I’m learning you don’t have to be an expert the first time you do something. No one is expecting me to be anyway. All you need to do is show up, be you, and do the job. Be relentless in the pursuit of your happiness. And being determined means demanding more of yourself than anyone else could require of you, knowing that you must push to do more every time there’s a hiccup. I’m fortunate enough to work on dream projects like this one, the Papio South Homecoming.
Some events you’ll always remember, no matter how big your company gets or if you stop doing events altogether. This was one of them.
Here’s a story about a girl named Lucky…
Imagine this: You’re a party designer in Omaha and gearing up for your first massive installation to plan a festival theme homecoming. You spent weeks planning + prepping. It’s now the day before, and you’re blowing up as many balloons as possible, and you must go pick up a friend’s trailer to load it up + lock everything up before attempting to catch 8 hours of zzz’s. Too excited to sleep, you spend the following day *buzzing* on energy for the “what’s about to become” and head to pick up your event-day employees (*cough* my amazing parents and brother *cough*), and then BOOM – you hit a rock with the trailer. The trailer angles a full 45 degrees before slamming back down toppling everything inside over, including all the custom hand-build props you spent countless hours on over the last few weeks. Your heart sinks. The shocks start to set in.
We didn’t have a choice other than to be resilient. With the help of my parents, we decided to calm down, check it all out, and continue to the event. While our nerves were shot, our trailer was intact, and our supplies made it.
When we arrived at the event, the outstanding Student Council members quickly assisted us in unloading our supplies (oh, and mind you, it was pouring rain). At this time, I couldn’t believe it was finally time to let the set-up begin. After all, our team has spent months and months designing, prepping, and sweating planning a festival theme homecoming. It took our team of eight people 6+ hours to complete the setup.
Students were greeted at the entrance door by a Volkswagen bus, light-up marquee letters, and an enormous pile of balloons. Just past the gates, our students walked underneath a massive double organic balloon arch (the largest I’ve ever seen) for check-in.
We created four custom pieces for this event, but *this* was my favorite – a groovy custom-cut piece for a photo op. This Volkswagen photo booth cut out sat right outside the gym entrance, and low-key excited that it was such a hit, students were waiting 30-45 minutes just for a photo. Eeek! They loved it that much!
As an influencer’s paradise, California music festivals are known for their Instagrammable skylines. So, in the backside of the gym, we placed a 30 ft wide backdrop of the iconic Coachella music festival skyline.
While Marshmello couldn’t attend the event, we created a mountain of organic balloons (held tight to the basketball hoop) and added fringe and disco balls to complete the rave-esque theme over the DJ booth and bleachers. With over 150 + feet of balloons, the bleachers were colorful and covered as well. The students even got creative and added their own greenery, lights, and hand-drawn posters to add!
Our team did experience a few hiccups. Our team prevailed, though. We learned. We laughed. We know that after a few hours of making fringe, we should call in reinforcement (and it was necessary with a clocked 75 + hours spent on it). But that’s the Party Bar difference. We are determined to go above and beyond for all our clients. We want your vision to come to life, and we’re going to have fun doing it.
