FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Yes and no. I have basic pricing structures for each of the services I offer. You can see prices and full descriptions of booking options on my website. Simply click on whichever page of service you are interested in (ie: Face painting, magic, etc) and the different options along with prices and descriptions appear, that way you know EXACTLY what amount to expect, and what exactly is covered within that fee. That said, I do a lot of customized packages too. And that, of course, comes with varied pricing. If you don't see exactly what you want in my standard offerings, don't hesitate to ask about what you are looking for. Chances are, I can probably create a perfect party package just for you.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
The first step in working with a new customer is getting all relevant information regarding their inquiry. What service or services are you looking for, where will the event take place, how many guests will be receiving services, etc etc etc. Knowing all relevant information is crucial to both, giving an accurate quote, and making sure I can provide exactly what the client wants for their event. I then send them a quote for the different options that will fit their request, details of what each option includes, and pricing for each option. Once the client has picked the best fit for their event, the official booking takes place. An invoice is sent through email for the booking deposit, listing all the details of the event. If everything is correct, the client pays the deposit, and fills out our booking form/contract on our site, confirming that same information listed on the invoice (it will have details such as event date and time, service address, number of guests receiving services, types of services being rendered, etc). Upon payment of the deposit and receiving the contract, the client is now booked. Approximately 24 hours before the event begins, the scheduled performer calls the client at the phone number they provided to verify that all information is still the same. Then, the day of the event, we arrive at the scheduled time and do what we were hired to do! We receive the remaining balance, and hope that our client will share reviews, recommendations, and pictures of what we had the opportunity to provide.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I am a proud, master-degree holder from Clown University! Joking, joking (although there actually IS a clown school in the USA). For this line of work, it is a lot of personal investment into a wide variety of training courses. It is honestly pretty different for each of my skills, but I'm happy to go through each. For balloon twisting, I started off with private lessons from a local industry professional. While I then went on to self teach and invent 90% of what I offer now, I did recently have the opportunity to attend an international balloon convention. It was pricy, but SOOOOOO worth it! The work ships were amazing, getting to pick the brains of some of the top balloon professionals from around the world was amazing, and the innovative and totally off the wall ideas from some of these workshops really helped to take my skills and what I can offer to a totally different level. For face painting, the hardest challenge was actually in acquiring the right materials. You can be a fabulous artist, but if your quality of face paints isn't spectacular, your designs will only come out sub par. If you have an okay artist with better supplies, their designs will actually come out looking better! So for me the art part was covered. I have been doing art since I was a little girl, so by my late teens, I was fairly impressive. I lucked out further by having a great relationship with the owner of the studio I worked for. She had an extensive face painting kit with all the extras, which she would allow me to use for face painting jobs that came up in exchange for a $25 dollar fee to her to cover supply usage. I saved up portions of my earnings until I was finally able to drop about half a grand for my first, basic kit with some brushes and sponges. It wasn't a lot, but it was mine. And then just bit by bit (and to this day), I have been adding to it - more fun colors, more brushes and sponges, split cakes, cosmetic glitters in a wide range of colors, adhesive gems and gem clusters, a SECOND set of important colors, brushes, etc for larger events that require two painters... all in all it is quite a few thousand dollars worth of materials I keep around. I have taken a handful of single classes (for instance, learning how to best work with split cakes when little one stroke paints were created), but mostly it is the material investment that is the important part of this service for me. Character performance - maaaaaaan.... if I would have known how intense this one was to do right, I don't know that I would have ever gotten into offering this. So I was a theater/music person in school. It kind of goes right along with my artsy self, I suppose. So that skill set from all the schooling, practices, plays, performances... I really took that for granted until it came time to hire/train others for these roles. Turns out that theater schooling is pretty much a must for this service, at least if you want to portray a believable character, know how to pose for quality pictures, and be able to lead a successful party of activities and performance. And that is about half of the work involved. The other half is looks. You can be a great performer, but if all you have is a Halloween costume and cheap wig... it isn't going to fly. Kids will notice and will call you out. And I certainly never want to be the one who ruins the magic for them. In theater, I wasn't the one who commissioned the costumes for productions so I REALLY underestimated the investment involved. The reality is, if you want an authentic look and something sturdy enough to hold up in activity filled parties and lots of children hugging and grabbing, you need theater quality gowns (and wigs too, if they are to be believable). These commissioned pieces do NOT come cheap. I would say, on average, each character is roughly a $1,000 investment. Which is why we only add one character at a time as they are requested. Beyond the basic costuming, there is also the prep time for each event. Knowledge and proficient application of quality theater make up is crucial if you want to capture great pictures, and also if you want to still look good all the way through an event. So between getting dressed and made up for an event, and verifying all materials for activities are packed, each event involves about 2 hours of prep time before going and performing. And that is after the voice training, singing rehearsals, and really studying each character to know them backwards and forwards so that you can actually BE that character! It is a lot of work! Mermaiding. While this is a more rare request for my company, it is something I really really love. My training for this actually took place where Mermaid performance first began decades and decades ago; at Weeki Watchee Springs. Before competition became a problem, they actually offered classes and camps in the very performance area of the springs! It was amazing, getting to work with legends. Training involved learning and practicing underwater ballet, fluidity of the dolphin kick, a variety of skills like extended breath hold, bubble kisses, bubble rings, moving and interacting as seamlessly underwater as on land, and finally of course, work in an actual Mermaid tail. I felt so proud when I obtained my official certificate, naming me a "Siren of the Deep" from Weeki Wachee Springs. I was a certified mermaid! When I returned to this coast, I decided I didn't care for the thin fabric tails. It was too obviously fake. I wanted something more convincing like Mermaid Hannah's tail that took her all over the oceans of the world. So I started by importing a heavy duty, carbon fiber monofin from Estonia and carving it into a beautiful mermaid fluke, and then ordered quality neoprene and designed the tail skin around the base, and airbrushed a lovely color pattern. I added fins and fine details. It was a labor of love, and does require maintenance and touch up after nearly every mermaid job, but it has gotten me through every mermaid gig to this day. It will probably be ready for retirement in a couple more years. I may very well shed a tear when that day comes. And my final area of performance is magic. With this, there is sooooo much trial and error. At home-based practice, of course. While I can wing it with balloons and face painting and get my practice on the job, with magic, you definitely have to do your practicing and constant rehearsing at home BEFORE you present it before an audience. Doing otherwise would not go well for anyone involved. So trial and error - that is pretty much everything involved with magic. Every trick involves supplies. I have invested in many over the years. Some were awful and were just a waste of money. Some worked exactly as I thought. And some were amazing. I suppose investment into "my magic bag of tricks" is the only real gambling I do, since I'm not sure whether each investment will work for me. Similar to the supplies themselves, an equal risk comes along when learning. There are a LOT of great magicians out there. Some can teach tricks and routines that can be replicated and adopted to something if your own. Others teach things that really can't be replicated; I'm fairly sure the point of the class in these cases is to establish that the person teaching is way cooler than the rest of us will ever be. That is okay though, each class or workshop is beyond entertaining. Magic will always be enjoyable at any age, so to BE a magician and still see things performed that get you to say, "WOW! HOW DID HE DO THAT!?" is pretty exciting! The real kicker is in making sure to ALWAYS be adding something new. People love magic and once they find a magician they like, they tend to want that same magician, BUT they don't want to see all the exact same things again and again. So I think it is very important to be constantly adding new tricks or to mo