Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Birthday Party Entertainment - Three Danger Signs You Should Watch For!


Hiring birthday party entertainment is a big decision! A good entertainer can make a mediocre party seem extraordinary! A bad entertainer can bring down even the most well planned event.

Chances are you're going to spend a fair amount of your budget on entertainment. Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell up front who's a seasoned pro and who is trying to make a quick buck off unsuspecting parents!

Here are a few warning signs you should look out for when hiring a professional entertainer.

Lack of Response to Emails and Phone Calls

A true pro who makes their living off of entertainment is going to want your business. It's reasonable to expect a response back to any inquiry within 24 hours. If your entertainer is out of the office they should note this on their voicemail and set an "Out of Office" response on their email.

Professional people behave in professional ways. No business professional in the real world would leave voicemails and emails unanswered for any length of time. It's acceptable to expect that level of professionalism from your birthday party entertainment.

Bad Grammar / Text Message Speak in Emails

This should go without saying, but any written communication from your entertainer should be free of major grammar and spelling errors. Nobody's perfect, but it should look like they at least attempted to use spell check before clicking send.

One of the worst offenses we've seen in recent years is "text message speak". I actually saw the following in an email sent from an entertainer to a friend of mine planning their kids birthday party.

"LOLz! How RU? We gonna have G00d Timez at ur kidz PAR-TAY! ;-) ;P"

Emails don't have to be Pulitzer Prize material, but they should at least be legible and professional.

No Formal Contrac

Every professional entertainer uses formal contracts. These protect both sides by clearly outlining what is or isn't expected. If you see an entertainer working without a contract, it probably means they aren't professionals.

Don't be surprised when your entertainer requests a deposit at well. They aren't trying to make your life intentionally difficult. Veteran entertainers tend to learn from experience quickly. You should see these as positive signs that you're bringing on an entertainer with experience!








Next, check out the fantastic 12 Step Guide over at http://www.birthdaypartyplan.com. It contains more information about birthday party planning, including information on hiring birthday party entertainment! [http://www.birthdaypartyplan.com/entertainment.html]


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Buying an Easy Life With a Kids Entertainer


Children love parties. The poor adults who have to arrange them, run them, try and rescue them when everything goes wrong, and finally collapse in a little ball after everyone has gone home, don't. And little wonder. Running a children's party ought to be a full time occupation - not something done part time by unwilling volunteers. Fortunately for those volunteers, there are some people out there who actually make their living from running and entertaining at kid's parties: party organisers like the wonderfully named UK outfit Froggle, whose kids entertainer packages alone have probably saved half the nation's parents from a party-induced breakdown.

Here's how Froggle, and the other unsung heroes that do the same job up and down the country, save so many poor harassed parents from mental rack and ruin. They come in, they take over as much or as little of the party organisation and running as the parents require, and they let the parents themselves take a back seat. That means there's more time for the parents to do the really useful stuff, like keeping an eye out for skinned knees and incipient tantrums, while the kids' entertainer and his or her colleagues concentrate on all the things that usually distract Mum and Dad from doing the necessary. As a result, that necessary becomes far less stressful than it used to be - because Mum and Dad are no longer trying to keep their eyes peeled whilst also entertaining everyone, they find the actual keeping their eyes peeled part a lot less of a strain than it used to be.

There's a very specific advantage to hiring an entertainer for a children's party. Unlike Mum, or Dad, or even an older sibling or family friend, no part attendee is likely to know the kids entertainer in question. And that means two things. One, the entertainer never suffers from that loss of illusion that Mum or Dad will inevitably feel when one of the guests shouts out "hey - that's Johnny's mum!" And two, the entertainer is usually afforded more respect than Mum or Dad would have been. He or she is treated with the better behaved reserve children always put on for strangers - because, with strangers, they don't know where the boundaries are. The result? A kids' entertainer actually entertains more, because the children don't recognise him, or her, and so the illusion isn't spoiled - and, again because the guy or gal under the makeup is a stranger, the kids behave better too. Which means everyone goes home happy for a change.

A decent kids' entertainer knows exactly how to keep children interested, when and how to excite them and, most importantly of all, when to calm them down. In the hands of an expert, all the guests at the party will have safely expended the fury of all their pent up excitement long before the end of the party - meaning that they're easy to get home and relatively tantrum free.

There may, possibly, be other ways of controlling a kid's party - but why bother? Simply hire a decent kids' entertainer, sit back, relax, and prepare to actually enjoy a child's birthday for a change. You never know - you might like it.








Froggle Parties provides first class party entertainment to children of all ages. A decent kids' entertainers knows exactly how to keep children interested, when and how to excite them and, most importantly of all, when to calm them down.


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Why Use an Entertainment Agency?


Have you experienced getting nuts about choosing the right entertainment for your event, getting in touch with each contact person, or even having last minute arrangements because of trouble experienced by the people you hired? If you are tired of going through that again, or you never want to have that experience, consider seeking services of an entertainment agency.

An entertainment agency is a company in which you could choose what entertainment you would want for your event. If you plan to have a company picnic, you may want to rent some of their rides and booths, or if you want to have comedians, variety act performers, and speakers, you could book through them.

So, how exactly will a deal with an entertainment agency works? Companies like these are a great resource of entertainment for any kind of events. You can ask for ideas and hire comedians and entertainers from them, or you may want to rent carnival rides and game booths. The other way is for you to tell them the details of your event, the theme, what kind of audience, the size of the event, venue, and other pertinent details, and then add your ideas and criteria as to what performers you would like to have. In this case, you would just have to wait. They will be the one to pick the best and most appropriate entertainers for you.

Why is using an entertainment agency advisable? First of all, they have access to many forms of entertainment. Good entertainment agencies have established good relations with a lot of comedians and entertainers. They have a list of good comedians and are capable of bargaining with their fees and other expenses. These agencies, therefore, can be cheaper compared to personal booking of entertainers. Another thing, entertainment agencies are very careful of their reputation. You can trust them to give you the best possible forms of entertainment and performers as they know that your reputation as an event organizer will reflect their own reputation.

Aside from being ensured of a quality service being given to you, a good entertainment agency is a friend to many busy individuals who try hard to include the many responsibilities of organizing an event. If you have tried heading, or at the least, being part of a committee who is assigned to organize events, you would agree when I say that the whole process could just be tedious and time consuming. Entertainment agencies are best known to make that process hassle free. You just have to choose what company, and you have no need for many phone calls and searches through the yellow pages.

So there you have it, reasons why using an entertainment agency when planning events have been given. Keep in mind that these agencies work to give you the best entertainment you will need without consuming your time, and without giving you a headache.








For 25 year, Funny Business Agency has been a top resource for companies and event planners looking for expertise in the corporate entertainment market. With over 3,000 entertainers and events nationwide, Funny Business has provided entertainment for such companies as Legos, General Foods, Kelloggs, Pfizer, Honda Transmissions, Frito Lay, Iams, Proctor & Gamble, Perrigo and more.

You can check out more at: http://www.funny-business.com/corporate-entertainment


Organize Your Entertainment Center


Entertainment centers can be used in just about any room. They're specially designed to hold televisions and stereo equipment, as well as CDs, DVDs, and other audio/video items. Because of their usefulness, entertainment centers can get cluttered very quickly. Many of today's entertainment center units have multiple drawers, slide-out shelves, and additional cabinets. With all this space, it's no wonder entertainment centers can quickly become messy and disorganized. If your entertainment center is in disarray, here are a few steps you can take to organize things better.

Step 1: Take everything out of your entertainment center

The first step is to take everything out. You need to purge your entertainment center of everything if you want to really get into it and organize everything that goes in it.

Step 2: Discard what you don't use

Discard everything that you do not use regularly. If you have purchased a movie or CD that you once liked but no longer use, burn it on a computer and dispose of the CD. Next, get rid of your old VHS tapes. Since they are outdated and they take a lot of space in your cabinet, it's better if you give them to charity. If you still want to keep some of your favorite VHS tapes, then keep the specific tapes you enjoy most and discard the rest.

Step 3: Organize your DVDs/CDs

Undoubtedly, you have a significant number of DVDs and CDs in your entertainment center. The best way to keep them organized is to keep them in some sort of order. Whether it's alphabetically, by order of use, or some other system, the best solution is to sort them in an order that makes sense to you. HINT: The best way to get your DVDs and CDs in order before you put them in the entertainment cabinet is to lay them out on the floor and organize them there. In order to do this right, you need to know precisely where they're going to go in your entertainment center and roughly how many you can store in that section. This way you can simply move your DVDs and CDs from the floor to the cabinets without much hassle.

Step 4: Remove or Reduce Knick Knacks

Entertainment centers are a great place to store and display statues, pictures, clocks, and other miscellaneous household items. However, over time, the number of knick knacks you store in your entertainment center can get out of control. So, after you take everything out, figure out which figurines, pictures, collector plates, and other items you can store elsewhere or simply have no business being there. This will help create more space as well as reduce the cluttered look of your cabinets and drawers.

Step 5: Put everything back in your entertainment center

Once you've taken everything out, thrown out what you don't use, organized your DVDs, CDs, and other items that were in your entertainment center, it's now time to put everything back. The best way to do this is to assign a specific drawer or cabinet for each item. Keep all your CDs together in one drawer and your DVDs in another. Put specific knick knacks in one area, and keep all your electronic devices together.

Follow all these steps and voila! You now have an organized entertainment center.








Chuck is an interior decorator who has worlds of experience in interior design. Believe it or not, his expertise is in entertainment centers. If you're interested in learning all about the entertainment center world, turn to EntertainmentCenters123.com.


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