6 Agustus 2009

Ideas For Party Entertainment And Party Tips On Hiring A Party Entertainer

Birthday parties are real big these days, but it is still quite difficult to find the right birthday party entertainer, or the special theme parties. With the right information you can be your own party planner. I will give you some birthday party ideas, kids party ideas and event entertainers. This will help you come up with a great party idea. Some people find their kids parties entertainment through party rentals companies,dj services, party planners,event planning services, and entertainment agencies. Party planning is done by wedding dj companies.

Wedding djs provide wedding music as well as entertainers, but look to pay alittle more. A wedding disc jockey is a middleman so they will add a fee, making the party entertainments cost much higher. Wedding disc jockeys usually specialize in weddings only. A cool idea is jukebox rentals, they are a great sweet 16 party idea. Party djs offer music as well but be prepared to pay more. Disc jockeys also offer dancers, party music, karaoke, party games and fun giveaways to the kids. Dj's have party favors like funny hats, blow up guitars, giant glasses, and glow necklaces.

Sometimes you can save money by providing your own party supplies. A disc jockey can also personalize your event with the music you want played. Djs work well with very large parties, some perform as live djs and are actually club djs. Some are not a mobile dj, and work the party night life. Working on location at a club, party place and catering halls. A interesting change is to hire female djs for party celebrations.

When hiring a party dj you can find a wide range of prices as well as talent. Disc jockey services should have a wide variety of music to choose from. A party disc jockey can cost as high as $8500.00, but are much more reasonable than a wedding band. Famous djs also may get a premium rate for an event. The lower price range for a disk jockey is $400.00. Top wedding bands can cost up to $10,000.00 for New York City wedding receptions. Cost will be even more If you are working with a event planner. Party bands are also fun, they play more at bars or clubs. Cover bands are great for picnics or outdoor events. When it comes to a party for kids you need to do some research. A party supply store has some interesting theme ideas for parties. You can also go online to websites for ideas on a party theme for your party celebration. You can even create a theme for your party food. Spend time on the party decorations, It will make everyone feel in the party mood. The invitations party guests receive also set the party themes. Event planners can also add a large fees for birthday entertainers. Clowns for parties are very popular, but at a children's party I find they scare some little kids. At a children's parties or birthday, clowns can keep kids busy. Some party activities a clown offers are magic,face painting,jugglers,tell jokes,stilt walkers and balloons. A bounce house is fun for a kids birthday party. Most inflatables can be rented out for the day. Hiring party characters such as Elmo are good ideas for little children. Make sure the party agency offers polaroids with the costumed character. Little girls enjoy princess parties and other themed parties.

Most children's entertainers such as clowns require a deposit to reserve a date. Party clowns for birthday parties do short parties as little as a half hour. If you would like the birthday clown to do all the activities they offer for a kid party, you'll need more time. At a kids party a clown is the best known party entertainment, but their are other good kids birthday party ideas. A party clown is a good value for most children's birthday parties and can range from $75.00 for the hour to $200.00 for the hour. Many party rental services also offer party tents as well as entertainers. Party magic is always fun. When you hire a party magician ask whether they specialize in children birthday party entertainment. Some magicians work more as corporate entertainers than at a children's birthday party. Magicians are a great idea for strolling as well, they can go table to table or do magic shows. Some party magicians are also a balloon artist. Some offer a comedy magician show. A birthday party magician specializes in younger kids, say ages 3 to 12. A magician at a birthday party will stay about half an hour to one hour. A magician for hire can run from $75.00 for the hour to $300.00 for the hour.

If your party has hundreds of guests look to hire the birthday magician for the duration of the event or think about a magic show. A singing telegram is a great party idea for older children or adults. Casino parties work well for a corporate party, christmas party and fundraisers. A stage hypnotist and a casino party can be expensive for most corporate events.

Another children party idea is a caricature artist entertainer. A caricaturist sketches quick comical portraits and makes an excellent kid birthday party entertainment. Caricatures double as a party entertainer and party favor. If you are corporate event planning a caricature artist is great entertainment. A family entertainer like a caricaturist is also fun to watch. The caricature artists sketches live at childrens birthday parties. As a corporate entertainer the caricaturists specialize in trade shows. Caricature drawings also are one of the great christmas party ideas.An interesting idea and wedding favor is a caricaturist. Wedding entertainers such as caricature artists are unique at wedding parties.

A halloween party is fun for a caricaturist to sketch your guests in their costumes. Older kids love caricatures at a graduation party. I've done many late night parties called "Project Graduation", at these events parents are the party organisers. Hiring a party entertainer for a new year's eve party can cost almost double. Other holiday parties may result in higher premiums on certain dates. Entertainers also book early for christmas parties, so consider reserving their service asap.

Steve Nyman

Caricaturist Cartoon Illustrator

Party Entertainer

http://www.aaacaricatures.com


Clown Internet Scam - An Internet Scam is Currently Targeting Clowns and Other Entertainers

I am the victim of an internet scam. It is very hard to write that sentence, but it's necessary in order to warn my fellow clowns, magicians and other entertainers, and to prevent them from being taken for $2,800.00 like I was. Here is what happened to me, and how you can avoid it.

I run the clown-ministry.com web site, and I perform as a clown at both ministry and secular events. Due to the popularity of the clown-ministry.com web site (do a search on Google .com for 'clown' and it's the 7th site listed, for example) I'm easily found by people -- for both good and bad reasons. For instance, last year my wife Ellen and I taught clowning for a week at the Seventh Day Adventists' national Camporee -- we're not Adventists, and don't know many people who are, but we were found by them & hired primarily due to the popularity of the web site. We've been invited to perform in clown at a conference in Canada, performed at company picnics, etc. well out of our neck of the wood, and so on. Please understand that this isn't bragging; it's setting the stage for what happened in the scam.

We were contacted via e-mail by someone purportedly from Cincinnati, Ohio, who wanted to fly my wife & I to Cincinnati to perform at a birthday party. Since we'd had similar things happen in the past, that didn't set off any alarms in my head. In addition, I knew that there are entertainers such as Jennifer Lopez who will sing "Happy Birthday" at your party, for a fee of $50,000.00; I'm no J Lo, and my singing is atrocious, but I charge a lot less as well :)

I did an internet search on that person (I'm not using the name he gave, since there's a criminal investigation as well as FBI investigation going on -- no joke), and found someone by that name in Cincinnati, Ohio, a "regional celebrity" so to speak. So, it didn't seem incredulous that he would have the money to hire us as well as pay round trip air fare. It's now obvious that it was merely someone using that person's name to "hook" us.

At that point, my wife & I were still inclined to think of this as a prank, but even so we replied to the email with a quotation for our services, politely and professionally. We were joking with each other that this had to be a prank; after all, why would someone hire us when there are hundreds of clowns in the Cincinnati area? Unless it was someone with money to burn who wanted to buy "bragging rights," it made no sense. So we forgot about it, until the person replied back, hiring us.

We still considered it a joke, until we received a check in the mail, for $2,800.00. MUCH more that we had quoted our services for! We thought that, maybe, the excess was to pay for round trip air fare and accommodations, but even so that was far too much. We e-mailed the person back, explaining that we had received $2,800.00 via check. His response is what should have tipped us off to the scam.

He replied that, since he was out of the country on a business trip, he had his personal assistant send the checks out for the party, and the assistant had made a mistake, combining with our check one for $2,300.00 for the photographer from the United Kingdom that he was flying in to photograph the party. Would we be so kind as to send him those funds via Western Union?

Like an idiot, I said "yes." The check had been deposited and cleared (I thought), and I didn't want to hold onto money that didn't belong to me. So, I went to the local Western Union office and sent $2,300.00 to an individual in the United Kingdom. This didn't set off any red flags (although it should have) since it seemed like the type of silly mistake I've seen people do before. What happened next, though, set off every red flag in my head, and then some.

Days later, I received another email from the man supposedly from Cincinnati. According to him, his mother had an advanced form of lung cancer, and needed an immediate operation. He wanted me to send the remaining money to his mother's doctor in Nigeria and he would reschedule the party later. When I heard the word 'Nigeria' I had icicles running up and down my spine. Nigeria is famous, in the internet world, for being home to the most prolific scam of all time. You've likely received spam email about it. In a nutshell, it involves the widow of some minister or rich person, who is trying to smuggle their immense fortune out of the country before it's seized by her dead husband's adversaries; in exchange for letting them use your bank account, they will give you (various amounts of money, if not enough to make you filthy rich, at least enough to make you dingy). Of course, no money comes out, but these people proceed to rob your bank account of every penny.

So, when I heard that, fear clutched at my heart. Besides, why would someone rich enough to hire me (and fly a photographer in from the UK) need my money? The answer is, he didn't; he was just trying to bilk me of more money before his ruse was exposed.

You see, when I initially deposited the $2,800.00 check, it appeared to clear; it was then several more days before he requested the $2,300 to his photographer, and nearly a week (from the time I deposited the check) until I complied with that. 11 days after the check was initially deposited, it came back 'funds denied.' The bank then debited $2,800.00 from my checking account -- which didn't contain that much, of course. So, I'm out $2,800.00, the crook (or his accomplice in the UK) received $2,300.00. What's the moral of the story?

The purpose of this is two-fold: to warn my fellow clowns, and to point out the red flags that I should have seen, and what I should have done.

  1. Bogus email address: there are many 'free' email sites available, where anyone can set up a free email account. Spammers, and many others use these to hide behind. Never trust information coming from a 'free' account.
  2. Depositing the check: I should have deposited the check, and then waited 2 weeks to ensure that it had cleared. I had seen people selling items on ebay.com who warn people paying by personal check that they would not ship items until 2 weeks after the check was deposited, just to prevent this problem. In my case, they used an internet service (qchex.com) instead of a personal check, but the same time period applies.
  3. Sending money back: I should have offered to send the money back to the original person after 2 weeks, or destroyed the check and asked them to re-send the correct amount.
  4. Nigeria!: need I say more? Sending money to Nigeria is a Bad Idea.

So, that's where it lies. I'm out $2,800.00, and in danger of losing my house due to the actions of this criminal. Jesus Christ orders His followers to "pray for those who despitefully use you" (Matthew 5:44). It's difficult, but I'm praying. Thank you for listening -- be sure to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Tom Raymond, aka. Raynbow the magic clown, is a professional clown and underemployed computer geek, webmaster of http://www.clown-ministry.com/ the largest clown resource site on the web. His personal site can be found at http://www.clown-ministry.com/raynbow/

House Renovation Ideas Come First

Among the dozens of house renovation plans and ideas available to homeowners and contractors today, there are great plans, average plans and some ideas that are not suitable for the serious layman interested in renovating a home. The wise remodeler will choose a plan from the great or above average category.

This holds true for any area of the home that is being remodelled, whether it is the bath, kitchen, den or any other room. Homeowners should be able to uncover some fine plans, tips and ideas for the bathroom for instance (one of the most popular areas for home renovation/upgrades). But with this room it is essential to know what is involved, from the floor and plumbing to the smallest detail of wall trim or lighting. The key word is "plan," because the homeowner needs a fairly solid idea of what the current condition is and what it will take, in time and money, to make the desired changes.

Take a close look at the state of the bathroom. Be honest about what it will cost to remodel the entire room. Ignoring serious physical problems will only lead to disappointment and construction problems later. A family meeting will help uncover some of the desires and needs that one person cannot see. These extra opinions can also help head off those problems. It may well be that the remodelling of the bathroom will involve more than a new vanity/sink and some new lights. It may be necessary to expand the floor space of the room, replace plumbing and improve the shower facilities. Without a good plan the problems may only multiply.

If the remodelling project involves the bedroom (or bedrooms), there are a lot of possibilities. In most cases, there will be no plumbing involved (unless there is a separate bathroom for the bedroom). Many times, bedroom remodelling involves colors, wallpaper design, furniture changes and so on. This can be enjoyable and accomplish a lot at the same time. In addition, because this is the most private room in the house, personality can really come to the fore here.

Many of those experienced in home remodelling, as well as contractors, begin the process by deciding on an overall color. This helps set a theme for a bedroom and can make design and furniture decisions much easier. Some bedroom remodelling begins with matching colors and new designs to an existing bed/dresser set.

But it really doesn't matter what room is being considered for remodelling when it comes to the decision of involving a professional. Unless the homeowner is experienced in renovation and upgrade as a professional or from previous projects, it might be best to talk with an expert, at least to get some initial guidance and tips. It may even be a good idea to pay a bit for some of this basic information, because you never known when you'll need assistance from this professional again. A few dollars paid to a pro at the start can mean great savings later (when avoiding mistakes and interruptions).

Peter Mason's informative papers can be encountered on a variety of web pages related to types of drapery styles and plenty of styles of curtains. With his documents, the writer improved his knowledge on topics dealing with drapery styles and types of drapery styles.