Posts Tagged ‘party’

Five things to think about when booking a children’s party venue

laurajane021 April 4th, 2017 No Comments

Five things to think about when booking a party venue.

Booking a party venue is one of the first things to do when you are hosting a children’s party. It may seem like a simple task however finding a venue that is available plus suits all of your needs can prove problematic as venues can book up very quickly! Due to this sometimes there is no room to be fussy however if you can be here are my five top things to think about when booking a party venue:

1: Have FIVE venues in mind!

This may seem like a lot but I would suggest keeping a bank of contact details for venues that you have vetted throughout the year. Maybe look at one leisure centre, two community centres and two church halls and have all of their details saved and ready to go when party season hits!

2: Parking Facilities and access facilities

This is VERY important! Try to avoid venues that have limited parking or parking that may result in people getting tickets or having to park dangerously! Also from an entertainers perspective – we really need a parking space especially if we are in a ball gown! Also if there are a lot of stairs this may prove problematic for guests with pushchairs, wheelchairs or glass slippers so lift access (and working lift access) is really important.

3: Kitchen and Toilet Facilities

Both need to be easy access, clean and have enough space to get all of the food prepped and cook if you need to. Also check for baby changing facilities as, especially with younger parties, they are often needed.

4: Plug Sockets.

This may seem like a very strange thing to add to the list however having no plug sockets or a lack of them can prove problematic, especially from our perspective. We always bring along an extension chord however this can be a danger in itself if we are having to stretch it over a distance with children running around. Poorly placed plug sockets (one venue springs to mind immediately) can be a nightmare for both yourselves and us so when you are setting tables up or seated areas for parents just have a check of where the plug sockets in the room are.

5: Size of Venue.

Cater your venue to your party size (that is children and adults). If you have a small number of children coming (10 or so) you will still have an adult per child a lot of the time which means that you need to account for that with the space. Likewise if you have a 30+ party you are going to want a lot more space as you could be catering for up to 60 space wise. Just something to bare in mind.

I have popped below my top ten venues for Flintshire and Wrexham which I hope you find useful!

In no particular order:

Flintshire

  • Hawkesbury Community Centre Buckley:
  • Hawarden Village Institute:
  • Mancot Village Hall
  • St Mathews Church, Buckley
  • Northop Hall Pavillion

Wrexham:

  • Hightown Community Resource Centre
  • Garden Village Institute, Kenyon Avenue
  • St Margrets Church Hall, Acton
  • Gwersyllt Resource Centre
  • Brynteg Memorial Centre, Quarry Road

You know you were a 90s party child if…

laurajane021 February 22nd, 2017 2 Comments

You know your a 90’s Party Child when…

I was a 90’s party child and if I could have chosen any princess to go to my party when I was five it would have been Cinderella, mainly due to the fact that this was the only Disney VHS we had – aside from the jungle book. However, growing up in the 90’s (which I always think was just ten years ago – nope), princess visits, much to my dismay, did not exist – instead we had a variety of other party ideas…here are a few of my favourites below

My 90’s party memories:

(more…)

5 Top Tips – Birthday Parties on a Budget

laurajane021 October 19th, 2016 No Comments
Birthday Parties on a Budget | NWC Parties

When I was little Mum hosted each and every birthday party which inspired me to write; “5 Top Tips – Birthday Parties on a Budget”. Being one of four children – there were a lot to host. Did we ever have huge parties? Nope. Did we ever have other entertainers in – Nope. Did we love them – DID WE EVER!!!

I remember so many of our party themes from when we were little – My Barbie party, Rachel’s 101 Dalmatians party, bug parties, horse-riding parties (we went to the centre and finished at the house), football parties, pirate parties (which I remember vividly as I had broken my arm the night before said party – and was completely devastated to discover all of these people in my living room when I got home…I was an extremely dramatic six-year-old.).

I learnt to form the best – thank you mum, and if any of you know her I am sure you will agree – she is an extreme bargain hunter. When you have four children you need to be and yet at no point did we feel hard done by with our parties. So just how did she do that? And furthermore, how am I going to share these ideas without doing myself out of a job…

Here are my five top tips – Birthday parties on a budget….

Now we love a HUGE party too (who doesn’t?) – but here are some ideas for something on a smaller scale.

1: Keep the numbers low…

As obvious as it may seem to keep the party numbers low was a must in our house (I mean there are four of us already so we had half a party good to go!). Close and best friends (I would say ten is a perfect number), would be my best advice – sometimes birthday children can also feel a bit daunted in a big group!

2: “Ain’t no party like a House party!”

Parties at home are the best way to keep costs down – no need for room rental rates! Also, you can use up all of their house parties now so that when they are eighteen you can turn and say “Sorry Darling you had your house party when you were four – no chance now…”

3: Theme it – we love Fancy dress!!

Children love to dress up and if they are in a costume or if you have a theme it is a party already!! Themes will give you ideas for music and games, decorations and food – and will keep costs down! Keep your eyes open for our party food idea blog coming soon…

4: Prizes and Party Bags

Pound shops are brilliant – you can pick up loads of great prizes and they look fab too. Sweets are super cheap in Lidl, Aldi and Iceland – always my first stop! With regards to party bags – I am a huge believer in books – you can pick up some Princess and fairy craft books, pirate craft books and more for as little as 49p each (Lidl, Aldi, The Works), combine with some sweets and cake – sorted!

5: Activities

I LOVE our princess or character visits for this reason – they can be the one cost but can be so fantastic for home parties! Something different to break the party up and jam packed too. Also things like nail painting, crafts (www.bakerross.com) children love crafts and again you can theme them, cupcake decorating and they can eat them and Ice cream sundae making are great ideas. Combine these with three or four traditional party games and you are good to go!

 

I love parties big or small and I hope you find these “5 Top Tips – Birthday Parties on a Budget”, helpful?  Let us know below and we would love you to share yours!

Don’t forget to download our free E-book “Five tips to a stress-free kid’s party”

 

 

Party host behind the presents

laurajane021 June 29th, 2016 No Comments

Welcome to, Party Host behind the Presents, blog – an introduction to myself and NWC Parties. My name is Laura, I am the owner and generally extremely enthusiastic lady behind NWC Parties. I thought it would be exciting for you in our first Blog on our brand new website, to know just who the, Party Host behind the Presents, is!

This blog will also allow me the opportunity to share my stories, trials, tribulations and a mountain of fabulous advice that I have been fortunate enough to gain over the twelve years that I have worked in the children’s party entertainment industry.

Where to start….

Twelve years seems like an awful long time and I imagine you are saying; “Twelve years, she only looks eighteen.” You are much too kind. It is true I have been fortunate enough to do this job since I was fourteen. Granted at fourteen I did not run my own business, although not for lack of trying and for the gift of a twelve year old brother who assured me if I sold apple sticks at 20p but bought them at 10p I would indeed be a millionaire. This was not (shockingly) the case and I soon had to relent and take a Saturday job (sourced of course by my Mother).

I began working at Jolly Jungle Children’s Play Centre in Wrexham – I LOVED it. From the off it was everything I love; high energy, child centred, fun and allowed me to be as dramatic as I liked! It provided me with constant amusement – I mean how can you ever be bored? (Sooo many mums disagreeing with me now…and uttering the words – “you try going there four times a week..”) I can imagine from the other side; the noise, screams, constant laughter and wailing would be extremely tedious. However, from a fourteen year old girls perspective who is getting paid the big bucks to be there (£3.75 per hour #livingthedream) whilst friends had paper rounds (I also had one – I have a rather determined Mother!), it was pretty awesome!

I worked constantly throughout the four years (pre-university), not only at Jolly Jungle but also in an after-school club, as a football manager, a waitress and I performed at every and all opportunities. After four years of part-time experience at JJ I moved on to Rascals Play Centre in Preston whilst at university. Reflecting on this as an adult, I now understand why the “Griffiths” family were not invited to a great deal of parties – we like to perform too much and I have three siblings; that’s a lot of mouths to feed. (My “Inviting the Siblings” party blog in September will reflect on this further).

At the age of eighteen, I filled in my application to become a Primary School Teacher, then on hearing about all of the paperwork, I swiftly filled out my application to become an Actor- the BEST decision I have made! Such a great choice, in fact, that my sister wanted to follow in my footsteps recently completing her Acting with Stage-Combat Degree. She says I’m the inspiration for her path in life and one day she hopes to be just like me (Rachel that sentence is especially for you ;-)).

I went to the University of Central Lancashire to Study Acting in 2007; the most amazing three years – a fantastic course, fantastic people (some of whom you may have had the pleasure of partying with since…) and an amazing learning experience that provided me with so many of the skills I believe have helped my business to succeed and flourish. Most definitely gave the improvisation skills to answer; “Queen Elsa, if it was you against the Hulk…who would win?”. I’ll leave that one up to you…

What’s Next?

Now I could go into more depth here about the raucous university Karaoke that provided the musical coaching and preparation for “Let it Go” or the Uni Dance off that taught me so many moves that our Princesses now “bust” in a party – but I feel that maybe for another week. The start of NWC Parties journey will follow shortly – it’s a good one (I promise!) and I can’t wait to share it with you!

 

Thank you for reading and please do download my free E-book “Five tips for a stress free kids party”

(and I know you think you may have guessed the first one – but no – it is not wine ;-)).

Lots of Love.
Laura x

get in touch

For more information about NWC Parties, packages, prices or to book a party please contact Laura

Address: North Wales and North West

Email: enquiries@nwcparties.com

info@nwcparties.com

nwcparties@yahoo.com

Phone: 07913963891

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