One question I get asked quite a lot is:
There will be children at our party. Is that OK?
The answer is a resounding YES. My act is family-friendly, so please don’t worry: if you’ve got children at your event, booking me will be absolutely fine – as long as it’s an adult event with children mixed in among them. Mixed adult/child audiences are great fun, and I really enjoy events like company family fun days or family occasions such as anniversaries or weddings where there are kids about.
However, I’m not a specialist children’s entertainer, so there are a couple of caveats:
- As a rule, I won’t do formal “front-and-centre” performances (stand-up style) if there’s a table in the room that’s mainly children.
- When I’m mingling, I won’t do “something for the kids’ table” or otherwise entertain a group that’s primarily children.
I’m aware that this probably makes me sound quite mean and Grinch-like to some parents, so let me explain.
It’s not that I don’t like children
I do. I’m a dad myself, and when I’m not performing I get on really well with kids, and really enjoy their company. (Some friends of mine with a young family reckon it’s because I’m just a big kid myself. They’re probably right.)
Mixed adult/child audiences are genuinely great fun (for them and for me!) Any event where adults are the main crowd, and kids are there as part of the mix, works really well for me.
But:
Children’s entertainment is a specialism – and I think kids deserve a specialist
A good children’s entertainer has a whole set of skills that I really respect (and am rather in awe of). They are masters of:
- Keeping a room full of kids engaged
- Pacing things properly for their age (which can vary widely across different age groups)
- Managing excitement levels (they do get wound up when travelling as a pack, bless ’em)
- Dealing with heckles and interruptions (which are totally normal with kids)
- Doing material that’s designed to land quickly and clearly.
That’s a craft.
My act is designed for adult interests (and attention spans)
The honest truth is: I haven’t devoted myself to that particular craft. I’ve specialised in entertaining adults.
What I do is interactive, it’s conversational, and it relies on things adults are naturally better at enjoying, like:
- following a longer build-up before the pay-off
- finding the contradiction of an honest con-man both novel and intriguing
- appreciating the humour and the little bits of nuance
- choosing to stay focused, even when something shiny happens nearby
It’s just a fact of life:
Children and adults enjoy different things, in different ways, for different lengths of time.
So I’m just not any good with groups that consist mainly of kids. The things I do aren’t right for them, nor have I put in the hours developing the skills to entertain them. It’s better all round if I say so upfront and set expectations, rather than set the wrong expectations, or worse – actually try to entertain a group of kids and fail. It won’t be fun for them, and it won’t be fun for me.
And, let’s face it, a table full of bored children makes it harder for both the parents, and for the hosts. Nobody wants that.
But when the kids are mixed in with the adults, what I do absolutely works.
In that setting, the adults carry the heavy lifting when it comes to attention spans, and my act lands the way it’s meant to. The kids often enjoy the big moments too, although some of it will just go straight over the younger ones’ heads.
And to be honest, with kids under about 8, you’ll usually find they’re happier doing their own thing anyway. If there’s a balloon, some crisps, or a cousin to chase, they’re sorted.
A couple of common objections I get:
“Oh go on – they’ll love you.”
Early on in my career, a client whose 8-year-old daughter had enjoyed what I did with her and her grandparents and a few aunts and uncles, during the pre-dinner drinks, was very keen for me to do something for the kids’ table over dinner. I couldn’t argue with her; her daughter had enjoyed what I did. At that point I wasn’t sufficiently experienced to be able to explain that much of the reason her daughter enjoyed what I had done was because she had seen it with adults and so took her cues for how she should behave off them, and also to a degree because she saw how these adults whose opinions she respected reacted to what I did.
In the end, despite my weak protestations, the person who was paying me was insistent, and I let myself be talked into giving it a go. Needless to say, it didn’t go well: none of what I did was of much interest to the rest of the kids, and the client’s daughter took her behavioural cues from them. I ended up with bored kids and an unhappy client who didn’t understand why this expensive entertainer was suddenly falling flat.
“I understand all that, but my child is really mature for their age.”
And that’s often true. I sometimes am contacted by parents who will be determined to secure me for their son’s 13th birthday party, because he saw me at another event and asked them to book me for his party. The tricky thing is this: your child may be mature for their age, but their friends aren’t usually in the same place. So you end up with one child who’s genuinely into it, surrounded by a group who aren’t… which creates the same issue.
If your child is mature enough to enjoy my act, the best setup is usually for them to see it as part of a mostly adult audience – and I’m very happy to do that.
In summary
If your event is mainly for adults, and children will also be there, mixed in among them, then it will be fine. Of course, groups of kids will break off from the adults and do their own thing, but that’s fine. They generally intuit that I’m not for them anyway.
But if you want a group of children entertained, you’ll be far better served by booking a specialist. You’ll get much better value for your money. (Perhaps I could still come along and entertain the adults?)
If you’re unsure about whether I’d be right for your event, please get in touch and we can discuss what you’re planning and the ages involved. I’ll be more than happy to talk it through with you and tell you honestly whether or not I think I’m a good fit.
