When hiring a clown for a party, you want to think about a few things in advance.
Should you have a strolling clown? Is your event a child’s birthday party? If it is an adult’s event, what kind of clown would be best?
A strolling clown wanders from group to group or table to table, creating balloon sculptures or performing simple clown magic. Sometimes they will face paint the children. At no time will they attempt to engage everyone’s attention at once, rather, they can spend a bit more one on one time with the children. The strolling clowns are ideal for events that need entertainment for a longer period of time, where there are large crowds, and where people are not seated and are not all able to pay attention at once, such as a picnic or a large holiday party.
We offer special shows with special rates for children’s birthday parties. The magic is geared to the age group and is usually coupled with balloon animals for each child. The clowns encourage the children to take part in the show, but they’re gentle—they recognize that not all children are ready to be the center of attention.
Our clowns who perform shows for adults require space: a stage is ideal. Their performances are funny, but geared to adults. They often use props, and most of these performances are by clowns with a more elaborate background: vaudeville, clown school, etc’. Time length differs from clown to clown and according to the type of show, but generally the shows last from twenty to thirty minutes. All eyes are focused on them and shows are best for banquets, holiday parties, corporate events…any event when everyone is able to watch at the same time.
Skills vary from clown to clown, and here is a list of some of the things you might expect to see, in decreasing degrees of likelihood: Slapstick Comedy, Clown Magic, Balloon Sculpting, Face Painting, Juggling, Slapstick Acrobatics, Storytelling, Plate Spinning, Stilt Walking, Unicycling, Chin Balancing, Miniature Bicycle Riding, Human Statues, Fire Manipulation, Ventriloquism, Whip Cracking and Targeting, Rope Spinning, Devil Stick Manipulation, Cigar Box Manipulation, Diablo Spinning, Rolling Globe Walking, Rola Bola Balancing, Mini-Trampoline Acrobatics, Tap Dancing, Aikido, and Slack Rope Walking. A few of our clowns have rabbits, as well. No clown has all of these skills, but they can all do a few things, and they are all very entertaining.
Small children: children two and younger present certain challenges to clowns. Balloons inevitably pop and the clown cannot be everywhere at once to keep small children from swallowing latex, which can block passages. Also, the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology states that ‘estimates of the prevalence of allergy to latex allergens in the general population vary widely, from less than 1 percent to 6 percent’. Either way, the number is high enough to keep an eye on young children who may not have ever touched balloons before. Keep an eye on your children, and the more parents present, the better. In addition, young children sometimes take a little while to get used to clowns when they meet them for the first time. Our clowns are aware of this, and treat them gently. If you’d like your clown to entertain without wearing clown makeup we’ll be happy to accommodate you.
When you are planning your event, if you would like to have the clown face paint, plan ahead. They can face paint approximately 15 faces per hour, (and once one child gets done they will all want to get done!), so if you only have your clown scheduled for an hour and you have 15 children, face painting is all he will get to do for you. If the number of children makes it tight timewise, reserve an additional hour, or hire a face painter in addition to the clown, or dispense with the face painting and concentrate on other fun activities like clown magic, balloons and entertainment.
Book in advance and if you think you may run over or want an additional hour, let us know as early as you can. Our clowns are very much in demand and often book more than one event in a day. If we know you’d like an option to extend, we’ll make sure to allow your clown enough time between jobs to accommodate you should the occasion arise.
