By Chloe Cassaro
Oxford balls are formal ball nights held in the different Oxford colleges and are a fantastic occasion to dress with your best suits or gowns for a wonderful night of partying. There are different types of balls, the fanciest ones are the white tie, black tie balls have a lower ticket price but are equally nice. Some balls are organised during commemoration week, in Trinity term, and others happen in winter.
As part of the organising committee of Linacre Ball 2020, which is Fairy Tale-themed, I am extremely excited about the upcoming ball in my postgraduate college. My role is mostly in decoration, but I am also helping out with publicity. We are a team of around 10 people, all working on different areas to make the night as brilliant as we picture it : Food, Drinks, Decoration, Publicity, Entertainment.
The food part has to do with choosing the vendors who will provide food for everyone, in portions during the night. They also organise a breakfast for the next morning, given that the ball usually last from 8pm to 5am. It is important here to go for diversity and to anticipate food requirements. Some snacks are planned; and some sweets to please everyone all night long. Obviously the people in the team are tasked with trying out the vendors and choosing the best ones for the night.
The drink part is all about the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to be served all night long to the guests, including cocktails, liquors and wines. It is important to satisfy everyone with the bar, and to plan ahead for everyone to enjoy drinks as the night goes.
Publicity is aiming to promote the ball, and design the website, handling social media, choosing a photographer and most importantly, create the poster, which is very very pretty this year.
The entertainment part is all bout choosing the acts for the night. This usually includes a silent disco outside, different entertainers (Pole dancers, Magicians, Make-up artists..), different activities (wine tasting, shisha tents..) and finally the music. It is important to choose live music bands and DJs for the night. The acts are what is being remembered so the aim is to be original and entertaining as much as we possibly can.
And finally, the best part, though I might be biased, is the decoration. Our main goal is to make the night magical for the guests. We follow the theme and create different atmospheres in all the rooms of the colleges and outside. The fairy tale themed this year is extremely inspiring and exciting. We need to think of all the little details that will create a big “Wow” for our guest. We really want to make it seem like a magical dreamy night to remember!
From what everyone has told me so far, balls are an unmissable part of Oxford life, and I am very excited to try that out and organise this one. As college members we get to share this fantastic occasion with guests, and I am personally planning on bringing a few of my friends to enjoy this night together!