It's not an easy time for Children during lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures; missing friends and separated from family. It can be even more disheartening when they're faced with having to cancel party plans. But after doing hundreds over the last few weeks, I believe virtual kids parties are better than your standard kids parties. Here's ten reasons why....
1. They're perfect whether you child is shy or confident.
When I started doing Virtual Parties I ran a number of tests and rehearsals with my daughter and her friends to work out if they would actually work, what would work well to engage every child and wouldn't work. I learnt a lot in those first few weeks before launching our Virtual parties publicly. Like at every party I do, it's important to observe the children. Reading their body language says alot about how comfortable they're feeling and always guides me in the decisions I make from the tone of my voice to the activity I do next. I've realised that the Virtual Parties are great for shy children and developed some great techniques... the main one being that if they don't feel they're being watched and the centre of attention they will join in, because ultimately they want to have fun, so using certain language and concentrating the screen on me I can help them come out of their shell. This isn't so easy when they're in a room full of people. Some children respond well to seeing others having fun, so using zoom functions like 'Spotlight' which focusses the screen on a certain camera I can show them all their friends joining in. If your child is super confident and bit of a performer they'll too love the virtual parties, after all they're on the TV! With a few ice breaker activities it's soon apparent which children are the performers and which are shy. Understanding this is the key to success in hosting virtual kids parties, those first 10minutes allow me to gather the information to ensure all the children are engaged. Unlike usual parties I can see every child in front of me easily with virtual parties and read their body language to assess their engagement, making changes as I go to ensure they all have a fab time.
2. ABSOLUTELY NO TIDYING UP.
That's right parents, no tidying up. No sweeping the hall floor or filling black bin bags. Put the kettle on, sit back on the sofa and enjoy the party! You'll get front row seats to watch all the fun and games. Plus if you have what's app why not setup a group for all the other parents and have a good natter in the background, after all it's important for you to have some me time too!
3. Invite whoever you want!
Our virtual parties can accommodate up to 100 people - you don't need to worry about fitting them into the same room, putting out enough chairs or even if you have enough food for them all. If you have relatives from overseas or long distance friends they can come along without a long and expensive journey. If your childs friends have siblings that would like to join in then that's completely fine. Grandparents can log on and watch the fun, after all a child's Birthday is all about creating family memories. It doesn't exclude any friends or family that are shielding due to Covid-19 or any parents that are nervous about social distancing.
4. Sooooo much FUN!
As a party entertainer I've personally entertained thousands of children in hundreds of halls, centres and schools but the virtual parties are really good fun. For a start you have every child's attention; because they're in the comfort of their own homes they're not easily distracted by some new a shiny they've never seen before like they might in a community centre. And I can see every one of them on one screen, they're not spread out in all corners of a large hall or hidden behind obstacles, meaning I can easily assess their engagement and body language making changes to the plan to ensure they're engaged and entertained.
With all the children being in their homes it also opens up more possibilities for fun and games. I suddenly have an endless list of props to use rather than just what I fit into the van to bring with me. We do lots of fun things we would never be able to do in a venue. Here's just a small example of some of our typical gamed and actives...
Musical Statues ( a firm favourite!), Mission Possible (a race against all other secret agents), Teddy Bear Rave and Jay Says. Older children will love our Tik Tok Dance Offs, Mystery Mission Possible (a scavenger hunt like no other, be prepared Secret Agents!) and our attempt to make a our own Viral Video.
5. Get a FREE videographer.
Children's parties are all about making memories that will last, for both the children and adults. When we attend parties we are always helping parents to capture the memories by assisting in organising group photos etc. But it can be easy to forget to take plenty of photos or videos when you're speaking to parents and organising the party. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a private videographer to capture it all for you?
Well our virtual parties include a free video recording of the party for you to download and keep forever. Your child and their friends will love watching it back and so will you. Plus, just think about how fun it will be to pull out the video on their 18th Birthday!
6. We interact with every child.
We've become very knowledgable of Zoom, the platform we use for all our virtual parties because it's widely known and it's secure with the ability to password protect every session. We can mute everyone so all the guests can hear our instructions, we can unmute individuals to interact with them, spotlight the video so everyone can see what we're reacting to and display graphics, share audio and even assist guests in changing their display name. Our knowledge of zoom has played a huge part in being able to deliver successful virtual parties and create a really unique experience.
We run our virtual parties like a live interactive TV show, think of it like a mini kids version of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. We host, perform, interact, joke and laugh our way through with the audience involved as much as possible. It's not like watching a traditional recorded video or even a facebook live stream where the host can't see all the audience. You can sit back with a cup of tea (or something a little stronger) and enjoy the show!
7. The best value party you'll ever organise.
No venue costs. No need to hire a caterer or buy hundreds of cocktail sausages. Our virtual parties start from just £60 which even includes personalised invites which we'll send you on email and you can forward to friends and family.
Some parents are delivering goody bags to friends before/after the party, some are delivering cupcakes. But honestly I don't think it is expected. You could share the party video with everyone as a thank you if you really feel you need to give them something.
You can decorate your house if you wish to create a real party atmosphere but you won't need as many balloons as you would if you were decorating a large hall...in fact you only need to decorate the one wall facing the camera lol.
8. Any time, Any day.
You can host your Virtual Kids Party whenever you want. We offer them 7 days a week making it even easier than ever to host a Birthday party on your childs actual birthday. If you want to do it after school you don't have to worry about timings for travelling in rush hour or getting home in time for dinner. And if you have an overseas guest joining in you can work out the time difference and make it work for everyone.
We often finding parents can struggle to find a day or time when both we as the entertainment and the venue are both available but with virtual kids parties you don't need to hire a venue.
9. Personalised Invites
We create personalised invitations for every virtual party free of charge. They tell parents who the party is for, when it's happening and how to get involved. We even provide a simple to follow guide to using Zoom for our parties which is useful for any parents that haven't used the online meeting app before.
If you're booking one of our Princess or Superhero Virtual Parties we can provide you with a themed personalised invitation too.
If you have guests from overseas we can provide all the relevant information from Zoom so they have the correct links and numbers to dial into the party.
10. You can't argue with over 100 parents around the world.
We have over 100 5star reviews from parents around the world that have all said how amazing our virtual kids parties are. Read our facebook reviews here or our google reviews here.
If you would like to find out more about my Virtual Kids Parties please feel free to email me at info@party-peeps.co.uk or call me on 07870862259. You can read more about our different packages here.
Comments