Couples waltzed, tangoed and swung the night away at the Prospect Community Center Friendship Hall on Jan. 24 at the “Fly Me to the Moon” senior citizen ball, hosted by the City of Saratoga Youth Commission.
Every year, the commission focuses its time and money into hosting a large event that carries out their mission: to serve the youth of the community. Last year, the commission arranged a Laser Tag area at the community center for students to de-stress after finals week. This year, the commission decided to shift to a completely different clientele after learning about other Bay Area commissions’ outreach to different age groups.
Inspired by the 1960s hit classic, "Fly Me To The Moon," the commissioners worked for two months to plan and carry out this community event. Though the event was open to the public, most attendees were either guests of the commissioners, residents of the community retirement homes or members of the senior center activity program.
The event was called a “Senior Ball,” but families of senior citizens were also welcome to attend. This was the first time the youth commission deviated from its usual agenda of catering directly to the youth in the community.
Instead, it put together a list of different ways teens could help out during the event. The commissioners recruited more than 20 youth members from the community to help prepare for and perform during the event.
With more than 60 guests in attendance, the ball was an effort the commissioners saw as a success. Similar to planning a wedding, the commissioners were given the task of planning everything the dance would require, from catering to stage lights to live music.
The Saratoga High School Jazz Band played classic jazz music during the entirety of the ball. Guests danced the night away to favorite songs. Members from the SHS Photography Club, junior Uday Singh and senior Alan Tran, set up a photo booth, complete with studio lights and photo screens.
Youth commissioner Maya Gupta, a freshman, said most of the decorations, tablecloths, lights, lanterns and flower arrangements were ordered and paid for. The commissioners’ wide range of talents came into play when they started to self-construct balloon arches and centerpieces.
With dinner catered and paid for through the commission’s annual budget and other fundraising projects, the commission was left with the question of appetizers, desserts, drinks and coffee.
Someone suggested the commissioners cook and prepare food items themselves. Distributing the job evenly, they each took trips to the grocery stores and found online recipes for hors d’oeuvres, coffee cakes, lacey cookies and other finger foods.
In total, the commission spent over $2,000 to put on the event, and will look to use the rest of its annual budget in its upcoming events.
“Cooking and cleaning with the commission was a terrific experience, despite the hundreds of dishes [the commission] had to wash later that night,” Gupta said.
