A little piece of the entertainment capital of the world is coming to Dunedin this Saturday in the form of Taieri College's annual school ball.
Organising committee chairwoman Nicola Lord (17) hopes to turn the Dunedin Town Hall into a Las Vegas casino, complete with dice, cards, poker chips and glamorous decorations.
Adding to the excitement and vibrance of the casino atmosphere will be about 250 Year 12 and 13 pupils who will be dressed to the nines.
To make sure none of her fellow pupils end up flat broke after betting on the wrong horse, Nicola gave assurances that no money would change hands at the event.
All the fun would be part of the $85 ticket price.
Tickets include a meal, live entertainment by local band The Flaming Moes, photography, and buses to take pupils from Taieri College to the Dunedin Town Hall and back.
Nicola said it was important to make the event as authentic as possible because the pupils were spending a lot of money on the tickets and glamming themselves up, and they would be expecting a great night out.
''I think for the dresses alone, about $100 to $200 is pretty standard. A lot of people buy them online.
''Make-up and hair can cost up to $100 on top of that.''
She said there would be awards for best hair, best dressed, and best couple.
''I'm hoping people will enjoy the photo booth we are setting up, so they will have lots of photos and good memories of the night, something for us to look back on and cringe at later in life when we're at school reunions.''
If there was one thing Nicola wanted to achieve overall, it was that her fellow pupils felt like a million bucks by the end of the night.
