A children’s party planning company brought festive magic to the lives of youngsters suffering from illness, disability and family difficulties by making them the stars of a fairytale ball.
Love Rara, which was founded by 29-year-old Zara Grant in January 2014, puts on events for children across the north-east with a staff of 18 performers and a few dozen wardrobes full of fancy dress.
Mrs Grant, who originally started the business with a face painting kit and £100 in cash, gave nine children and their parents a free ticket to Love Rara’s Frozen Ball, which was held at the Station Hotel in Ellon.
Prior to the event Mrs Grant held a competition inviting people to vote on which disadvantaged youngster they wanted to send to the ball.
Her plan was to let the families of two of lucky winners go for free, but to her surprise seven anonymous donors stumped up a total of £420 to cover the costs for the other nominees.
Mrs Grant said: “We do a lot of charity work all year round, but for this event we let the public decide on our Facebook page who we should support and the response was out of this world.
“It was impossible to choose, but we picked two to go to the ball for free with their parents, and then the magic happened – members of the public, who didn’t want to be named, gave us enough cash to send all the worthy entrants to the ball.
“It was a wonderful night, but it was quite emotional for a lot of the mums and dads. Our performers were amazing, and took the special guests onto the ballroom floor for the first dance with their prince or princess heroes.
“Some of the kids were in wheelchairs, but to make sure they didn’t feel left out our staff lifted them out of their chairs and danced them through the air as well.
“It was a truly magical evening, and I would love to thank all the generous donors who made it possible for the boys and girls whose dreams came true.”