures we wanted. I did one with Kelly, and Kate and I did one because we were the only ones with fans. All of the guys did one too. It was pretty sweet. They all glared at the camera. It was fun.

In the realm of games, we did a mask contest and musical chairs. Zoe and Lighty won the mask contest. Lighty's covered her mouth and half of her face and was really cool, and Zoe's was white with red lace around the edges, and she made it! Not everyone did musical chairs. There were way too many people for everyone to do it. We popped the red and white balloons, and there were pieces of paper inside them. If there was a number or a letter on it, you played. It was pretty creative, but I had nothing to pop my balloon with. I tried biting it, but that didn't work. Finally Mitchell got a toothpick from one of the sandwiches and poked it for me. I didn't win, but it was more fun to watch anyway. :)

On one occasion of "Phantom" music, they did a "Phantom Dance". All of the guys (who were all dressed as Phantoms) danced with Natalie. It was really fun to watch. After she did presents she gave all the guys who danced with her Martinellis in these really cool champagne glasses.

Natalie's cake was awesome. They had done the frosting to look like a suit with a bow tie, and there were several roses on it. Like in "Phantom", on one of the roses her parents had a ring that was part of her birthday present from them. It was really cool. Not to mention it tasted pretty good too! :)

Half-way through the dance we found out that the guys were all hiding on the roof! Who came up with that! I thought the reason they weren't there was because of some phantomy stuff, but they were all hiding up there. Davis told us, and we went up to get them. Don't worry, it was a flat roof with a classroom opening onto it, and then a ladder leading up further. It was interesting. When we came back in Matt opened the door for us. The lights were off, and he had his white phantom mask on. It was pretty creepy! It scared me for a second! :)

I went in on a present with Kelly and Mitchell. Natalie is crazy about David Archuletta, so we got her a signed copy of the CD to his concert he did with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir last Christmas. She went nuts! It was awesome. I will admit it was my idea! :) After she came and gave me a hug. She had found out that it was my idea and she thanked me. I was glad that it was such a hit, and that no one else got her that! :)

One of the guys got her a rose with a black ribbon, like in the movie. He kept saying how bad he felt that he couldn't get her a better present, but I thought that was one of the coolest ones! I think my favorite thing she got though, was a jewelry thing. It looked kind of like a mini coat rack for necklaces, and it had a small mask on it. It was really cute!

The party was technically supposed to go until 10:00, but the DJ had to leave early, and it kind of just ended around 8:30. The saddest part was that people were still showing up! Timo got there just as we finished with the presents at about 8:15 ish. Kelly and I left at 9:00 ish, so I don't know who else showed up.

The funniest moment of the night though, had to be when Kelly's Dad came to pick us up. He thought we were at the school, but we were actually at the church across the street! He went over into the English Building parking lot, but when he came back he didn't see us and started driving the other direction! We started chasing him down the street, but we couldn't get his attention, and he didn't have his phone. He eventually came back and found us, but it was pretty funny! He felt so bad!

All in all, it was a way fun party! There were a ton of people there, and they went all out to make it really fun. I don't think my party will be that crazy and big, but who knows! :)