I’m Jennifer David, Debutots Franchise owner – if I had to coin one phrase to describe our aim with delivering a Debutots party, I think it would be ‘maximum engagement and minimum chaos’!
I’ve been running parties through my Debutots franchise in Muswell Hill, Hampstead, Finchley and surrounding areas since 2007 and have gained a huge variety of experience over the years. My team of practitioners and I have helped children and families celebrate birthdays, leaving parties, nursery graduations, Halloween, religious festivals and Christenings, in settings as varied as kitchens, living rooms, gardens, parks, nurseries, school halls, community centres, membership clubs and hospices. We’ve entertained for shy and reserved children, outgoing and excitable children, children with SEN, children with physical disabilities. I think it’s safe to say “We’ve been there, done that, read the book, written the manual, worn the t shirt” and have come out with a wealth of experience, wonderful memories and glowing 5* testimonials. And yes, we’re still smiling, often laughing, and ready to take on 100s more parties!
Here are our top tips for parents to consider when beginning to plan a party:
- What kind of entertainment do you think your child and their friends would enjoy? If it’s a structured and varied session, involving lots of interaction, some seated activities, some physical, then Debutots could be a perfect fit. We devise sessions to include any of the following: interactive storytelling, dramatic play, movement to music, bubbles, action songs, drama games, parachute, ‘snowball’ fights, running traditional party games such as pass the parcel and grandmother’s footsteps. We can also include crafts and mementos that can be included in the party bags. The only thing we won’t provide is prizes for games or the parcel for pass the parcel, as we prefer to leave this to the host’s choice, which also allows them to take into account any allergies.
- How many children are you thinking of inviting? We prefer to entertain a maximum of around 15-20 children, because when numbers start to exceed that then it can become difficult to offer individual attention, noise levels reach too high a volume, chaos levels start to escalate and therefore engagement is less successful. On occasion we’ve entertained more numbers and have brought an assistant, but you do run the risk of losing that personal touch that is so important to us.
- How long would you like the entertainment to last? With all our experience of teaching (we run classes for children aged 6 months to 7 years old) and entertaining at parties, we’re a firm believer in keeping the length of the entertainment in line with the children’s attention spans. We therefore recommend 30-40 minutes for 1-2 year olds, 45 minutes for 3-4 year olds, 45-60 minutes for 5-7 year olds. Sometimes party hosts ask for longer sessions, but we feel that you start to lose value for money if the towards the end of the session the children’s attention starts to wane. If you are looking for an entertainer to oversee the duration of the party (usually 2 hours), we are happy to offer a 2 hour package for 3-7 year olds, where we can run a Debutots session before the party food, followed by games or crafts afterwards. Games and crafts can all be themed to the same theme as the interactive story used at the start of the party.
- Do you have a theme in mind for the party? Debutots has the huge advantage of a ‘story bank’ of around 150 original stories, all written exclusively for Debutots practitioners, including many different animals, modes of transport, under the sea, princes and princesses, rainbows and unicorns, dinosaurs, pirates and superheroes.
- Are you looking for a bespoke party? Does your child have a favourite book, programme or film? For a small additional cost, we can devise a bespoke session to include an interactive story, games, songs and crafts to perfectly capture their favourite storyline, along with accompanying music. To give you an example, some of the parties we’ve devised include: ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’, ‘Paddington’, ‘The Tiger who Came to Tea’, ‘Frozen’, ‘Encanto’, ‘Moana’, ‘Paw Patrol’, ‘Annie’.
- Are you concerned that your shy child, who often doesn’t join in at other children’s parties, might feel overwhelmed? This isn’t a problem for us. We’re well aware that children all react differently to a party environment, and not only are we very gentle in our encouragement to participate, but also totally respectful of a child who prefers to watch from the outskirts, with the security of their parent nearby. We also arrive before the party start time (at no extra charge), to give us time to get to know the birthday child whilst we set up and ask them if they’d like to help eg by giving out the name stickers when their friends arrive, choosing some of the music, pressing play and pause on the music player, etc. These can all be great ice breakers!
- Do you need help with choosing a venue? Some party hosts prefer to book a venue that comes with the entertainment and food included. Debutots isn’t limited to any specific venue, but we can advise about suitable locations, often providing contact details too. We are also sometimes able to share information about the suitability of the venue eg acoustics, size, parking, kitchen and toilet facilities.
- Are you thinking of having your party at home? We entertain at many parties at people’s homes and space is very rarely an issue. We can work in almost any area and will tidy up after ourselves before we leave. The only thing we ask is that you clear the area of any obvious distractions. Other children’s toys (particularly dolls houses, garages, play kitchens, ride on toys, swords) are always of huge interest!
- Are you looking for someone to do glitter tattoos, balloon modelling, face painting alongside the main entertainment? We might be able to help with all of these, subject to availability, and if we can’t then we can give you contact details of trusted and recommended providers who can. One word of advice though: if you’re thinking of having any of these running concurrently with our entertainment, you risk losing out on the engagement of the children with the main entertainment. More than one focus of attention for the children is not ideal at a party. We have had some challenging experiences of trying to entertain whilst there is a bouncy castle, trampoline, ball pit, climbing frame or inflatables on offer at the same time! We would definitely recommend keeping them off limit until the main entertainment has finished.
- Are you worrying about being charged if the entertainment doesn’t begin on time, because some of the guests are late? We can be accommodating and start up to 15/20 minutes late to allow for late arrivals. If your guests are invited for eg 3pm, we would usually expect the majority of guests to have arrived by 3.15/3.20pm and would plan to start the entertainment then.
- Do you need help with catering? We can recommend a party caterer and cake maker who we’ve worked alongside many times, so that you don’t need to worry about making lots of sandwiches, cutting up the vegetables, displaying the food, baking and decorating the cake in the early hours of the morning of the party etc. Let’s face it, sometimes it’s the little things that can build up to make a stressful experience!
- Do you need help with the invitations or thank you cards? We can provide these at minimal cost, either in paper form or electronically.
- Are you looking for someone to come dressed up as a princess, dinosaur or superhero? I’m afraid that is pretty much one of the only things we can’t do!
- What do our customers say about Debutots parties? Here is our most recent testimonial from a birthday party we entertained at in Crouch End in November 2023: “We have heard for many years just how amazing Jennifer is. We personally know Jennifer from her drama classes given at our local nursery and know her for her amazing holiday clubs. Our schedules finally synched and we asked Jennifer to entertain our child’s 4th birthday party of 21 children. She was so supportive, hands on from start to finish and improvised with the needs of how the party was unfolding. It was the best 45 minutes of the party. It’s a rarity that you can hire help and not bat an eyelid just knowing that everyone will be taken care of and that they will hold the attention for a prolonged period of so many 3 and 4 year olds despite distractions of food, balloons etc. The extra help gave us that much more freedom to enjoy the party.”
To contact Jennifer please email: jennifer@debutots.co..uk
