2006 Northville MI High School Senior All Night Party (SANP)
 by Clay Harrell.

What is a 'Senior All Night Party'?
Go back to the Home Page to read about the whole concept of what a SANP is. Links to pictures below of recent Northville Senior All Night Parties.

Pictures of Northville 2006 SANP.
With comments, as seen by me. The order of pictures would be how SANP was viewed if walking in from the side entrance of the school (where the kids enter SANP), and walking through to the end of the decorations hallway.

The thing that made the SANP 2006 party *much* more successful than SANP 2007 was the amount of interactive decorations. Dave Laabs made sure all the areas had this. Otherwise the kids just walk by the decorations, they really don't care. But if you make them INTERACTIVE, they stop, play, socialize there for a moment. It makes all the difference and gives the kids much more to do.

The other thing that made 2006 much more successful than 2007 was the use of actors. That is, parent dressed to play parts, and to do skits. It doesn't have to be much, but it makes a HUGE difference. From Darth Vader to the Sheriff, to the cowgirl. It all makes a difference, and the kids really remember it.


One thing that really made SANP 2006 a big success was the usage of "actors". That is, parents dressed and played parts, interacting with the kids during SANP. Darth Vader (Karen Poulos' son) was a huge hit.

The entrance way to SANP. This was made to look like the Hollywood Mann's Chinese theatre.



First up was Beauty Shop for the ladies.


Next up was the Star Wars area.

The mayor of Northville made the Walker model.


Space themed games (on free-play) which I provided for SANP at no cost.

Dave Laabs was in charge of the Wild Wild West area. These pictures do not do justice to the work Dave did in this area.

Dave Laabs and his son Denver working to set up the Wild West area.


Sue Laabs playing cowgirl.

This is a shot from the rear of an actual train car that Dave made. Again, this picture does not do justice to the detail and work involved. There was a pool table for the kids to play installed inside the car!

Kids mining for gold. Dave painted a bunch of pebbles with gold paint, and used a sump pump to move water down a 'river' and into a kiddie pool (made to look like a pond). The kids would then take the gold rocks that they 'mined' to the general store, have them weighed, and get 'money' (slot machine tokens) in return. They could then go to the casino and either turn the tokens in for prize tickets, or gamble them in the casino slot machines (I provided the slot machines for the casino).

The Mercantile's store clerk. This was the gentlemen that weighed the 'gold' and exchanged it for slot machine tokens.

Camp fire area with guitar. I saw a few kids strumming on the guitar through the night!





Harry Potter was a separate area, not in the hallway. Because of this, it was not utilized as well as it could have been. There was a magician hired to work this area.



Pirates of the Caribbean had a drink bar. That was the main attraction to this area. Not much else there really.



In the Napolean Dynamite area I put a bunch of games on free-play. This included pinball games and two bowling games (one ball bowler, and one shuffle alley). The bowling games went NON-STOP all night! They were a big hit.


Disassembling the games after a long night.

Thank You's.
At the end of the 2006 SANP project, our decoration group (about 15 people) got together for a 'thank you' lunch. That was really nice, and everyone had an opportunity to de-brief and to thank each other. Also, a year later, I received yet ANOTHER "thank you" from the head of the SANP2006 Karen Poulos with a certificant of appreication for my efforts. WOW!

This year just me and my wife moved the games from the drug store to the high school, and then back (at 4am). It was a tough job for two people. I also stayed at the SANP all night. I was sick for a week after this. *sigh*