Hints & Tips Page

Are you planning a birthday or having live entertainment at your party?

• Send out invitations. Plan the party for a certain time, usually on the weekends, during the afternoon is best. Make sure the time, location, directions and end time are clearly stated on the invite. You may want to keep a list of names and numbers of the children and adults so this will give you an idea of how many are coming and in case of emergency you can get in contact with the parents.
  
  
• Have a game plan. Make sure you schedule games and videos, not just let the children make your house in to a huge play room. You want organised activities so you don't have anyone wondering off alone or outside alone. Have fun games for the kids to do as a group, with prizes for everyone so no-one feels hurt.
  
  
• Maintain a constant head count to make sure everyone is there. You can even make this into a game by having the kids reply when you call out their name. Name tags, labels on cups and plates is a good idea so everyone knows everyone's name.
  
  
• Have someone help you or go somewhere so someone else can host the party so you don't have to deal with the after mess. Your not a SUPER person so have someone else take a little of the burden off yourself with an extra set of eyes.
  
  
• Keep the children in one room at a time. You don't want or need all the children running through every room in your house. Plan what room is the party room and make that room child proof if it's not already. Explain to the kids that they must tell an adult if they are leaving the room for any reason.
  
  
• Don't serve a lot of sugar filled snacks in the beginning of the party. We all know what sugar does to kids and you don't want the birthday child showing the others how much fun it is to swing on the door while the other kids are pulling the hair off the cat using tape. You want the house in one piece at the end of the night. Have other types of crisps and snacks for them.
  
  
• Serve cake, drinks and food at the end. Use plastic cutlery and paper plates and cups this will keep some of your hair from falling out cleaning up the after mess. Using a disposable paper table cloth is good and allows the children to draw on it with crayons while they wait for something to eat. This lets the party end on a full stomach and everyone is in one room when the parents come to pick up the little sugar filled monsters.
  
  
• Remember to have fun too. Everyday is special with your children and should be enjoyed to the fullest. Live entertainment is good for a couple of reasons. The children have fun and you get a break from the chaos. Let the performer take charge as you get ready to cut and serve the cake. Always keeping an eye on what's happening but relax too. The best time to schedule live entertainment is before the cake. No food should be served during the show as it distracts from the entertainment and could cause a food fight. When booking live entertainment ask questions. You don't want to book entertainment and have a 12 year old show up with plastic tricks you can find in a toy shop. (Unless that's what you want). Make sure your getting a professional children's entertainer who has been in the business. Ask what they do in their shows and have an idea if his act is proper for your kids and their friends. Keep in mind that a good act will perform 40 minutes to one hour, just the right amount of time for a children's show. Beware of performers who want to get paid in advance. Leaving a small deposit is fine and is sometimes required in order to secure the date and time. The balance is paid the day of the show. If you like, most performers will send out a contract confirming the date and time they are to arrive and the price.
  
  
• THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO BOOKING ENTERTAINMENT
  
  Booking an entertainer for the first time can be a somewhat daunting experience. Many people will thumb through the Yellow Pages, phoning one number after another with no real idea of what they are looking for or what kind of performer will be best for their party. It is of course very difficult to imagine what the show will be like from a verbal description on the phone. Most entertainers will do their very best to paint a clear picture of what they do and, if they sound cheerful and enthusiastic, it is a fair bet that they will deliver their performance in a similar manner.
  
  
  
  These days an ever increasing number of Children's Entertainers are full time professionals who will, in the course of their careers, have entertained a wide variety of children in many different situations. They will have appeared anywhere from television studios and theatres to village halls, front rooms, back gardens and shopping centres. Their audiences will have included children of all age ranges and they will be used to audiences as small as one child and as large as five hundred or more. Bearing this in mind it is important to listen to the entertainers advice about the best type of show for your party. One of the major mistakes is to have a fixed idea of what you want and, despite all advice to the contrary, to stick with that idea until you find someone who will take on the job. This invariably leads to disappointment on the big day when you realise that the show is not being received as well as you would like.
  
  
  
  Price is of course a major consideration for many people but beware of allowing this to cloud your judgement. In any given area the majority of entertainers will charge a similar fee. Rest assured that they will all be aware of the average price being charged by their colleagues and the chances are that any price differences will not be more than a few pounds. In this situation it is simply not worth basing your choice purely on price. There are of course always exceptions to this rule and you will undoubtedly come across one or two who are either way above or way below the average. As a general rule stick with an average priced entertainer, by all means check out the other ends of the price scale but always ask why their prices are so different from the rest.
  
  
  
  Always book your entertainer before finalising the party date or venue. It is a mistake to send out the invitations or book the hall before checking to see if you can get an entertainer for that day. Even if they have a free time slot for the day in question, it is highly unlikely that it will fit in exactly with your arrangements. The most popular time for parties is of course the weekend and if you are booking entertainment for a Saturday or Sunday be sure to do this well in advance of the date. Seasoned bookers will have reserved their entertainers several months in advance. In the case of Christmas Parties it is not unusual for people to book a year ahead. As a general rule of thumb try and have a couple of alternative dates to hand when you are booking and it is never too early to book. This advice is doubly relevant if you are trying to engage the services of one particular entertainer who has been recommended to you or one that your child has particularly asked for.
  
  Bearing in mind the above points here is a list of the main questions you need to ask when phoning round for an entertainer.
  
  
  
  Availability Establish this at the outset. If you have to have the party on a particular day or at a particular time, you need to know if the entertainer is available before anything else.
  What type of entertainment they can provide In response to this most entertainers will ask you how old the children are, how many guests there will be and where you are holding the party. Based on this information they will be able to give you a description of the different services that they provide. Listening carefully to this and possibly making notes, will avoid any misunderstanding later.
  Clarification of any details so far
  Check over any points that you are not clear about and ask any questions which you feel are relevant at this time before asking the $64,000 question.
  The fee Establish the charges for each of the services which the entertainer has described. (Hopefully these will be a little less than $64,000)
  Any other questions Anything else you can think of at this point.
  
  
  
  Once you have decided to book a particular entertainer he/she will ask you for all details pertaining to the party. Many bookings are completed over the phone with a minimum of fuss. Remember you can always call back to confirm anything you are not sure of. Many people call a couple of days before the event to make sure all is well. Not all entertainers send out confirmation letters automatically. If you are desperate to have something in writing you can always ask and in most cases this will not be a problem although you may be asked to provide a deposit in this case. You will normally not be asked to provide written confirmation yourself but feel free to do so if you prefer.
  
  
  
  One final point, do make a careful note of which entertainer you have booked. It is not unheard of for people to phone round so many different ones that they end up forgetting who is coming to the party and have to contact everyone in their original list which can be a trifle embarrassing. Worse still people have been known to book more than one entertainer for the same event. If you feel that this could happen to you, then a written confirmation from both sides is a good idea.
  
  
  
  Armed with all of the above you should now be well prepared to pick up that phone and book youself a children's entertainer. We're really very nice people, (well most of us :-) and will be looking forward to your call.