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You Can Dance in a Rainbow Ball Pit at This Giant Unicorn Party

By Alyssa Hirose /

Everybody prance now.

Have you ever wanted to watch a burlesque performance, decorate a custom unicorn horn or climb aboard a pink bus filled with 30,000 multicoloured plastic balls? Well, you can do all that while chowing down on a unicorn-shaped cookie, you magnificent, glittery beast, you!The Vancouver Pride Society is back with their second annual Unicorn Ball, a magical extravaganza of music, drag kings and a whole lot of the ol’ razzle-dazzle. This year, guests will rock out to tunes from a women-only line up of of DJs, including DJ Angle, Tigress, DJ A$J, and Kasey Riot. Burlesque performers, go-go dancers and drag kings and queens will take to the stage, too. It’s sure to be a night of frolicking you won’t soon forget. (Photo: Vancouver Pride Society.)The main attraction, of course, is the Love Bus, a re-purposed pink school bus lit with psychedelic LEDs and filled with tens of thousands of rainbow balls. This vivacious vehicle has its own Facebook page, which deems it a place to “blow minds and expand horizons” and “lose the entire contents of your pockets.” Relive your childhood dreams (or nightmares, I guess, if ball pits and school buses weren’t your thing) and dive in—just maybe leave your keys somewhere else.Why the long face? Are you out of purple eyeshadow? Guests can gallop on over to a by-donation Unicorn-Me-Up Station, where an artist will transform them from blah to brilliant with a little face paint and a lot of glitter. They can even finish off their look with a one-of-a-kind unicorn horn and take a photo in the (you guessed it) unicorn-themed photo booth. Cookies, provided by Sugar Patisserie, will also be available for hungry prancers. A scene from last year’s Unicorn Ball. (Photo: Vancouver Pride Society.)As if you needed another reason to attend this event, all of the Unicorn Ball’s proceeds go to the VPS Community Partnerships Program, which helps fund events for local LGBTQAI2s+ communities. A few of the events supported by last year’s Unicorn Ball were the Vancouver Dyke March, Aging With Pride and Too Queer: A Bi Visibility Cabaret. All donations and the proceeds from the sale of 50/50 tickets (a horn length for $5, a mane length for $10, a tail length for $20) will go towards this initiative.According to the event’s organizers, guests will be awarded limited edition Unicorn Ball stickers for exhibiting “particularly unicorny behaviour.” So do it up, magical-horse style. Just remember, with great glitter comes great responsibility—no throwing!

Vancouver Pride Society’s Unicorn Ball 2018

Saturday, February 24th (9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.)Imperial Vancouver, 319 Main Street

Online tickets can be purchased here. Hardcopy tickets can be purchased with cash at Jean Queen Clothing (2120 Commercial Drive) or Our Community Bikes (2429 Main Street), or with cash, credit and debit at the Vancouver Pride Society office (#304–1080 Howe Street, 604-687-0955).