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Hello! Given that you've clicked on the link to get more information about why there won't be a party in 2026, I expect that you want to know why we've decided to skip a year.
I presume that if you've reached this page, then you know me well enough to know that I'm an open book about myself and my feelings, and so rather than go through this conversation every time someone asks me the date of the 2026 party, I thought I'd write it down.
Firstly, I thought the 2025 party was the best yet. Everyone who came seemed to be enjoying themselves, and as always, I thought the atmosphere was fun, inclusive and supportive. Plenty of people did karaoke who'd never done karaoke before and seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. I'm proud of having been part of creating a space which feels supportive enough for people to do that!
The party takes a lot of work to set up. That's not in any way a complaint from me, especially as I've come to realise that stage design and lighting design have unwittingly become a hobby of mine. You may have noticed that the rig in 2025 was fairly full on. I enjoy designing and rigging that and thinking about the placement of lights, the engineering of how to safely get them into place, and the problem solving of how to get power and DMX/ArtNET signal to them are all things I enjoy thinking about and solving in the run-up to the party and the big build in the week itself.
But the party took a lot out of me this year, physically and mentally. I'm pretty open with my neurodiversity (I had an autism diagnosis in early 2025, which came as a surprise to literally nobody) and my struggles with anxiety, especially around social situations and interactions (see the autism thing above!). The party has always served as a safe space for me, and I genuinely don't feel anxious during the party. I think together we've all managed to create a wonderfully safe space, and the fact that I'm happy to do solo karaoke is a testament to how anxious I'm not feeling during the event itself.
But the whole thing is quite tiring. The week before the party is full-on, and I spend eight consecutive days, at least eight hours per day, up and down ladders, running cables and printing signs. I'm not going to claim that 50 is old, but this is certainly harder now than it was ten years ago when we started. Maybe that's because the party has grown, or maybe it's because I'm a lot less fit than I was back then. Either way, I have found myself exhausted for a week after the party this year.
And then there's the night itself. In truth, by the time midnight rolled around this year, I was completely exhausted - as was Jon. It's been a long week to that point, and we've been at the party for 10 hours at that stage and in truth once the party starts to wind down, my thoughts start to turn to how long it's going to take to pack it all away again, and so I just wanted to get to bed, have a rest and then get started on putting it all away again.
Although I don't get anxious within the context of the party, some things happen throughout setup and on the day itself which do make me anxious. It didn't help that the power kept tripping on Friday night. If you'd come on the Saturday the only thing you'd have noticed would've been an asymmetry in how the main stage truss was lit, but if you'd been here on the Friday you would've seen Charles, Jon and I spending a long time tracking down which fixture was causing the trip and working out how to safely remove it without ruining the lighting rig. And on Saturday itself, in the middle of karaoke, half of the lighting rig failed, and I ended up on a stepladder with a long cable (which turned out not to be necessary in the end...) trying to get it working again.
The obvious answer, which people ask me a lot, is why I don't get people to help me. Whilst it's a good idea, it does raise the question - what kind of people could help? The setup of the party is about 80% planning and thinking, and about 20% building. The 20% building is something Jon and I do together, and the 80% thinking and innovating is the part that I enjoy. To hire someone to design and build the lighting rig would take all the fun out of it for me...
And so, we've decided to take a year's break from the party. I'll start to think of what the plan is for 2027, and in particular, I'll be thinking of ways to achieve the same overall impact without it quite having the impact on me that it does - maybe getting fit again would be part of that - or maybe looking at whether I can do more things in advance.
But as it stands, the lights and feather boas will be staying in storage just a little longer this time around.
Of course, there is the chance that we get to Christmas and I decide that I can't live without the idea of a party next year and change my mind, but right now, I don't see that happening...
Whilst I'm always open and honest about how I feel, I just want to say - I'm fine. I'm tired after this year's party, but my mental and physical health is fine. I wouldn't do the party if it had a detrimental impact on my wellbeing, so please don't worry about that.
And so that's that. Hopefully, a year off will give time for us to come up with ways to make the workload a little easier, and so new ideas to keep the party feeling new and exciting for everyone...
Dan.x