Fire Pixie Happenings

Welcome to our Newest Entertainer: Jacob

2012-01-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

This week has been action-packed, as I've been busy doing lots of training with our newest entertainer, Jacob. He's shaping up to be amazing!

Jacob is based in the San Jose area, and is going to play a lot of new characters to add to Fire Pixie's repertoire. He's working on characterizations for Cowboy Woody and Batman, in addition to doing characters we already offer in other areas, like Race car drivers and Train engineers and Safari Steve. He's also going to complete our Scooby Gang - we finally have a Fred!!!

He is learning new skills with the greatest of ease, and is going to be a rockstar balloon twister within the week! He is gregarious and funny, and very excited about kids and about parties and about life in general.. you guys are going to LOVE him.

Welcome Jacob!

Chinese New Year Aerial Show

2012-01-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

Fire Pixie Entertainment Presents

Dragonflight

A Multi-Cultural Circus Show for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as "Spring Festival," marking the end of the winter season. 2012 ushers in the Year of the Dragon.

Our show begins with traditional storytelling, steeped in the history and culture of China and the mythical animals of the years - dragons, rabbits, monkeys and many more take turns influencing the year's events.

Next, our performers will present an aerial dance circus performance, "Dragonflight" - a story of fantasy and dragons that will astonish the audience and captivate their imaginations as they watch the dancers climb and soar through the air.

We finish the show by answering questions and educating the audience about the circus tradition and the Chinese New Year tradition.

Requirements & Logistics

30-40 minutes from start to finish
$500 for one performance, $700 for 2 performances in the same day
Perfect for elementary or middle school aged kids -We tailor the show to the age group
Sound system and $2MM performer's insurance is included

Rigging Requirements

15-25 foot ceilings required
We can rig from an eye bolt or an exposed support beam
Site inspection for rigging is included

Contact Us if you want more information or if you would like to check availability and book!

Erin St. Blaine
510.367.4517
info@firepixie.com
www.firepixie.com

Swimming Mermaids, Oracles, and Pirates

2012-01-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

I've been getting a surprising number of Swimming Mermaid inquiries and bookings, for the winter months. (Here's hoping all those pools are heated!) Many of the parties are adults-only, which is all kinds of fun. I don't have to be "Ariel", I get to be my own personal take on a Mermaid.. which means I get to be saucy and petulant if I want, and threaten to drag any passing sailors to their doom.

I just got booked to be a "Mermaid Oracle" at an upcoming local convention, where I will sit in the jacuzzi and predict the future of everyone who comes to visit. I'm VERY excited about this one. I need a really great Mermaid name. Suggestions?

Speaking of pictures.. I just spent a little time prettying these two up. Enjoy!

Dolphin Flying Machine

2012-01-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

This made me just drop my jaw.. this is AMAZING!! He can shoot up out of the water just like a dolphin! I think I may just have to get one of these that works with my swimming mermaid tail.

January Busy-ness!

2012-01-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

This time of year, for some reason, the birthday party rush seems to quiet down. I imagine there are just as many 4 year olds having birthdays as every other time of year, but perhaps the calm after the holiday madness is so delicious that nobody wants to make a fuss about January birthdays.

I have to admit, it's usually a bit of a relief for us as well. But this weekend we are surprisingly busy! We've got more shows, as a company, this weekend, than we've had .. well, ever! We've got a lot of repeat customers this weekend, and a surprising number of fire shows. I think the gorgeous weather in San Francisco has a lot to do with that. It feels like spring around here, and we haven't gotten to winter yet.

It's also interesting to watch the Princess character trends. Belle seems to be immensely popular during December (probably because of the Beauty & the Beast Christmas movie), and Rapunzel .. well, Rapunzel is popular almost every weekend. But this weekend I'm going to be Sleeping Beauty and a Woodland Fairy. I haven't been Sleeping Beauty since Halloween weekend, and I've never worn my Woodland Fairy costume to a birthday party before. (I'm kind of excited.. it's gorgeous!)

I'm also doing a fire show tonight, and have 3 more in the immediate future (unheard of for January!). Here is hoping this weather holds.

For all that, it's still quiet around here. Peaceful. "Busy" for January means I have 3 shows (instead of 6, as per usual for the rest of the year) to do this weekend, and everyone else is in the same boat.

Does your kid have a birthday in the winter? Do you notice fewer invites this time of year? Or are people just having smaller indoor parties?

Inspiring the Kids

2012-01-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

I was at a friend's house the other night for Rock Band Night, and it happened to be their younger son's 5th birthday. So, of course, I brought some balloons to make him a giant birthday hat, and a little bit of magic just to make him feel special. I think I managed to delight him. :)

His older brother, who's almost 8, was even more fascinated by the magic than the birthday boy was. After I did a couple tricks, he ran into his bedroom and grabbed the magic kit he'd gotten for Christmas, and did a few tricks for me. I was super impressed.. the kid is a born performer.

He's a talker too.. so much so that there's a rule at their house that when it's bedtime, he can choose the very last thing he wants to say that day, and say it, and after that - no more talking. :) As his mom was putting him to bed, he whispered to her that the last thing he wanted to say that day was something he wanted to say to me.

I went into his room where he was sitting in his pajamas, looking not remotely sleepy, and he grinned his irrepressible grin at me and said, "So. You can do magic. You make jackets. You do that thing with the ropes. You can make balloons. What ELSE do you do???"

"Well, I eat fire," I told him.

He nodded, and looked at me expectantly.

"I just basically do whatever I am excited about, I guess," I told him. "Whatever seems like the most fun, that's what I do."

He grinned at me again, and I added, "You can do that too, you know." He nodded and smiled, and I wished him good night and tiptoed out of the room, feeling sort of warm and glowy.

I guess I must be doing something right.

New Princess Photos featuring Lanie

2011-11-17T11:07:00.001-08:00

Last night I was up late doing a glamorous photo shoot with Princess Lanie. Lanie's been with Fire Pixie since 2008 and has done over 300 shows for us in that time. She's been getting so much amazing feedback from clients lately, and has updated some of her gorgeous costumes to make them even fancier.. so we spent all evening dressing up, videotaping, and photo shooting. We didn't finish until midnight! But the results are stunning...

I'm having a lot of fun this morning photo shopping her into my favorite Princess Fantasy locations. It's a joy to work with such a gorgeous model and end up with such beautiful results!

Here she is as Princess Belle, lookin' fancy.. Lanie says Belle is her favorite Princess to play.

Here she is as Sleeping Beauty. We got some video of her singing too, and it's just delightful.

Here she is as Rapunzel. I love the mischievous look on her face in this photo!

We also took updated Elf and Fairy pictures, since her new fairy dress is so much fancier than her old one and since Christmas is on its way. (Did you know we're having a Holiday Special? Coupon code is "ELF ME" for $10 off any Christmas character!)

The last thing we did was shoot some video of Lanie's puppet show, which was delightful to watch (although we did rather get the giggles, considering it was almost midnight!) I haven't had a chance to go through the video yet, but here's a snapshot of her new Puppet Theater!

Princess Story Messages

2011-10-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually one to rant, but sometimes I see so much anti-Princess sentiment going around and I feel the need to write a rebuttal...

Princesses. Love them or hate them, they are archetypes which touch the heart and soul of millions of little girls (and boys, and women and men) around the world.

Many people love to point out the anti-Feminist messages in the Disney Princess movies - the damsel in distress, waiting for a man to rescue her, whose only worth is her pretty face and tiny waist. And it's true, those messages are there. But I've been playing a Princess for almost 10 years now. It really doesn't take a lot to look a little deeper. If all you see is negativity, you aren't really paying attention.

The nature of stories is that the listener hears so much more with her heart than the teller ever says aloud. A story told to a group of 10 girls will be heard, filtered, and interpreted 10 different ways. Everyone takes what they need from a story. This is the way human beings are made. Our very deepest selves and souls are built on stories. We are made of stories. What is society (or reality for that matter) but a story we are constantly telling ourselves and each other?

A story itself is a tool for self knowledge and for knowledge of the world around us. A tool is neither good nor bad unto itself.. it's how the tool is used that makes it good or bad. Is a stick inherently evil if someone uses it to hit another person? Is it inherently good if it's used to build shelter or fire? Stories are some of the most powerful tools around, but they are still tools.

If the only thing you can see in a Princess story is negative, misogynistic messages, then please take another look - for your little Princess' sake. These stories have so much to give. Please look deeper, and point to the beauty, the truth, and the love these stories embody so your little girls can see them more clearly.

Original Post:

Looking past the Surface:

Las Vegas Mermaid Convention / World Mermaid Awards

2011-08-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Swimming mermaids from all over the globe converged in Las Vegas the first weekend in August to splash, giggle, compare tails and lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom at the first annual World Mermaid Awards. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I loved every minute.

We arrived at the Silverton Resort on Friday when the convention was in full swing. We were a little late.. after snooping all around the Silverton and getting distracted by its huge mermaid tank, we finally wandered into the convention as the Mermaid Pageant was about halfway through.. in other words, all the boring stuff was over, and the Mermaid Tail Parade was about to begin. I wriggled right into my tail and seashells, and flopped right up onto the stage.

There were so many beautiful costumes! There were probably 20-30 mermaids, two mermen, and a whole school of mer-babies and mer-children, who were absolutely in seventh heaven.

I was in awe of the super realistic latex and silicone tails that were represented, and even more excited by the beautiful and unique handmade tails. All so different.. all so fantastic and delightful.. and completely inspiring. My tail received its share of compliments (it was one of the fanciest of the handmade tails, with its multi-layered fins and sparkly sequins).. and now that I am home again I'm hatching all kinds of schemes to make it even fancier, sparklier, and more realistic. :) The Fire Pixie mermaid tail continues to evolve!

It was a joy to connect with other like-minded merfolk from around the country, and "geek out" about neoprene vs. latex, brands of monofins, and seashell bra construction. Somehow it's just magical to meet other people who are just as crazy as I am, spending weeks and months of their lives on something as ephemeral as a costume.. getting the scales and the fit just right, choosing colors and materials, all in order to find ways to transform our spirits into something more than just human.

The pageant was fun, but the pool party was truly the highlight of the evening. Hannah Mermaid and MeduSirena Mermaid did some fire performance at the pool side, which was delightful to watch (although desperately confusing to my fantasy aesthetic - how on earth would a mermaid ever encounter enough fire to learn to perform with it? But we now have so many ideas for a Fire Pixie Mermaid show complete with pirates, fire performance and partner acrobatics..so check back soon). Twig the Fairy was there in a gorgeous golden tail (and I was too startstruck to swim up to her and start a conversation! Twig is my hero) We swam, we giggled, we networked, and we delighted in each others' company.. how many times in my life will I have the pleasure of swimming with so many mermaids? It was a magical night.

See my whole photo gallery here on picasa

Free Princess Party Giveaway Contest Results

2011-05-04T12:21:00.001-07:00

We finally chose a winner! It wasn't easy..

Sing-Along Little Mermaid at the Castro Theatre

2011-03-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

Last night I dragged my hubby to the Sing-Along "The Little Mermaid" showing at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. What a blast that was! The theater was absolutely packed - with kids, adults, couples, and lots of rowdiness.

There was a kid's costume parade (during which three terrified little girls hid behind their moms' legs up on stage) and an adult costume contest, in which there were at least 4 Ariels, a couple of "Ariel's Sisters" and one fantastically creative girl dressed as a Dinglehopper. :) There was also a whole gaggle of jellyfish, with light-up umbrella-based costumes, which were awesome. I was in costume, of course.. My Ariel costume was probably the most realistic, but the crowd just went nuts for the Dinglehopper (and who can blame them?).

Here's a video we made. Enjoy! As you can see from the marquee, it's running March 5-9 so if you MUST experience this (and believe me, you MUST) then there's still lots of time.

Glowing Rapunzel Hair Night

2011-02-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, three Princesses journeyed through the rainy, windy night to the Fire Pixie Castle, where they spent the evening laughing, braiding each other's hair, and kindling healing magic and glowing lights...

That's right.. we now have 3 Rapunzels with magical glowing hair, and one more who will soon join us in the glowing Rapunzel sisterhood. :)

We contacted our favorite local fairy magic supply store, Cool Neon, and the elves there sent us the spell ingredients with amazing dispatch (I think the supplies somehow arrived *before* we ordered them!)

We invited our local electroluminescent wire Wizard to help with the spells. He uses a special branch of magic called "science." We don't know how he does it, but we are eternally grateful and have granted him as many Princess wishes as he can use!

The result: Beautiful, long, flowery and flowing Rapunzel hair that glows softly whenever Rapunzel sings her magic healing incantation.

Fire Pixie Year-end Wrap up

2010-12-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

As the year comes to a close, I find myself taking advantage of the quiet to take a look around and a look back, and see how far we've come this year.

First, some fun stats..

Most popular characters in the SF area in 2010: Little Mermaid (we did 134 shows) and Cinderella (108 shows). These are closely followed by our Fairy Princess, Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell (97, 73 and 68 shows respectively).

The whole company did nearly 1100 shows total.. thanks so much to all our clients! At an average of 12 kids per party, that means we made well over 13,000 kids happy this year!! (No wonder Santa was so nice to us this Christmas..) We also reached 534 fans on our Facebook page.. yay!

This year saw our biggest expansions ever.. we launched Fire Pixie SoCal and Fire Pixie New York this year! Both areas are growing like crazy and I can't wait to see how we all do in 2011.

New characters that I got to make costumes for this year included Rapunzel (with glowing hair!), the Queen of Hearts, and my MOST amazing Swimming Mermaid tail. I also added Rainbow Brite and Rosetta to my costume closet.. making costumes is just so much fun.

Speaking of sewing, I launched the Fire Pixie Fashion web site this year and started selling faerie-inspired hoodies and warm things on my new Etsy store.

I also got a chance to travel to Brazil, where I had the privilege of face painting on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.. that was the experience of a lifetime!

We wrapped up the year with our Christmas Video .. that was a LOT of fun to make.

Among all these accomplishments, though, I think the very very best of it all was getting to meet and know all our fantastic entertainers. Every single entertainer here at Fire Pixie is a pure delight - each one is enthusiastic, talented, gorgeous and energetic and I am SO lucky to have met them all and to have the privilege of working with them every day! Thank you all so much for making this year such an amazing one.. here's to 2010, and may we grow together and have lots of adventures in 2011!

Christmas Elves and Singing Princesses

2010-12-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas is fast approaching! All the Fire Pixie elves are out this week.. we're entertaining at holiday parties and Christmas-themed birthday parties all over the place, and having an absolute blast.

I love doing sing-a-longs this time of year because there are just so many fun Christmas carols to sing, and the kids are all so very enthusiastic about singing them. I can't seem to remember all the words to Frosty the Snowman (I keep forgetting the "thumpety-thump thump" bit) but it seems nobody else knows the words to that one either... so we just fake it.

Besides, when you're dressed as an Elf, if you sing with authority, nobody questions your version of the lyrics. :)

My favorite thing about doing holiday shows is that lots of people book 2, 3, or 4 entertainers at once. Being a part of a whole gaggle of Elves is unlike any other experience I can think of. Most of the time we work individually, but Christmas is one of those times when I get to play with lots of the other entertainers in the company and that is just so much fun! It's inspiring to watch Lanie twist balloons and play with puppets, or to face paint with Lena, or to do magic with Naomi. I love how doing larger shows really builds the community and camaraderie between entertainers and strengthens the Fire Pixie culture.

We've been personalizing lots of copies of our Princess Christmas Video too. This is a lot of fun.. I really enjoy seeing the messages people are sending to their daughters, granddaughters and nieces.. it's pretty special to get a glimpse into the Christmas Morning gifts these little girls are going to receive. (And I wish someone was taking ME to Disneyland this year!)

Here's our free video.. show it to your favorite little girl this week to get her all excited about Christmas!

Glowing Rapunzel Hair

2010-12-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

After I saw Tangled, I got all inspired.. the first thing I did was to come home and re-create the dress. I think I did pretty well!

The wig was a little harder. I make costumes all the time, but wig styling is a whole different art form. I can hardly do anything with my *real* hair, let alone do fancy wig styling, but .. after looking online and finding only either really bad long Rapunzel wigs, or really really really expensive ones, I decided to give it a shot.

I'd been Rapunzel in the past once or twice, and on that occasion I'd purchased two of the really long bad wigs to experiment with. I ended up braiding one of them, then cutting off the top of the wig and just braiding the long braid into my own hair. This was a hassle, and also rather dangerous.. a couple good tugs and it would come right out, to the horror of a whole bunch of 5 year old girls. It worked for a one-off, but not as a permanent solution.

Since I know I'll be using this wig a lot, I went ahead and put a lot of thought and effort into it. My process:

1. Get the old Rapunzel braid out and re-braid it so it's neat, then clip it firmly at the top and bottom.

2. Take the second long cheezy wig. Separate the hair into two sections, and braid each section into a smaller braid.

3. Braid the old single thick braid together with the two smaller braids, still attached to the wig.

4. Take the old Sleeping Beauty wig off the shelf.. the color matches the braids perfectly, but the weave and the cut is really nice around the face (instead of cheezy cheezy!).

5. Layer the cheezy long wig underneath the pretty Sleeping Beauty wig. Braid the Sleeping Beauty wig into the top of the long braid. Add a matching hair-fall to the join, to keep it all together and add fullness.

6. Pile on the flowers flowers flowers!

This, was successful! Delightfully successful. The wig is pretty and complex and intricate, and still looks great from just about every angle. However... it doesn't GLOW when I SING yet! So, after one performance in the wig, I took it apart and went back to the drawing board... I tapped into the expertise of some electronic-genius friends and the result.. well, is 99% finished and absolutely astonishing.

Going to finish up that last 1% and then post.. pictures and videos coming soon soon!!!

Henry's Princess Party Birthday

2010-12-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was Sleeping Beauty for a fantastic 4 year old. His name was Henry, and he was enthusiastic and adorable, and dressed up just like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

It's not unheard of that Fire Pixie does princess parties for little boys, but it is rare. Always and invariably the guests are a good mix of girls and boys, and the Birthday Boy is always dressed up and delighted with his party. And, the only place this ever happens is Berkeley.

In early November I read this article about a little boy dressing up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween, and the intolerance he and his mom discovered at school. I am extremely happy to report that the San Francisco Bay Area is far more tolerant and accepting of boys who like female characters. All the kids at this party, and the parents too, were incredibly accepting and simply amused that Henry likes princesses. (Why not, after all? What's not to like about Princesses?)

We did a little magic, some face painting (Henry got a pink and purple butterfly crown) and balloon animals, and every child was allowed to choose what he or she wanted, allowed pretend and play and "be" whatever they wanted for the hour. The other girls and boys at the party had a great time, and nobody teased Henry or even looked at him "funny." The adults even went out of their way to compliment him on how beautiful he looked. It was aweome.

We do a lot of stereotypically boy-themed parties for little girls, and nobody thinks that is strange. If a girl wants a pirate at her party, more power to her, she's "so mature" and "so creative." Statistically speaking, we should get just as many girl-themed requests for little boys, but it just doesn't happen. I imagine that almost all moms and dads must veto their son's choice before we ever hear about it. Props to the parents who listen to their son, and actually give him what he really wants for his birthday.

As I was leaving and saying goodbye to all the kids, the birthday boy's big brother approached me, looked me in the eye and told me that he's seriously considering having a princess party for his 8th birthday. What a compliment! I thanked him, and told him I'll see him next year.

Tangled! Romance and memories and delight.

2010-12-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

Today I went and saw Tangled, and it was delightful. It had one of the prettiest princess-romance scenes EVER. Rapunzel and her man are floating on a still lake while fire lanterns float above and reflect below them.. it's really delightful. Made more so, because I experienced the real thing at the Loi Krathong festival in Thailand, when I was on my honeymoon. It was magical and delightful then, and this movie just brought it all back. We went to Chiang Mai, where Loi Krathong is celebrated the most, and had only the vaguest inkling that this festival was about to happen.. imagine our delight, when for 3 full days the night sky was filled with THOUSANDS of fire lanterns, and the river was transformed into a firey serpent of light with the floating lanterns.

Since I have sort of an affinity for fire, I got just as excited as Rapunzel does in the movie. My newlywed hubby and I set off our own fire lantern, and made a wish as we sent it off into the night .. and the next morning, our wish had come true. Prove-ably and undeniably true. Fire lanterns are magic.

I spent half the movie being miss weepy-eyes (I have a tendency to lose it whenever cartoons sing) and the other half analyzing Rapunzel's dress for reproduction in my costume shop. I think I really identified with Rapunzel.. right after I got out of the movie, I was slightly surprised that my reflection in the mirror did not have incredibly long hair.

A Princess Feeds the Homeless.. Cinderella's Thanksgiving Perspective

2010-11-26T10:00:00.001-08:00

This Thanksgiving, Roro the Clown and I volunteered at a free Thanksgiving dinner for people in need. I'd never done anything like this before. It was pretty eye-opening.

I do so many birthday parties for fantastic kids from many walks of life and many, many cultures, but it's rare that I see kids whose parents aren't able to provide them even with a full Thanksgiving meal. Real, live Princess entertainers aren't the first priority of folks who have to work to afford a birthday cake.

I was a little nervous when I drove up. Nobody looked like me. Nobody came from my background, or had anything at all in common with me, that I could see. I really haven't had much exposure to homeless people, or people who are needy or severely disabled. What were they going to think about me, in my fancy high-falutin' dress? I sat in the car and stalled, fixing my lipstick, getting my hair just so, before working up the courage to walk in there.

Now I've done more than 2000 parties. I do not get nervous walking up to the door anymore, EVER.. but this was just different.

I took a deep breath, pasted on my Princess smile and walked in.

And all the volunteers and guests turned and gave me huge smiles, clapped their hands and welcomed me to their dinner. After the opening prayer, where everyone gave thanks that they had abundance enough to share, I felt like part of a big family.

Also, it's impossible to be nervous
around Roro. He's just so much FUN!

The reactions we got from the kids were fascinating and wonderful. One little boy wouldn't take off his motorcycle helmet the whole time we were there. Another one insisted on keeping his hood pulled down over his eyes (we nicknamed him the Ninja). One adorable little girl just followed us around, demanding balloon after balloon and giggling. Each kid was different and unexpected in ways that made me rethink my approach and my character.

After I left, I went to my Mom's house, where the food was plentiful and we were surrounded by luxuries. I looked around at the big screen TV blaring Beatles Rock Band, the gold-leaf plates, handmade wine goblets, and all the beautiful little things that make Mom's house feel like home. I looked at my family - all in amazing health, all smiling and interested in one another's lives.. and I felt my heart burst open with gratitude.. for all that we have, and all that we take for granted every day.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to see life from another perspective. Thank you all for being part of my amazing life.. and I hope your Thanksgiving day was magical too!

Our Princess Christmas Video Shoot

2010-11-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

Last night we shot the majority of our new Princess Christmas video. We've got a couple more scenes to shoot and some editing to do and I'm hoping to have it completed in early December.

I'm feeling so Christmassy this morning. We decorated my downstairs to look like the inside of a Christmas present, and it just turned out delicious - all the lights, flowers, and fabric turned my living room into a wonderland. (I had breakfast in there this morning.. I want to start every day by sipping tea while surrounded by fairy lights. :)

I was listening to Darrell beginning the video processing this morning, and .. wow! The quality of the music is blowing me away. We've got some amazingly talented Princesses! I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

My plan is to make a video that can be personalized.. so our Princesses can sing Merry Christmas directly to your special little girl, on Christmas morning. Check our YouTube Channel in the next couple weeks to see the finished product!

Princess Christmas Videos

2010-11-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

I'm kicking around an idea.. I want to make a Christmas video with Princesses singing christmas songs and opening presents and generally having a tasty and Princessy Christmas party.

I'd love to have it done by early December, so that means decorating for Christmas.. well.. Now.

Can it be done? Can I handle having Christmas decorations up for two whole months? (We never get them taken down by New Year's!) Does anyone out there want to see a Fire Pixie Princess Christmas Video?

Heck, I don't care so much if you want to see it.. I want to *make it*. :) :) :)

Tinkerbell Makeup Tutorial

2010-11-14T11:13:00.000-08:00

I just found this wonderful web site: Nature's Knockout. There are tons of videos and articles about makeup, and they are really well done. The products they use are all-natural (I LOVE that) and the techniques are demonstrated well.

Here is my favorite: a Tinkerbell Makeup How-to Video. Enjoy!

Fantastic Birthday Party Cupcake Designs

2010-11-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

I found this wonderful how-to on Parenting.com's blog about making cupcakes! There are tons of cute ideas here.. and in my experience, cupcakes are a really great way to go at birthday parties. You can spend some quality time with the birthday kid the day before, decorating and stacking, and when it comes time to pass out the cake, it couldn't possibly be any easier than just handing a cupcake to everyone.

If you can, it's a good idea to make a couple different flavors - some kids just love chocolate, while other kids are definitely vanilla types. To save yourself some heartache though, you probably want to frost them in all the same color, or there will be tears when you run out of the pink ones!

Cupcake Design How-To

Holiday Traditions for Moms and Kids

2010-11-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

I just got off the phone with my mom, and the question arose: "What do you want for Christmas this year?" And, so, it begins..

Christmas in my family means presents. LOADS of presents. So many presents that you can hardly see the tree.. and yes, my brother and sister and I are all grown up and yet it still continues. This year I'll probably make fairy hoodies for everyone.. but while the gift giving is fun, it's not our very favorite tradition.

Our favorite tradition is the singing. My family gets together every year on Christmas eve, and after stuffing ourselves with mom's stuffed mushrooms and angel puff cookies, we sing Christmas Carols. ALL the Christmas Carols. Every one we know, and some we don't. Even the Hallelujah Chorus! My Aunt (a lifelong music teacher) plays the piano, and the rest of the family manages to hold down a semi-decent 4 part harmony throughout.

I've been doing this my whole life, and only recently realized how very rare it is - whenever we invite guests to the Christmas Eve party, they always express astonishment and wonder at our singing. Christmas, for me, is about the music.

I found this article on Posh Tot's blog about creating your own holiday traditions with your family, and it made me wonder.. what fun stuff are all you people doing for your Holiday celebrations this year? What makes your family's Christmas.. well, Christmas?

2010-11-09T08:56:00.001-08:00

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Sleeping Beauty: The Pinkest of the Pink

2010-11-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

This may have been the pinkest party Sleeping Beauty has ever been to. We got these photos in the in-box this morning and the whole office was dissolving in giggles by just how PINK everything is! So, in case your morning hasn't been pink and girly enough.. here they are. Enjoy!

3 year old Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Sy...

2010-11-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

I saw this being passed around on facebook this morning and I absolutely have to repost. This amazes and delights me! Kids amaze and delight me all the time, but... this guy.. wow.

Cinderella Wishes for Young and Old

2010-11-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

Today I played Cinderella at a birthday party for a fabulous 4-year-old, then headed across the bay and performed a Cinderella Singing Telegram for a fabulous 73-year-old. What a delight.

I've been Cinderella a million times for the little ones (217 times in the last 7 years, to be exact). I think she may be my favorite character to play. This show was especially fun since the birthday girl's older sister was there too, and I'd performed for her 3rd birthday back in 2003.. She had her other 10-year-old friends there, and the four of them were almost more excited by the Princess energy than the little ones were! They knew all the words to all the Disney songs I could throw at them, and gave me a run for my money on princess trivia. :)

But the real jewel of the day was performing for the 73 year old. It was a birthday / retirement party, and the guest of honor had run an operating room at a local hospital for the last 30 years. I sang to her, danced with her, did some magic for her and declared her an official Princess of the Realm, and thanked her for all her wonderful love and hard work for her patients over the years. The sparkle in her eyes really rivaled the 4 year old's for excitement!

Being a Princess is exhausting hard work at times, but days like today fill me up with so much gratitude - how lucky am I, to be able to just put on a costume and then create that look of happiness in so many different eyes?

Stilt Walking & Walkaround Performers at the California Academy of Sciences with KDFC

2010-11-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

On Halloween, Fire Pixie partnered with KDFC to bring some walk around characters and stilt walkers to the California Academy of Sciences. We had a terrific time!

Most of the kids had no idea who the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter were. :) I guess, without Alice, the minor Wonderland characters just sort of take a back seat. The adults seemed to love us though, and *we* had a terrific time (Off with ALL your heads!) so that's really what matters in my book. My philosophy: if the entertainer is having fun, the audience is having fun.

Plus, recognizable character or not, kids adore stilt walkers! I had a little Princess trailing me around for a good 20 minutes, to the great exasperation of her mom, wanting to tell me all about her halloween and what she will be when she grows up and "why are you so tall anyway?" and a million other fancies.

The mad hatter isn't really that tall. He's jumping. I think I made him feel tiny.

Fairy Princess Carmen had a swarm of adoring kids chasing her the whole time! Fairies are natural science too, you know.

"Why *are* you so tall?" (I eat too many vegetables)

Princesses and queens and hatters!

At the Penguin Exhibit. The mad hatter has a pension for penguins.

Holiday Entertainers take the stress out of Holiday parties

2010-11-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

Halloween is over and the holiday season is nearly upon us. It's a great time to start planning those Christmas parties and Fire Pixie would love to make your life easy this year...

We've got elves and snow princesses and santa's helpers and winter fairies ready to take charge of all those kids, leaving you free to enjoy your holiday evening with the grown-ups. After all, that's what Santa's elves are for.. making your life easier during the holidays!

Get your planning done early! We're having a special right now.. book any Fire Pixie holiday character and get $20 off your party! Holiday characters start at $149 for an hour of face painting, balloon twisting, holiday songs and stories, and freedom for you!

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-01T13:30:00.001-07:00

Halloween was on a Sunday this year, which pretty much equals three full days of MADNESS at Fire Pixie. There was stilt walking, face painting, body painting, fire dancing, and all kinds of costume-wearing. We're still recovering from the sugar rush, but I think a good time was had by all.

Lots of photos are trickling in.. here are some of my favorites:

New photos

2010-09-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have been posting so many photos and comments over on Facebook that this poor little blog is feeling forgotten and lonely! So here are a few new favorite photos.. come follow us on Facebook if you like this sort of thing. :)

Princess Face Painting

2010-05-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

I went to a party in San Francisco last Sunday as Sleeping Beauty, and had a wonderful time doing magic, balloon twisting and lots of other fun stuff with the kids - no face painting this time. I was a bit surprised when I looked up and noticed that one of the other littler girls already had her face painted! She was a late arrival and snuck in quietly to the back. When I got a closer look at her, I saw that her paint was slightly faded but holding up well - this must be face paint from yesterday's party, I concluded.

I looked a little closer and bells started going off in my head. The style looked SO familiar! I knew I'd seen that type of princess crown before.. and then it hit me. She must have had Rachel as her Princess yesterday! I see a lot of face painting, and I've always admired Rachel as being one of the best painters out there - we're really lucky to have her here at Fire Pixie.

I asked the little girl, and she confirmed that it had been Princess Belle who painted her face, so as soon as I got back to the office I called up Rachel and sure enough! She remembered the little girl and was completely tickled that she lik

ed the face paint so much that she didn't want to wash it off.. and blown away that I recognized her style, especially from "yesterday's" face painting. :)

And tell me truly: would YOU want to wash this masterpiece off? :) :)

Face Painting in Brazil

2010-04-20T13:34:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a 2-week trip to Brazil. Brazil! Yay! I'd been hired to paint faces on board a cruise ship (sometimes life is so tough!) and wowza.. I may just have to do that again.

It was a 7-night cruise that left out of Sao Paolo and stopped at a whole bunch of cities, islands and beaches. I painted a couple hours each day while the ship was at sea, and got to go ashore and explore during the days (and, of course, get into all sorts of mischief).

Painting the kids was honestly one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was a bit challenging since almost all the kids only spoke Portuguese.. living in California I can mostly make myself understood in Spanish, but Portuguese was a bit beyond my reach! Still, kids are kids. For the most part they knew what they wanted and persisted in chattering away at me until I "got it." And now I know a dozen words in Portuguese (real useful stuff like "rainbow" and "pirate" and "close your eyes" and "glitter"). Excellent.

One night it was "pirate night" and I must have painted 25 kids like pirates. That was all kinds of fun. There were pirate flags to color and a pirate parade through the dining room. The thing that struck me, though, was the difference in stereotypical Pirate looks and behavior. When I was growing up, Pirates were English and had furry beards and talking parrots and hooks on their hands. But sitting there, painting kids who were chattering to me in Portuguese made me realize how these Brazilian kids' pirate culture stems from different legendary Pirates! No Sir Francis Drake and Captain Hook for these kids. They grew up on tales of Bartolomeo and Manuel Pardal Rivero. The Portuguese have always been on the other side of the Line of Demarcation from the side I consider "home". It was fascinating to see how, throughout the course of the night, my pirate faces started to look considerably different from the way I do them here in the US (go, curly mustaches!)

It was also loads of fun to find myself in the theater or at dinner and see my little friends running around in paint all evening and all over the ship. At home I don't usually get to see my work more than a few minutes after I paint it.. it was interesting to see how stuff "wore" on the kids.

After the cruise ended, we spent a week in Rio de Janeiro doing the tourist thing.. which in my case means exploring and rock climbing and playing on the beach with my light-up hula hoop. Unfortunately, Rio was rainy and flooded.. NOT the way Rio is supposed to be!!! I wanted sunshine and beaches and caphirinas, and to watch gorgeous Brazilians play beach volleyball! Instead I got a good umbrella and an intimate knowledge of the local internet cafe. Sigh.

It did clear up (more or less) eventually, and I got my rock climbing and my hula hooping in, but missed out on the rain forest (closed due to flooding and roads washed out) and didn't get to soak up much of that Copacabana sunshine. Oh well. I'll just have to go back again, I guess. :)

2010-01-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a very wonderful & inspiring story from one of our past parties.. it feels SO amazing to know that we are inspiring the kids we entertain, and that a compliment or smile from "Cinderella" can mean so much to a little girl!

I had been meaning to write Fire Pixie this story and keep forgetting. Your “Cinderella” came to her party for her 4th birthday. It was a life changing moment for her!! She was so impressed by your princess that she begged me for dancing lessons so she could be just like Cinderella. So I enrolled her at a private Studio here in Castro Valley. We found she is very talented for her age and the studio asked if she would become a competitive dancer for them. But Savana, being the diva she is, insisted that she would only do a “Cinderella” dance solo and must be dressed like Cinderella that came to our house.

Well, she won several of her competitions this last season and her room is filled with trophies. And she loves the stage and the judges keep telling us that she has “it”, whatever it is! She performed at the fair this last summer and also at the MGM in Las Vegas.
I posted my home video of the fair performance on youtube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U10l9PiPieU

If the link doesn’t work, just search youtube on: Savana at the Fair

Take a look at what you inspired!!:-) And thank you!!

Faerieworlds

2009-08-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a weekend at Faerieworlds, up in Eugene, Oregon.. what a lovely weekend it was! SO many beautiful faeries, fauns, green-men, princesses, and so much beautiful costume-age to acquire!

We had a face painting booth where we painted dozens and dozens of folks - both kids and adults - and transformed them into fairy creatures of all types. It was really a lot of fun.. most of the face painting I do is at princess parties where most of the kids want to be princesses or look exactly like the birthday girl.. I really enjoyed painting so many adults, who were wearing so many fantastic costumes and were willing to give me free reign on design! Face painting can be so artistic, and it's really a delight to be able to let the creativity flow freely.

I also spent a lot of time playing with my newly acquired hula hoop, and dancing with lights in the evenings. There were a lot of fantastic bands playing and so many amazing vendors selling so much incredible stuff! I wanted to buy one of everything!

Here are a few favorite face painting pictures.. so much fun!

Fire Pixie aka Tourist Attraction

2009-07-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

I was hurrying down Bay Street in my Mermaid costume yesterday morning, on the way to my first party of the day, when a cable car packed with tourists drove slowly by. I glanced over to the sound of the little brass bell and heard the tour guide's loudspeaker: "And here, on our left, is San Francisco's resident Mermaid, hurrying off to work.." I waved and smiled, and suddenly 50 cameras were pointed at me.

I hope I made their vacation just a little bit more surreal. :)

Taco Truck!

2009-07-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

I went to a party last weekend that was up in the hills of Hillsborough, a pool party where I was the Swimming Mermaid for a bunch of really fun kids, in a gorgeous pool. My favorite thing about the party was that it was catered by a Taco Truck! What a unique idea. I've never seen that before. Guests could just walk right up to the truck, parked in the driveway of the house, and order whatever they liked, and the tacos looked delicious.

I have to wonder if the Birthday Girl's favorite lunchtime experience was visiting the taco truck by Dad's office.. having a taco truck at your party is such a unique idea that I imagine only a 6-year-old could dream that up. :)

Our Community

2009-06-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Fire Pixie feels privileged to be able to make donations to the communities in the Bay Area for fundraisers or charity auctions, helping out schools that have been hit by budget crises (not unusual in California!) or whose funds have been slashed due to the rocky economic times.

I just got a letter this morning from the Lafayette Elementary School PTA (we donated a free show to their auction) saying that they've raised over $72,000 this year through fundraising and community outreach! Here's what they're doing with it:

"Three days after the auction, the school purchased 30 new, stand-alone, flat panel iMac computers for the school's computer lab. The children LOVE them! The school also purchased additional document cameras to provide all teachers with this tool to improve the teaching and learning experience. Now, everyone who needs one, has one."

Sometimes a little thing like a Princess Party might feel a bit silly, frivolous, or expendable (if never forgettable!). It makes my heart sing to see concrete results of our donation really touching kids, changing their lives every day and enabling them to learn and grow in such a fun and fabulous way.

Keep your Pants On!

2009-06-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

This just in from Rachel, our fantastic face-painting Jasmine:

I show up as Jasmine, to do face painting and they have a inflatable water slide/pool. So they were in bathing suits. Not the best conditions to face paint in since the paint will wash off in the pool, and so I waited until the end of the party to do it. The birthday girl's 3-year-old brother decided he wanted a rainbow dragon. Since the colors take up a large space, I thought the best place to put this was on his back.

WELL... I asked him, "Where am I going to put it?" and he pulls down his pants and grabs his......and says "Put it on -"

"NO, let's put it on your back!" I abruptly cut in. And I had to keep saying, "Keep your pants on! Keep your pants on!"

His mother was next to him, and she didn't see him do this. She must have been wondering why I was saying, "Keep your pants on!" Definitely a memorable party.

Awards!!

2009-06-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

This has been a great month for Fire Pixie! We've won 3 "best Children's Entertainer" awards in the last few weeks. THANK YOU so much to everyone out there, all our clients and our special birthday kids, and most especially thanks to all our awesome entertainers! I am dancing on clouds today. :)

First, we were awarded the Best of the Bay 2009 Gold Medal award from Bay Area Parent - best Children's Party Entertainers for the San Francisco Area. Go SF!

Next, we were awarded the Best of the Bay 2009 Silver Medal, also from Bay Area Parent, for the East Bay. We love you, East Bay!

And just today I opened my mail and found a fantastic unexpected award from the Lamorinda Mother's Club - they voted us Best Birthday Entertainer! Thanks so much!! The Lamorinda area is one of our very favorites to visit.

Thank you so much... we are so honored to be a part of all your special events, and to be invited to such important days in your children's lives. Bringing happiness to little kids is what we're all about, and it feels absolutely golden and delicious to be recognized for something we love to do! :)

Juvenile Diabetes Research Fundraiser

2009-03-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Fire Pixie donated a Prince and Princess to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's fundraiser, "Royal Ball, Kingdom for a Cure." This is the second year in a row our entertainers have donated their time to this event, and it's a really wondeful experience for everyone involved! This year there were 150 families in attendance, and from our "Cinderella" Patrice's firsthand account, they did a truly amazing job of making this event magical!

When I arrived I walked through the velvet drapes to find a beautiful painting with a castle and horses. All the guest were dressed as their favorite Prince or Princess, with beautiful dresses, and tuxes! When I was telling Prince Charming it was my turn to do balloons, a man who was on stilts and who was 15 feet tall walked by with a cute puppy in his hands. When I looked to the left of me there was a huge castle the kids were jumping in, and a jousting tournament for the kids!

As soon as the children noticed me they asked me if I was here for the ball, and I said "of course." Then the dukes began to blow on their horns and they announced dinner.

When I walked into the dining hall, it was breathtaking. There were beautiful streamers hanging above every table they were pink,purple, yellow, all the colors of the rainbow. There was a different crown on all the tables and every Prince and Princess got their own goblet. They played Princess music, and even had a royal purple carpet to walk down. I walked from table to table talking to the little Princesses and Princes, and making them balloons. All of them were so happy to see me, and one Princesses even asked if she could try on my glass slipper.

When dinner was almost done, and all the balloons were handed out, I began to dance with some of the children, until we heard that there was going to be a puppet show. We went back to the main room and the children watched a puppet show about a Princess. I then was asked if I wanted to ride in the horse drawn carriage, and how could I turn that down! So I went outside and got inside the carriage and took some pictures. Then one lucky girl got to ride around with me and tell me all about herself!! I was a truly magical party!!!

We'll post some pictures of that horse and carriage when we get them. If you'd like to donate to the JDRF, you can do so on their website. It's so wonderful when organizations like this can do so much good, and do it by making so many kids' dreams come true!

New!! St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun

2009-03-06T16:01:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year to chase down rainbows and look for the pot o' gold underneath! We've got a couple of fantastic leprechauns available for your St. Patrick's Day party.. they can hand out gold coins, do rainbow magic, make balloon shamrocks, and keep the kids having fun so all the adults can relax and enjoy themselves!

Contact us for information on availability & pricing! Erin Go Bragh!

Fairy Magic & Interaction

2009-03-01T21:36:00.001-08:00

One of the best things about being a Princess is watching the kids I meet and interact with bloom into the experience.

Last weekend I was a Woodland Fairy for a big group of kids, many of whom had special needs. I always bring a really wide range of activities and different things to do for this kind of party - you never know what kids are going to respond to, and this is even more true with special needs kids.

It was a 3-hour booking so I had lots of time to get to know the kids. Some were VERY excited and interacting the whole time, and some were a little more wary and just spent their time watching what we were doing, with interest. I like doing longer parties because the pace can be more relaxed and I can really get in to each activity with the kids and explore it fully.. and for this group, a longer time frame worked really well since these kids took a little longer than most to get used to each new thing.

At the end of the party, I was approached by the mom of one of the special needs kids and she pointed something out to me.. after 2.5 hours of watching and a tiny bit of participation, her daughter was fully engaged with the other kids, playing an active game with all her heart, soul, and energy, and giggling and interacting and basically having the time of her life!

At first, I thought nothing of it except "oh look, she finally warmed up, good.." but her mom told me that in all her 5 years this was the FIRST time she'd ever seen her interact with other kids on this level! This little girl was experiencing the fun and abandon of playing fully with her peers for the very first time, and the smile on her face (and on her Mom's face!) almost brought me to tears.

What a wonderful gift - for the mom, for the little girl most especially, and also for me. It makes me feel SO good to be able to bring fun, happy experiences to all kinds of kids. I am so grateful for the opportunities like this that come from making kids happy!

Tinkerbell & Peter Pan

2009-01-27T12:56:00.000-08:00

This week our guest blogger is Princess Jenni! Here's a story from one of the shows she did last weekend - a big fun party where Jenni played Tinkerbell and was joined by Peter Pan (played by Alex). Sounds like they had a great party..

As Peter Pan and I (Tink) touched down after the long flight from Never Never Land, we could hardly think with all the lost boys and girls and little Wendy’s running around. We got right to work, gathering all the kids in a room FILLED with balloons from wall to wall! I sat next to the birthday girl and we readied ourselves for Peter’s marvelous story of his journey through time. He told us about how he met Wendy, how he fought Captian Hook, and how he saved the WORLD!!! Well…. saved Never Never Land that is!!! As I sat next to the birthday girl holding her hand at the scary parts, we were captivated by his story! Peter even shared a little of my pixie dust with everyone!!! We tried to teach the kids to fly, but I guess I brought the wrong pixie dust because we just couldn’t get anyone into the air.

After the story we gathered ourselves and got ready for some face paint! As we painted Tinkerbelle’s, butterflies, cheetahs, rainbows and more, the kids danced around with happiness as they transformed into their face paint and were given a little more pixie dust… just to see if maybe this time it would make them fly!
Once everyone had their share of face paint and pixie dust the balloon swards, flowers and animals came out to play! We had a contest to see who could keep their balloon from popping the longest, but then a sward fight broke out between Captain Hook and the last boys and girl and the popping was all down hill from there!

As Peter and I said our goodbyes and got ourselves ready to fly back to Never Never Land the kids waved goodbye and watched us fly away over the roof tops of all the pretty little houses.

It was a great day! Peter Pan and I could not have asked for!

When the entertainers have a lot of fun at a party, it almost always means the kids are having fun too - and when the kids are having fun, that allows the parents to have a good time! We got this feedback from the birthday girl's mom:

Jenni was brilliant with a roomful of 4 year olds. She managed the throng when she gave out trinkets, and really read the kids well when doing facepainting -- giving room to the quieter kids and meeting the energy of the more outgoing ones. We would definitely request Jenni again for this age group!

Loved working with you! Very professional, providing all the right information to make a good decision. We would definitely work with Firepixie again, and many of our friends inquired as well. Fairy Princess Jenni was a HUGE hit!

Thanks so much for the feedback.. we love hearing about everything we're doing right and doing wrong and we LOVE touching those kids' hearts!

Gratitude

2009-01-26T15:58:00.001-08:00

Today as I was hunting through the massive piles of paper on my desk here at Fire Pixie HQ, I found a beautiful jewel of a thank-you card. It was a Thanksgiving greeting card (I suppose it had been buried since Thanksgiving! Oh dear..) for one of our Princesses. The birthday girl had turned 4 in 2007 and had Sleeping Beauty come to visit, and remembered her so well that she wanted to send her a Thanksgiving card in 2008! It was a beautiful card and letter, with dictation from the little girl about how well she remembered her birthday, and beautiful coloring and pictures of Sleeping Beauty inside the card. It melted my heart just to find it!

The princess-in-question has since moved to New York to become a big star, and so I hurriedly packaged up the letter and sent it off to her, without letting her know it's coming - in a day or two she will get this beautiful letter, drawing, and happy surprise to brighten her day. I got a warm fuzzy just for forwarding it on.

Within an hour of when the postman came and picked up the letter, I got another phone call from a grandparent whose special little girl had a different entertainer, our fairy "Flora," visit her back in October. It seems this little girl still dreams and thinks about Flora almost daily - writing her notes, drawing her pictures, and leaving gifts out in grandma's garden for Flora to find. Grandma wanted to know if Flora might be able to send a picture or a special note to this little girl, so she knows her gifts are finding Flora well and happy. :)

Well... of COURSE!! Princess Audrey, who plays Flora, is still entertaining with us regularly, and I forwarded this little girl's request over to her right away. I don't know what magic will happen when the two of them connect, but I'm positive that everyone involved will be so much richer for the experience. I know my day is brightened so much already..

We do so many shows, as Princesses, that after a while they can seem to run together in our minds. It's so wonderful to be reminded that each of those little girls we're touching is seeing us with fresh eyes, fresh imaginations and fresh hearts full of love. I know a part of me falls in love with each little girl I meet at a party, and I'm sure the rest of our entertainers do too. I can feel that I've chosen the correct path in life when that love is suddenly and unexpectedly reciprocated. :)

Princess Natasha's Weekend

2009-01-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

I've been writing a lot about my own experience and I want to turn the floor over to some of our other Princesses - everyone has such different experiences each weekend and each of us gets changed by every party we do. Here's our first "guest blogger", Princess Natasha, on her weekend:

On Saturday I was Natasha the Pirate who just escaped from a ship that was controlled by Captain Swagley. While walking along the beach, I found an invitation to a 6 year old girl's birthday party. Well I had just taken Tinkerbell's rainbow from her and wanted to show somebody my new trinket, so I figured I could go to that birthday party and show all the guests my collection of treasures. When I got there, all the kids magically helped me find that rainbow that I thought I had forgotten on ship. Then after throwing some paint onto their faces to make them look like pirates, mermaids, tigers, and fairies, it was time for a sword fighting lesson. Once everyone received their balloon sword, the lesson began, and you know, they were really turning into genuine pirates! Especially the birthday girl! When the tug-a-war match began, I could see the pirate coming out of her as she gritted her teeth in anticipation for the match to begin. And let me tell you... those girls at the party had strength! They beat all the boys! I even tried to help the boys, but those girls were even too strong for me! I noticed that the grown-ups looked like they wanted in on some of the excitement, so after getting the kid's permission for the grown-ups to have a turn, I chose four adults to have a match with. They also had a blast! I had such a great time being a pirate that when I got home I had to gargle with salt water from too much pirate-speak! I've never thrown myself into being a pirate quite so much - the kids at this party really inspired me!

Then the next day, after I transformed myself into Tinkerbell, I noticed that the house that I got a birthday invitation for was the direct neighbor of another birthday girl that I did Alice for a few months back. I even saw the other birthday girl there, but she didn't recognize me at all while she was telling me about her amazing visit from Alice at her birthday party! The birthday girl and all of her friends became beautiful fairies after I sprinkled some of my pixie dust onto them. And what do all fairies love to do? Dance! I ended up teaching them the Bunny Hop and we even did a little Hokey Pokey. But before I left, I had to do a pinkie promise with the birthday girl to have a very, very, very, very, very good 5th year!

This weekend was so magical!

xoxo,
Princess Natasha

New Daphne dress!

2009-01-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

We've got a Scooby party today and I just finished making a brand-new Daphne dress for myself! It's a little more "Cartoon Daphne" and a little less "Movie Daphne" - I made the old one right after the live-action movie came out and patterned it after Sarah Michelle Gellar's Daphne costumes.. but nobody seems to remember the movies anymore, so I thought it was time to make the costume a little more timeless. I really like it - it turned out just great!

Time to go meet the gang.. Zoinks!!

2 New Baby-Pixies

2009-01-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

They say the first time a baby laughs, a fairy is born...

Well, all the fairies here at Fire Pixie have been laughing like crazy, and our Fire Pixie Family has brought two new babies into the world!!

Stephanie (our gorgeous Tinkerbell) delivered a new baby boy named Thomas on January 9th. She's at home with him, doing just great, and he's absolutely beautiful and magical! We think he'll grow up to be a very handsome prince some day and are busy showering him with magical fairy gifts of strength, courage, intelligence and charm.

And just 2 days ago, Annie, our amazing Fairy Godmother/Office Manager, gave birth to a little Princess! Her name is Melody (what a perfect name for a little princess) and she's the 4th in Annie's Dynasty. This definitely means her life will always be filled with giggles and magic, for ever and ever! Mom and baby are still in the hospital recovering, but everyone is doing great and they can't wait to bring their newest Princess home. Judging by her other amazing kids, Princess Melody could grow up to be absolutely anything or anyone she wants, and all the Princesses here at Fire Pixie are getting her glass slippers ready for that first birthday ball!

Congratulations, Stephanie and Annie!

Little Girl's Eyes

2009-01-16T09:30:00.001-08:00

On my way home from a show yesterday I was at a stoplight and saw a mom pushing her 3 or 4 year old daughter in a stroller. Mom was in a bit of a hurry, a bit distracted and impatient for the light to change. As she pushed the little girl past the gas station on the corner, the little girl cried out and started waving her arms around excitedly and pointing back the way they'd come..

They backed up, and I saw what she was so excited about. In the neglected little patch of green grass between the gas station and the sidewalk there was a lone dandelion, white and fluffy and begging to be picked and wished upon. Mom plucked it out of the grass and handed it to her little girl, who, beaming, closed her eyes to wish and then blew as hard as she could to scatter the fuzz...

As I watched this play out, and watched the worry lines on Mom's face disappear and her stride slow down and relax, I just felt so grateful for the presence of little girls in the world. Little girls see beauty and wishes everywhere! Where we see a patch of weeds, they see a whole universe of magic to explore. Where we see a red light in our way, they see an opportunity tos slow down, look around and discover the beauty around them.

When I woke up and went outside this morning I looked up and saw the moon on its way to the horizon to set.. I remembered that little girl, I looked at the moon with little-girl-eyes. I made a wish on the morning star and felt the worries and stresses in my head fall away for just a minute. :) What a gift that was.

The Mermaid's Pajamas

2009-01-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

Today I was the Little Mermaid for a 5-year-old afternoon "pajama party" - and the birthday girl wanted the mermaid to come in pajamas too!

A mermaid? In pajamas??

Well.. I guess the Little Mermaid in the story does become human, so why not a humanized-mermaid-in-pajamas? I looked through the closet and found some green pj pants and .. ooh, an excuse to wear my fantastic Turtle Slippers! I never pass up a chance to wear the turtle slippers... if you were a mermaid wouldn't you wear these too?

It was a really fun show. This birthday girl had me as Cinderella last year and seemed to remember the experience well, even asking for one of the magic tricks "Cinderella" did with her - but not recognizing me as the same entertainer at all! A princess is a princess, I guess. :)

Everyone wanted their faces painted as mermaids.. the lack of tail didn't seem to bother them at all. I love being the Mermaid but .. part of me wishes I could do every show in pajamas!

Welcome to our New Blog!

2009-01-11T15:49:00.001-08:00

It's 2009 and we've added a new blog section to our web site to keep you up on Fire Pixie Happenings - get a peek inside the nuts and bolts of the fairy tale world here at Fire Pixie HQ!

We'll give you entertainer updates, party ideas, and fun stories and pictures from parties we've done recently. Please feel free to make comments, share our posts with friends, and ask us questions!

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day!

Erin St. Blaine
Owner, Fire Pixie Entertainment