Arabian Nights Summer Ball

Last night was the St George's School Summer Ball. The theme was Arabian Nights and the venue was the Home Park of Windsor Castle, ie, the Queen's back garden/yard.

Early in the day, the skies turned dark grey and the heavens opened up. The rain fell in sheets. Luckily, the weather cleared within an hour and the sky was crystal blue by the time we arrived by cab at the Town Gate.

My husband looked so handsome in his monkey suit, ahem, I mean dinner jacket! I had a bit of a panic the day before when I tried on the outfit I originally planned to wear. It was brown and I looked like a big turd. I wasn't going to make that mistake again! I power shopped and found a cream coloured chiffon cocktail dress that was beautiful.

Security was a bit strict and everyone was told to bring picture ID. The name on the event ticket had to match the name on ID. Everyone was security checked before we arrived. Once there, everyone looked beautiful with their own interpretation of what evening wear is. The dresses were stunning. The bling was fun. Hair was big.

We arrived for a champagne reception with the amazing castle looming large above us. The objective for the whole event was to raise money for musical instruments for the school so that students can try out various instruments before their parents have to make an investment and buy something their children later discover they don't want to play.

Champagne flowed freely and we bought an envelope from the Tree of Hope for £10. I won a free gym introduction and fitness programme at the Windsor Leisure Centre. I'm paranoid so I think it was fixed and someone is telling me I need to workout!

The venue was the marquee tent which has been constructed for the Travener's Cricket match and sponsored by Emirate's Airlines. It was nice of them to let us use it. The members of the PTA and parents had decorated it very nicely. The bouquet centrepieces were stunning! Wish I'd won that raffle!

Year 1 had quite a good showing. We had over 5 tables of parents. No bad going really. I reckon, if anyone's counting, that our year had more parents than any other year!

We did a round of heads and tails. In the end only one man and 4 women were left standing. And the man won!

We were left to eat our dinner which was quite an improvement on the meal we were served 2 years ago but seriously can you really serve hot delicious meals for 400+ ? To be honest, it was a bit bland. I did my best and stuck to my carb free diet despite a starter of a tart (I scrapped off the filling and ate just that). I didn't touch my bread which was nothing short of a will power triumph and my potatoes went back to the kitchen. I even maintained my determination during pudding. I gleefully ate my creme brulee and scrapped the chocolate mousse of the pie crust base.

During coffee and chocolate we were enticed by numerous auctions. There were some fabulous temptations: private tour of the royal mews by one of the Queen's grooms; carriage ride in the royal grounds, river boat meals for four. All in all the school raised over £10,500. That's a lot of musical instruments!

We continued to consume wine (although apparently they had run out of champagne!) and were entertained by a belly dancer. OK, so this just made me feel very inadequate!

Then the dancing started! I danced til my feet hurt. OK, so my feet were hurting before the dancing even started....can no one make a comfortable but sexy shoe for a woman with size 3 (USA) foot (size 1 UK)? But the DJ was great and everyone was having a boogey. Even my husband got out there and did was he thinks is dancing. Bless him!

By 12:30, the music stopped. The bar closed and the taxis were called.

We left in the with the stunning tower of Windsor Casstle a lit up just for our benefit (honest!)