Mumsnet Talk

Hi guys,
I'm setting up a business as a children's entertainer with my brother and would be interested to see what mums would be willing to pay for a couple of hours. I've looked at quite a few on-line and they seem to charge quite a lot.
What would you expect from an entertainer? If you saw an entertainer that was cheaper than the others would you think you were getting a good deal or perhaps that the show would be rubbish ie you get what you pay for?

Also, are there many people who hire entertainment in? I know when I was young, we had sandwiches, fairy cakes and a game of hide and seek in the garden maybe in fancy dress if we were lucky!

If anyone has hired one in the past, what did you get for your money and are there any recommendations for what works

Thanks to all

We always do our own entertainment, but I would say in our area for 4 and 5 year olds about 7/30 had entertainers in, the rest either went to soft play etc, or did their own parties. We usually do traditional party games and they always enjoy them, and they great thing is that you can rebrand them slightly for different themes. I think one problem we found with magicians is that although they loved them the first time, after the third time they knew the routines and were a bit bored.

You could advertise different party themes, and maybe team up with someone who can make theme related cakes and recommend each other. Hope it goes well!

Thanks for the advice, we had thought of themes and we do know a cake maker so maybe in the future...

What do you think is 'charge a lot'? We had a magician in once and once only - he was quite good and the kids liked him, but it was a lot of money for a small party of 12 kids. I think we paid 130 euros (about 120 pounds). Obviously for a larger event it's really quite good value - he often performs for whole schools. I found it a problem that we still had to do all the preparation at home (food, decorations, clearing up, etc) but had the same cost as if we had booked an event place - a museum or sports centre.

I certainly wouldn't go for the cheapest entertainer I could find, but money would play a definite role. I would be interested in an impressive list of references/past customers on the website because that shows an entertainer has a good record and isn't just a rip-off merchant.

We've hired one once, it was for a shared party which halved the cost. He has an extremely good reputation locally and tailors it to the age of the children, also does different themes. The children were 5 and 7 years old, and totally engrossed for an hour, which is what I want from an entertainer. He also makes sure every single child (that wants to) gets a turn to come out front and "help". I can't remember how much he costs though.

He does a lot of work for special occasions / fundraisers etc at local toddler groups, NCT groups, pre-school parties, which gets him known by a lot of parents.

There's another one with a good reputation locally too, he does stuff that the town council organises, eg entertainment in the park in summer, again all good publicity.

I wouldn't pay for one every year, but as a one-off it was great.

Well some people think we have paid a lot for our daughter's entertainment for her party next month but we feel it is value for money.

In total for entertainment it will be £110

This includes:
Disco
Snow white mascot
Face painting
Party games with prizes
Filled party bags

Cake is being made by sister in law

Hall has cost £26 to hire for 3 hours.

We just have to provide balloons/ banners plus food