Taso (and anyone else who wants to chime in), I need some coaching on Sweet 16s. I've done a few of these before but never did anything more than a standard birthday party. This mom has hired me for several events before and now that her little girl has grown up, she's calling me again. She mentioned the girl's wanting a black-light (glow) party. I have a blacklight cannon and 1 UV panel, but they've always been pretty underwhelming. I have $2.2k budget to work with and have offered to throw in give aways. What else would you suggest? It's in 2 months so I gotta move quick.
I can't speak for black light sweet 16's too much, as the only way for it to be really effective is if the kids wore all white or neon... and in NJ where kids tend to arrive to them formally dressed, that isn't going to happen. However, if in your case, the kids are decked out in neon or come in white, then you can have a great outcome in results. Since I don't use blacklights too much my knowledge is limited. However, from my limited experience, I know that the LED versions don't do justice compared to the actual UV lights. Consider offering neon glow sticks or white LED batons as giveaways, or the newest trend in giveaways... LED/glowing pacifiers. If the venue allows look for white confetti poppers to do a couple of times during the night. Thats always a great effect especially if you can find white conffetti or uv reflective. Another cool thing, is to purchase white gloves like this
https://www.amazon.com/eBoot-Pairs-...508213654&sr=8-1&keywords=white+server+gloves and give em out during a particular segment and have everyones hands in the air during some really high energy edm music. If you watch around the 3:40 mark in the below video, you'll see what I'm talking about.
Bottom line with any sweet 16 though is it's all about the music and energy. BE PREPARED with the latest and best. DO NOT PLAY SLOW SONGS except during dinner. KEEP IT MOSTLY CURRENT... yes some throwbacks are cool, but kids want to hear the popular stuff now. ROTATE GENRES... play abotu 10 min 128bpm top 40, switch to 10-15min 98bpm tracks, bring in some EDM (big build ups and drops), and some slower hip hop like "rolex", "ispy" etc. Kids get bored fast, so your mixes need to be faster than normal too with seamless transitions so that they don't look at you like you have 3 heads each time you're switching a song. Another reason why I think transitions are key... YOU CANT AFFORD TO LOSE ENERGY... all it takes is for one bad song to clear the dancefloor. With teenagers, if one or two decide to leave the dancefloor... 6 may follow. Know your go to music so that in case the floor clears or they go to the bathroom, you get em back quick. Songs like one dance, bodak yellow, rockstar, despacito, etc.
Lastly, to kinda show what I do musically... here is a list of music I played from this weekend's dance I did with 400 teens. This isn't the perfect example, as with 400 teens I aimed at more of a rave vibe with more songs that featured build ups and drops... which may or may not work on some smaller crowds. All this music was played in about a 1.5hr time span to give you a sense of how quickly I was mixing it:
DINNER MUSIC
Love On Top Beyoncé
One Call Away Charlie Puth
Who Says Selena Gomez & The Scene
Body Like A Back Road (Clean) Sam Hunt
Rise Up (Clean) Andra Day
Rollin (Clean) Calvin Harris Feat. Future and Khalid
1-800-273-8255 (Clean) Logic Feat. Khalid and Alessia Cara
Sorry Not Sorry (Clean) Demi Lovato
Young Dumb and Broke (Clean) Khalid
How Far I'll Go Alessia Cara
Since there were 400 guests, some had finished dinner while others got served... first few songs below were transition tracks to ease them onto the dancefloor
There It Is (David Jones Remix) Tujamo
Fogo (Clean) Garmiani Feat. Julimar Santos
Hit The Road Jack (Original Club Mix) Throttle
Is This Love Bob Marley & The Wailers Feat. LVNDSCAPE & Boiler
Attention (PeteDown NuDisco Mix) Clean Charlie Puth
Cold Water (Tom Budin Remix) Major Lazer Feat. Justin Bieber & M.O aka MO
Shape Of You (Cloak Dagger Moombahton Mix) (Clean) Ed Sheeran
Mi Gente (Clean) J Balvin Y Willy William
Get Low (Main) Zedd & Liam Payne
All Night (Clean) Chance The Rapper Feat. Knox Fortune
I Love It (Sick Individuals Remix Maestro Re-Edit) Icona Pop
Party Till We Die (Clean) MAKJ and Timmy Trumpet Feat. Andrew W.K.
Rock The Party (Original Mix) Jauz
Danza Kuduro (Original) Don Omar ft Lucenzo
Sexy Ladies Akon ft Don Omar
Bailando Por El Mundo (feat. El Cata, Pitbull) Juan Magan
Bodak Yellow (Clean) Cardi B
Thats What I Like (Extend) (Dance Version) (Clean) Bruno Mars
Bad & Boujee (Clean) Migos Feat. Lil Uzi Vert
The Hum Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike & Ummet Ozcan
We Wanna Party (Extended Mix) TJR feat. Savage
This Girl (Clean) Kungs vs Cookin On 3 Burners
Kill The Lights (Audien Remix) Alex Newell
Bend Ova [128 - 103] - Clean Lil Jon
Bird Machine DJ Snake ft Alesia
Despacito (Remix) Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Feat. Justin Bieber
iSpy (Clean) Kyle Feat. Lil Yachty
Rolex (Clean) Ayo & Teo
Rockstar (Clean) Post Malone Feat. 21 Savage
Unforgettable - Latin Remix (Clean) French Montana & J Balvin Feat. Swae Lee
Wild Thoughts (Clean) DJ Khaled Feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller
Gasolina (Remix) Daddy Yankee Ft. Pitbull & N.O.R.E.
Hips Don't Lie Shakira ft Wyclef Jean
One Dance (Clean) Drake ft Wizkid & Kyla
Goldigger (clean) Kanye West
Up In Here (clean) DMX
Be Faithful (clean) Fatman Scoop
Rattle New York (Sik Suo Remix) Clean Bigo Players x Alicia Keys
Viento Gianluca Vacchi
Look What You Made Me Do (Handbag House Clean) Taylor Swift
Riot Wiwek
Booty Bounce (feat. DJ Funk) GTA
I Want You To Know (Moiez Remix) Zedd ft Selena Gomez
No Money (Main) Galantis
The Code (Original Mix) Ummet Ozcan, W&W
Mammoth Dimitri Vegas, MOGUAI & Like Mike
Party In The U.S.A. (Wideboys Club Mix) Miley Cyrus
Boy Oh Boy (Original Mix) Diplo & GTA
Shots (clean) LMFAO ft Lil Jon
Low (Clean) Flo Rida
MOVE SHAKE DROP - REMIX DJ LAZ
Calabria (Firebeatz Remix) (John Cha) (Clean) Rune RK
Krazy (Clean) Pitbull
Fergalicious Fergie
Temperature Sean Paul
move your body Nina Sky Ft Jabba
Culo Pitbull F/ Lil Jon
Conga Shake (Dj Steve1der Remix) (Dj Rukus Intro Edit) (Clean) Nina Sky
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (The Cube Guys Mix) Barbara Tucker, The Cube Guys
You Don't Know Me (Original Clean Mix) Jax Jones Feat. Raye
Ecco (Ummet Ozcan Edit) Mem
Get Loose (Clean) Lil Jon
Love Myself (Extend) (John Cha) (Clean) Hailee Steinfield
Rave After Rave W&W
Clarity (Radio Mix) Zedd ft Foxes
Reload (Original Mix) Sebastian Ingrosso, Tommy Trash
Bet You Can't Do It Like Me IAmDLOW
Gas Pedal ft. IamSu (CLEAN) Sage the Gemini
Bubble Butt (Radio Mix) [feat. Bruno Mars, 2 Chainz, Tyga & Mystic] Major Lazer
Don't Drop That Thun Thun Finatticz
Ayy Ladies (feat. Tyga) Travis Porter
679 (Remy Boyz) (Clean) Fetty Wap ft Montana Buckz
Post To Be (Clean) Omarion ft Chris Brown & Jhene Aiko
Loyal (Clean) Chris Brown ft French Montana & Lil Wayne
If you Wanna be my Lover Spice Girls
All Night (Filip Jenven and Mike Perry Remix) Icona Pop
Don't You Worry Child (feat. John Martin) (Extended Mix) Swedish House Mafia
Club Can't Handle Me - Sidney Samson Remix David Guetta, Flo Rida
Pursuit Of Happiness (Steve Aoki Mix) Kid Cudi
Don't Wake Me Up (Benny Benassi Remix) Chris Brown
What Makes You Beautiful (DJ Jeff Hype Remix) One Direction