How long had it been since Susan Lee of Kaimuki had worn her little black dress?

She pointed to the dance floor where her husband, Sidney, was steppin' it up with tiny-dancing-queen daughter, Gianna, in his arms.

"Well, she's 1 1/2," said the first-time mom, "so two, three years?"

Then she leaned closer: "I'm wearing Spanx, too."

Ah, the secrets you will learn at Baby Loves Disco, which held its inaugural daytime dance event for families April 5 at The O Lounge.

Remember ladies' night? This is babies' night.

The disco light strobed all the same colors with all the same songs from the loudspeakers, but instead of sweaty bodies and booze, you could smell the unforgettable mixture of Desitin and apple juice. And outside, the sun hadn't even set on the lounge's capacity crowd once the last dance was discoed.

And disco it was.

There were sparkly clothes. There were Donna Summer songs. There was a bottle of Guinness sharing table space with nippled bottles of apple juice.

"That's how we survive," joked Doug Spottswood, owner of the Guinness, here with his two tykes and their two friends. Then he looked around at the scene, low tables stocked with colorful blocks and side tables filled with stacks of Sesame Street-themed juice boxes and added, "This is such a great idea."

Even the keiki were sparkly.

Two sisters in matching white gowns, heavy on the taffeta, were Josephine and Sofia Muniz, 6 and 4, respectively.

"My mommy said we already are princesses," said Josephine. "Now, we just look like them."

Mommy would be Pauline Chu Muniz, who said she'd been looking forward to getting onto the dance floor, where others boogied as Boz Scaggs sang, "the sad, sad, truth, the dirty lowdown," set to a kid-friendly decibel.

UNIVERSAL HIT

A special guest for the first outing of the Baby Loves Disco in Hawai'i was its creator and co-founder, Heather Murphy Monteith. Husband Mark showed up a little later with their daughter and son, who'd been a little off their Pennsylvania internal clock.

Two years ago, Monteith spawned a craze that now has spread to 30 U.S. cities and is making its way overseas: Baby Loves Disco is in dance clubs in the United Kingdom, Tel Aviv, Poland, Japan and soon, China.

In 2004, the play group she joined with her son, Max, had already hit all the regular zoo-pizza place-kiddie spots in Philadelphia.

"I threatened my playgroup with, 'We're going to really do something fun,' " recalled Monteith, herself a modern dancer.

She contacted the owner of a small club, Fluids, and asked what the club did during the daytime hours. They cut a deal where she'd cover the club expenses for a family-friendly get-together, and she sent out word to family and friends that there was going to be a daytime to-do.

"We hoped 35 people would come," she said. "We sold out to 200 people."

Monteith remembers the club owner leaning over to her as she packed up the bubble machine from the first outing, asking, "When are you doing this again?"

That was November 2004. By February, Fluids was having a monthly event. Nine months later, Monteith and a partner started a Brooklyn event, and from there, well, it's something for the scrapbook.

"We bring everything that makes the event," Monteith said. "It's a requirement for us: It has to be family-friendly."

And family-friendly it was in Honolulu, too.

At The O Lounge, dads with wee ones in Baby Bjorn-style carriers bopped up and down, Corona in hand, while other kiddies scampered around. But there were plenty of moms — after the under-5 set, the crowd was mostly young women in their 20- and 30-something years — corralling wayward keiki, theirs or even a stray child who'd run ahead.

Once a mom, always a mom.

ALL 'OHANA

The staff, too, appreciated the backup.

"I like this because the parents, too, come out," said broad-shouldered Lester Tiwanak, an O Lounge manager, in his dark suit, looking more like a nighttime denizen than someone you'd see at Chuck E. Cheese. "I see everybody watching each other's kids."

It wasn't Take Your Child to Work Day or anything, but still Elizabeth Hata-Watanabe, owner of The O Lounge, had son, Kevin, 3, in tow.

"A lot of businesses won't even touch children's events," said Hata-Watanabe, adding she's the only female club owner on the island. "I welcome daytime children's events."

Then she looked around the packed club and added: "I might venture into a partnership."

Host mom Natalia Sandoval, mother of two tots and a Waikiki Elementary teacher, explained how the Hawai'i event came to be: "I came across an article in a parenting magazine," she said. "I read it, thought it was so cute. I wrote a letter and said we'd love to bring it to Hawai'i."

She and a friend flew to San Francisco in December to attend a Baby Loves Disco event, and returned all jazzed at the idea.

Indeed, the May event is nearly sold out, and Sandoval posted a grandpa at the bottom of the Kapi'olani ramp, breaking the news that the club couldn't accommodate walk-ins. He said he turned away at least 50 cars.

"Tell them tickets are only available online," Sandoval instructed a reporter.

Once a mom, always a mom.