Students attending the third annual Yule Ball can expect to have a night full of fun and magic, said Kaila Messerli, Union Board activities and events program coordinator.
The event, taking place from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, will consist of food, performances and dancing in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Alumni Hall.
It is modeled after the Yule Ball from “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” Messerli said.
“We’re going to have everything from the floating candles on the ceiling to our sorting hat there, so people can get sorted into their Hogwarts houses,” Messerli said.
There will also be Harry Potter-themed foods like Snitch-shaped cake pops and Butterbeer, Messerli said.
This is the event’s third year.
What started as a project between the Harry Potter Society, Quidditch Club and Union Board has now become an event that includes a wide variety of campus and Bloomington groups, including IU Ballet and the IU Ballroom Dance Club, Messerli said.
She said a ballet group, a break dance group and a cappella group Resting Pitch Face will perform at this year’s event. The IU Ballroom Dance Club will also give a performance.
Messerli said the Yule Ball is first and foremost a dance.
Throughout the night students can dance to a variety of music.
Junior Jess Horwitz heard about the ball from one of her sorority sisters who is on the Union Board.
She said she decided to buy a ticket because it seemed like it would be a great way to spend time with her friends before she leaves to study abroad next semester.
“My friends and I are kind of using this as a last hurrah before finals,” Horwitz said. “I also grew up loving Harry Potter and knew that this event would be so fun.”
More than 300 students have already purchased tickets for the Yule Ball, Messerli said. Tickets will be sold for $10 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday in the Union Board office or for $15 at the door.
Messerli said she has been working on this event for months alongside other Union Board members and IU student groups.
She said she hopes the event will encourage students to take a break from studying for their final exams and relax.
“I think it’s a good way to just kind of remind yourself, ‘OK, college is great and classes are important, but there’s also enough time to have fun, too,’” Messerli said.
