Louise writes:
My daughter Iris turned six a couple of weeks ago and we opted to have a joint birthday party with her friend Suzy. Both share a lot of friends so it seemed a sensible way of splitting the cost and the work and also of taking the pressure off the girls to be the centre of attention. In the Essex Mums awards last year, the Best Party Entertainer winner by a mile was AJ so when Suzy’s mum suggested using him as our entertainer as they had always been fans, I was more than happy to go along with her suggestion and see what the fuss was about.
Well, firstly can I just say that the award was very much deserved. With three kids under seven, I’m sure you can imagine how many parties we have attended and how many entertainers we have seen. I can say without a doubt that AJ is quite possibly the best around. He strikes the perfect balance of being fun and silly, a bit rude and embarrassing but also manages to be very sweet and gentle: he really seems to get a feel for the personality of the children he is working with and tailor his act accordingly.
From the moment the guests arrived AJ was working hard to get them excited and having a good time. He made balloon models, he got them to roar at him (always with a suggestion as to the best angle for the parents to get a photo), they danced, they pretended to be animals, old men, he told jokes, they did the conga round the room and through the legs of parents just standing watching, he made the adults perform dance moves for the kids to copy, put on a magic show (plus some close up magic for the adults while the kids were eating which was really popular), put on a disco… I really couldn’t believe how much he managed to fit in to just two hours. Iris and Suzy were constantly made to feel special and both had enormous smiles on their faces the whole way through. In fact, all the children did!
Of course we parents didn’t escape lightly and suffered the usual humiliation that comes with being the mum and dad of the birthday children, especially the dads. AJ did check with us that this was okay beforehand though, and while embarrassing was never pushed too far – just enough until you felt yourself going red in the face, then you were left alone for a little while! Of course the kids just love their parents getting up and doing something silly, which makes it all worthwhile. What I loved though was that this was often done with a real sweetness. Towards the end the kids were all asked to go and grab a parent to dance with, which I’m happy to say most did, but afterwards AJ asked the kids to give their parent a big cuddle. Likewise there was a point where the children were all told to stand up if their mum was beautiful. Just little things but really reinforcing a kind and gentle idea which is rare for an entertainer.
AJ totally ran the party – there were moments when we were wondering whether to do the cake next and he would suddenly appear and say ‘Okay, cake next then magic show and disco?’ – his timing was always perfect and took the party through it’s best course. Parties are always going to be quite stressful to organise but he really made it so much easier. Mainly though, what the kids loved was that he was fun. Absolute fun from beginning to end. The kids all came out absolutely beaming and most of the parents told me that they had a great time too, which is rare to hear anyone say after spending time with 40 6 year olds! I’ve been told by numerous people that their children were still talking about the party days later and have insisted they want AJ for their next party too!
For more information about hiring AJ, please take a look at www.ajentertainer.com
