We’ve been doing this for a fair amount of time and have learned some tips and tricks to make sure that your artists and performers are the highlight of your event. Check out some thoughts from our agents below on how to make sure you get the most out of your entertainment booking.
Face Painter Amber W with her awesome set-up at a face painting event
Location is key!
More frequently than you would think, artists who are booked for events are placed in low-visibility, out of the way spots at event venues or grounds. When the entertainment is tucked aside, guests often have no idea they are there. You definitely want to ensure they are engaging with the services you’ve paid for – Make sure that stationary artists like caricaturists, tattooists, fortune tellers, and face painters have their stations set up in a highly visible area at your event. Have strolling entertainers like jugglers, stilt-walkers, magicians, or mimes present near the entryway of your event venue to make sure they have the highest visual impact.
If the art station doesn’t fit the aesthetic vision, consider signs or posters to encourage guests to visit the artists.
Make sure guests know it’s free!
Of special importance for community festivals and corporate family days, make sure your guests know that these services are booked by the hour and offered to them free of charge! Many people have only seen caricature artists working “retail”, charging $20 a pop. Guests will be much more willing to engage with the services when they know it’s all on the house!
Have them work with your theme!
Almost all of our entertainment options are customizable to a certain degree. Let the artists know about your event theming, color schemes, slogans, etc, will help them pitch in to really sell your event theme!
For instance, if a client was working on an “Under the Sea” themed party, we could arrange pirate stilt-walkers, mermaid face paint designs, caricatures decorated with little bubbles and fish, balloon twists themed around sea creatures, and fish scale airbrush tattoos!
Resist the urge to have a sign-up list!
We have been in business for 30 years and hope to gift to you the benefit of our experience. Sign-up lists don’t work better than lines. It may seem like they will, but they won’t. We promise. We have tried it a million different ways and it’s always more trouble than it’s worth.
You’re still not convinced? OK, here’s a list of all of the annoying things that can and probably will happen with a sign-up sheet:
- One person runs 1 minute late for their time slot, and then every subsequent time slot is also running late, and
- Guests show up to be drawn on time, but the artist is behind, so they wander away and now the artist is running later after waiting for them to come back, or
- The next guest in line volunteers to step in since they’re there, but now the time slots are out of order, or
- Someone accidentally steals someone else’s time slot, causing confusion, and then
- Someone who isn’t signed up sits down to be drawn, taking someone else’s scheduled time, setting back all subsequent time slots, and
- Guests consistently come to ask the artist if it is their turn, who is next, how much longer (once they inevitably run late), slowing down the artist even more
Here are the annoying things that happen with a line:
- You wait in line for a short period of time.
So please, take it from us – your best bet is just to go with the classic line!
Do you have more questions about how event entertainers can bring your party to the next level? Fill out our contact form and one of our agents will follow up with you to chat about your event and get you set up with some wonderful options.
