Fresh and sparkly mirror ball decor ideas

Looking for some super cool wedding inspiration? Something for brides and grooms who love to party? Or perhaps you want to throw an unforgettable milestone birthday party for your 21st birthday or your 40th/ 50th?

Simply Sparkles have got great ball skills and helped create some seriously sparkly disco ball vibes working with florists, brides and event planners at some of the gorgeous wine farms right here in the beautiful Cape. We’ve also installed some fabulous mirror ball decor complete with motors and coloured lights for various high glamour 21st and 40th birthday parties, and we’ll give you some installation tips in this post in case you want to hire the mirror balls and have fun installing them yourselves! Let’s play (disco)ball!

We can show you some different ways disco balls can be used to amp up the glam factor, and give tips on creating your own unique and fun vibe

1. Retro and romantic floral disco ball wedding

disco balls and lighting: Simply Sparkles

photographer: Charné Photography (@charneaphotography)

florals: Zaan Kultuur

venue: Rozendal 401 (Stellenbosch winelands)

This look is both romantic and soft, while setting a playful, glamorous retro tone. Go for a mix of multiple shades of pinks with some and a dash of yellow in the florals and make a big glam statement with the mirror balls.

For a switch to night time party vibes, add some pink lighting and ask your photographer to do some of the photos with an old school flash for that retro vibe like photographer Charné Delport did here.

2. Rock and Roll disco ball vibes

This is a bit more of an edgy vibe and clearly giving off ‘let’s party hard!’ messages! This look combined the bride’s awesome graphic art skills, some slightly industrial look gold painted milk crates as levels and, tied together the moody, gold and jewel-toned theme with the silver glitz and glam of the mirror balls. Old vinyl records, neon signs mixed in with the jewel-toned flowers continued the rock music theme for a bride who rocks her drum kit is a DJ.

florals: My Green Love Affair

milk crates, mirror balls and signs: Simply Sparkles

3. Floral and sparkly disco balls styled outdoors with spring flowers or greenery and fairy lights.

This trend continues to be huge and with good reason - the variations are endless and both mirror balls and flowers make you feel happy and bubbly just looking at them. Both speak of feasting and festivity. If your party or wedding venue has an outdoor aspect, then sunshine and fairy lights with mirror balls are simply magical.

The photos shared here are from our outdoor stylings for special spring baby shower in Somerset West and a n annual Punch for Pink breast cancer awareness fashion show at Kamers/Makers market at Blaauwklippen vineyards in Stellenbosch.

The fashion show was a glamorous day time charity event under the magnificent wild fig trees at Blaauwklippen vineyards. The colours of Punch for Pink’s event branding included hot pinks and oranges so we added Indian wedding-style strings of flowers in these colours dripping down from the trees with the mirror balls, using the natural arch formed over the runway by the tree branches. This look is both stunning and fun, and was a huge hit as a spontaneous photo opportunity for both fashion show models and guests as well as market goers.

For the baby shower, sweet pink clouds of baby’s breath were paired with mirror balls and fairy lights over a swimming pool. This was pretty as a picture during the day, when mirror balls cast gently moving sparkles in the sunlight, and the flowers looked like part of the pergola vines. Then at night it was pure magic as the fairy lights reflected on the mirror balls and in the swimming pool water surface.

Flowers and mirror balls can also be paid in floor and wall arrangements rather than hanging overhead, as in this bridal shoot with Kyknet TV presenter and model Marcile Hopkins at the lovely Nooitgedacht estate wedding venue. Florals by Zaan Kultuur. Round arch and mirror balls: Simply Sparkles.

To get maximum impact in floor and table arrangements, and prevent mirror balls from rolling all over the place and getting damaged, use small glass bowls or silverware like vintage silver candle sticks as levels to arrange your mirror balls at different heights. You can also use fabric drapery to nestle the mirror balls in for a soft (and safe) arrangement.

4. Sparkly mirror balls paired with metallic gold or silver, or stars with coloured lights

This has been one of our most requested disco ball set ups lately, particularly for milestone birthdays like 21sts, 30ths, 40ths and 50th birthday parties but is also a hit for wedding receptions (with the potential to go from more classic glamour silver and white for dinner to more dance vibes at the wedding reception). It is also a big hit at Matric dances or Proms.

The look combines a few turning mirror balls with some decorative ones, a mix of sizes and some 3D silver foil balloons and sometimes additional strings of decorative foil card stars. Pin spots, uprights and coloured floods are added wither by us or a DJ to add impact and movement. The dramatic decor impact is huge over a dance floor in larger venues, and the silver mirror of the disco balls and the silver foil balloons means you can change the look throughout the evening to match the mood or theme.

This look is best achieved in a venue with a high ceiling and with the main large disco balls and stars clustered quite close together. The bigger the variety of sizes the better.

For floor arrangements, you can pair mirror balls with tall silver or brass candle sticks and other metalware, or with edgy bridal jewellery, like this dramatic golden spiked tiara (by Relier Design) modelled by Yuka Stolze , with mirror ball styling and lighting by Simply Sparkles.

(photographer: @Harvest_studios. Dress: Allora Bridal).

You can also easily pair mirror balls with silverware or gold items for a maximum shine, glamorous floor arrangement, as we did in this Wedding shoot at historic Nooitgedacht Estate outside Stellenbosch. Some copper wire fairy lights and a wide, warm white flood light offset the mirror balls to get the sparkle and shine.

Side note on balloons: While we usually choose to avoid balloons whenever possible because of the environmental impact, some foil balloons can be recycled and the star burst ones shown here last for ages. We were able to reuse these foil star balloons for a balloon arch for an 80’s party photo backdrop and for a glow in the dark 13th birthday party over 6 weeks. If you’re not a party planner and only have one event to use foil balloons for, consider offering them to someone else in your area on social media - you could save them money, recoup some of your event costs, and save the environment more single use items being purchased and thrown away! Paper and card garlands can easily be wound up on a piece of card and packed flat to be used multiple times as well.

Safety and other practical tips

Simply Sparkles have a wide range of experience with hanging installations involving mirror balls and lights, and so we know a few of the safety issues involved in hanging many kilograms of real glass mirrors over people’s heads. We strongly recommend hiring a professional team to do this kind of set up, but should you prefer to hire mirror balls and attempt a DIY, this is what you need to bear in mind:

1. Height: Get accurate measurements for tree branches, roof beams and ceilings from a venue before you start work. We’re really particular about this because there is a big difference between working at standard ceiling heights and at 4 or 5m or more above floor level when you are carrying 40cm mirror balls. You need good ladders or scaffolding which is high enough for you to work safely, and a team to help holding the ladders and passing up the balls. You also need to remember the safety of the party guests. Hang your lowest ball first as your guide, then work up. If people are going to sit at a table, they lean forward as they pull in their seats, so make sure they won’t get a mirror ball tile imprint on their foreheads as they do this. If they’re going to dance under the mirror ball arrangement, get a tall guy to stand underneath the lowest ball and (gently) wave his hands in the air like he just does not care. I often joke with my right hand assistant, Peter (who is really, really tall), that his height is his most valuable attribute as he has to do this slightly embarrassing job every time we set up. If your tall guy hits the ball with his hands, it’s too low, so rehang it and check again. Remember people also jump up and down a little when dancing so make a little hopping allowance as well. If you have no tall guy handy, get one at home to stand next to your ladder and mark with tape where his hands reach when extended over his head (plus that hop ‘n’ bop allowance).
2. Weight (a knotty problem): The laws of physics apply to birthday parties and weddings too, and falling objects gain momentum depending on how far they fall. So a 2kg mirror ball will hit with a greater force if it falls from higher up, and do more damage to both itself and anyone unlucky enough to be in its path. If you are setting up a big installation containing lots of weights (read: mirror balls, motors, lighting, flowers) you need to know your knots, your tension wire fixtures etc. and be sure that what goes up will only come down after the party, when you intend it to. Mirror balls tend to go up before flowers and other decor, and if not doing both yourself, your florist needs to also talk to you about the added weight of their flowers and wire forms, containers, etc. We use strong gauge fish gut for smaller arrangements and little disco balls (with good knots) and tension wires or even chains for larger areas or higher up arrangements with heavier balls and heavy duty motors. If we’re doing a hanging arrangement clustered in one area between roof beams, high up, we spread the weight over several tension wires or use a steel grid attached to tension wires.
3. Fixtures: Know which ones can take which amount of tension and weight, and be careful not to drop them on people’s heads while setting up. Check and double check all your clamps, knots and ties as you are working and plan for this as much as you plan for the prettiness of your arrangement. If you’re working with a team, someone has to take responsibility for a final check that nothing can pull loose, get unwound over the evening, etc.
4. Electricity: Wiring in lights, or hanging mirror balls from places where other light cabling goes, means being super careful you aren’t going to set fire to a thatch roof with hot lights or overloaded plug points, and that you secure your own wiring for mirror ball motors and lights in a way that is both attractive and safe. This means securing cables so there is no trip hazard, avoiding things dangling over water sources like swimming pools, keeping open plugs well covered if outdoors and there is rain or dew, and being careful not to cut through cable insulation with over-enthusiastic cable-tying or scissors while retying things (we prefer using elastic band ties, s hooks, G clamps, string, and reusable velcro ties where possible).
5. Weather: Wind is a plot factor in any wedding or birthday party in the Western Cape where we work. Even a heavy, large mirror ball will swing a bit in heavy wind and you potentially have suspended a glass wrecking ball that will do costly damage to other mirror balls, flowers or possibly people so if your arrangement is outdoors, plan this into the spacing of the balls and the strength of your hanging fixtures. Rain shouldn’t damage most mirror balls, but will lead to them needing cleaning. Rain is a hazard for disco ball motors and lights so make sure these are properly protected at all times from rain, dew, drips and leaks.
6. Cleaning: The best cleaning products for your mirror balls are spray-on window-cleaning products and a soft cloth. We have a car window cleaning spray that for some reason is the best at not needing loads of polishing as it doesn’t leave a residue.
7. Repairs: inevitably, a ball will need repairing once in a while. How you fix it will depend on the base of the mirror ball (i.e. what is underneath the tiles) as some have hard plastic shells as a base, while most are polystyrene. Both the polystyrene and the plastic bases are hollow (to keep the balls light), so you need to be careful not to exert too much pressure while repairing the ball, and (if it was a big fall) to check the base hasn’t cracked anywhere, as this will make it possible to break apart and potentially fall on someone. Your first step is to gently prise off any broken or chipped tiles with a flat, hard implement. I often use a sharp, but not sedated, steak knife. You need to be super careful not to cut towards yourself and to avoid slipping, and to protect yourself from the broken glass. Wear heavy-duty leather gloves if you have some. Insert the point of the knife under the edge of the tile and lever it off bit by bit. If your base needs repairing, you’ll have to do this and then let it dry overnight (so glues can cure) before putting on a new tile. I use a mosaic glue which comes in a bottle with a fine nozzle so that I can fill in any hollows made by polystyerene chunks coming off when I pulled off the tiles. We buy this at a craft store, where the staff know their stuff and could tell us what would be safe. IMPORTANT: MANY GLUES WILL DISSOLVE POLYSTYRENE and this will ruin your mirror ball. Broken plastic bases need to be repaired with strong tape like duct tape, so you have to remove quite a few tiles to make room for the repair job. If you are careful, you will be able to reuse most of your undamaged tiles. One the base is repaired, you can replace the broken tiles with fresh ones. We buy strips of mirror tiles online or (more often) keep any mirror balls that are truly broken beyond repair and use these as a source of replacement tiles. This works well for us as well have so many and hire them out.