New Character -- Princess Moana

If you saw Pixar's Finding Dory in theaters, you might have seen a little hint at something new and super exciting, set to be released in just a few short days. It's the 56th Disney animated feature, and it's got us here at Fire Pixie really excited! 

"Three thousand years ago, the greatest sailors in the world voyaged across the vast South Pacific, and discovered the many islands of Oceania. But then, for millennia, their voyages stopped - and no one today knows why. Enter Moana, a spirited teenager and born navigator (and Disney's first Polynesian Princess) who sets out on a daring mission to prove herself a master wayfinder, and sails the Pacific Ocean to complete her ancestors' unfinished quest. Join her and Maui, the legendary Hawaiian demigod, as together they traverse the open ocean on an action packed voyage, encountering enormous fiery creatures and impossible odds in search of a fabled island."

The CG-animated film is being directed by Ron Clementsand and John Musker (who were both the directors of Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and The Princess and the Frog), and Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson provide the lead voices. It also features music written by the Tony award winning Lin Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway's Hamilton.

We can't wait to see what Disney has in store for us this time! 

If you'd like to invite Moana to your upcoming party to teach your guest all about Hawaiian culture, dazzle them with her big bag of Island magic tricks, or even teach them a little hula dancing, you can book her here.  

A Life in Gowns: Meet Princess Lanie

Ever wonder who we are when we're not all glitzed up, entertaining your little ones with our mad face paint and balloon skills, or dazzling them with our big bag of magic tricks? We're a diverse group of folk, each coming from a different performance background, and with a little bit of a different story. 

Allow me to introduce: Princess Lanie!

Lanie is one of our most experienced and most requested entertainers. In her 9 years working with Fire Pixie, she's appeared at almost 1000 parties, and brought joy and laughter to countless kiddos. Now, she's spread those sparkly wings, and flown off to Los Angeles to open a brand new Fire Pixie branch, and we couldn't be more excited!

Lanie's always loved storytelling, dressing up, magic, and everything fairytale related. When she was quite little (about 3 - 4), like so many girls that age, she dreamed of becoming a Fairy Princess when she grew up. As she got older though, her dream evolved, and she decided that since Fairyhood might not exactly be an option, she'd be an actress and a writer, so she could share her love of storytelling with the masses. 

In pursuit of this dream, Lanie studied theater in school, and started working in the wonderful world of the arts, doing marketing and design for some small theater companies, art studios, and galleries. She traveled to Turkey when she was in college, where she discovered the beautiful art of Turkish shadow puppetry and was absolutely blown away! When the time came for her to do her undergrad thesis, Lanie wrote a grant and got to go back to Turkey, to study it more closely. It was there that she learned how to make puppets, learned all about the social and political history of puppetry, and learned that there were even a number of modern puppet troupes doing political shows right here in the US. 

When she returned from her trip, the summer after college, Lanie worked with Bread and Puppet theater in Vermont, which boats the largest puppet in the world. 

After moving to the Bay, Lanie discovered that this area is a hotbed for puppeteers (who knew??), and began working with a few groups here, doing puppet design, mostly for adult shows, but some for kids too. 

She also continued working in theater, and found herself in a Fairytales for Kids show being performed in schools and libraries with Fire Pixie's own Sarah. Upon learning of Lanie's love of storytelling and puppets, Sarah suggested that Lanie meet Erin. 

Lanie had no idea that such a job existed; one that could combine her love of laughter, storytelling, and magic so well, and her three-year-old self was absolutely over the moon! So she met with Erin, and it was clear from the get-go that this was exactly where Lanie needed to be.

Since then, Lanie's had the great pleasure of appearing at tons of parties, as a variety of different characters, but is especially fond of being a Fairy Princess or a Pirate. 

"They're both super fun and flexible characters" she says. "I get to make up my own stories and improv with kids, instead of having a set script to work with." 

Lanie is adored by kids of all ages, and really gets a kick out of the 3 - 6 age range: 

"Three to six year olds just love being silly!" she says. "Give me a group of three-year-olds and I can keep them laughing forever with one joke. They just love it! The threes and fours are in that silly wordplay area, which is really fun. The fives and sixes are really in to the stories, and know everything there is to know about their favorite characters, which means you can get in to really cool story nuances with them." 

 An excellent entertainer all-around, Lanie particularly loves doing activities like magic, puppets (of course), and birthday theater. 

"Magic is always fun because I can really be silly and joke around with the kids. The birthday theater is great because you get to help the kids come up with their very own story" she says. 

After so many years of performing at kids' parties, Lanie of course has tons of happy party memories, but one in particular stands out: 

"I was doing a Fairy Princess party" says Lanie, "and had a guest request something special for her face paint design: a waterfall on one cheek with 5 droplets of water splashing off it, because she was 5 years old." 

Always up for a challenge, Lanie set to work creating this special design, and apparently, she nailed it!

"When I finished and showed this little girl her face in the mirror, she absolutely lit up, and said 'I LOVE MYSELF!', which as a children's entertainer is what we call a BIG win!" 

 Lanie's party hosts and hostesses always have wonderful things to say about her performances, and it's no wonder she's one of our most popular entertainers. 

"Lanie was great with the kids. She had great energy and did awesome face painting and balloons. Kids had lots of fun!! She also made the birthday girl feel really special. Thank you Lanie for making my child's birthday more special." 

"My daughter absolutely LOVED it! She was so excited when she saw Elsa walking down the street. And Lanie made her feel so special and like a princess!" 

"Lanie had everyone mesmerized and entertained the moment she came through the door -- girls, boys and all the grown ups too! She had a beautiful voice and did the most awesome face paintings and glitter tattoos. Several of the adults ended up getting their faces painted and glittered up too."

So, why the move to LA? 

Lanie had been feeling as though she'd kind of plateaued a bit in the Bay, and was looking for a new challenge. She and her partner had been talking about making a move to LA for a while, and Lanie had been considering opening a business of some kind there. So she asked Erin if she might pick her brain a bit about small business in general. Erin was more than happy to help, and sat down with Lanie to brainstorm. It wasn't until Erin said "You know... you could always open a Fire Pixie branch in SoCal, too" that Lanie realized that she could take her love or performing, magic, and storytelling down to LA with her, and keep right on working in this awesome family of performers. She was overjoyed, and Fire Pixie SoCal was born!

When Lanie's not out performing or in the office booking parties for lucky Southern California kiddos, these days she's focused mostly on motherhood, having just welcomed her own bundle of joy to the world. Since she loves performing, and making silly voices, she's begun exploring the world of voiceover acting, too, and looks forward to getting in to that more soon.

If you'd like to invite Lanie or any of her wonderful LA-based entertainers to your next party to inspire your little ones to follow their dreams, you can fill out our online booking form, or contact the SoCal office directly at 714.831.1880. 

New Character -- Princess Elena of Avalor

Someone new has joined the Disney Princess ranks, and she's got us here at Fire Pixie super excited! It's Princess Elena, the oldest princess of the Kingdom of Avalor, next in line for the throne, and Disney's first Latina princess!

After saving her magical kingdom from an evil sorceress, Elena must now learn to rule as the crown Princess. With the heart and mind of a true leader, she is devoted to the welfare of her subjects, her family, and her friends, and values keeping promises above all else. A wizard-in-training and a magical flying creature join Elena in adventures that will lead her to truly understand that her new role requires thoughtfulness, resilience, and compassion.

Our very own Sarah & Avdeep have been busy putting together their Elena costumes, and they're all ready to go, so visit our website & fill out our rate request form to invite Elena to your upcoming party!

A Life in Capes: Meet Prince Jacob

Ever wonder who we are when we're not all decked out, entertaining your little ones with our mad face paint and balloon skills, or dazzling them with our big bag of magic tricks? We're a diverse group of folk, each coming from a different performance background, and with a little bit of a different story. 


Allow me to introduce: Prince Jacob!

Jacob caught the theater bug early! At 7 years old, he started at a new school, after struggling for years due to a learning disability (he didn't speak until he was 4, and was two years behind his peers in speaking and English). At this new school, Jacob was encouraged by his teachers and his family to join in on their annual plays, where every student contributed something. It was through these plays that Jacob started to come out of his shell, and conquer his disability. Jacob's first play was called Very Wrong Door, and was about a group of kids who find out their favorite park is about to be replaced by an arcade.  It was such a hit, a local newspaper picked up the story, and suddenly Jacob was very much in the spotlight. You'd think all that attention might be overwhelming for a 7 year old, but not for Jacob! All of a sudden, he was talking up a storm. More than that, he was confident! And he didn't stop there: all through elementary and high school, Jacob participated in every production he could, and found that when he had to be "on" in front of people, he was a rockstar! Over the years, it became clear that being social and interacting with people was what he was meant to be doing, and so Jacob the entertainer was born.

In college Jacob had been working as a server, but hadn't really been enjoying it. 

"There's no life in it!" he says, "I didn't feel like I was doing anything, or contributing to society. I was just working for a paycheck." During a production of Peter Pan, he met one of Fire Pixie's princess entertainers and Jacob was intrigued. "So, like a Clown?" he asked, to which Princess Lily replied "It's better!".  

So Jacob applied to Fire Pixie, and spent the entire night before his interview prepping. "I was so nervous!" he says, "I'd always been someone else's character, with scripts and direction and things. I'd never done most of this before." He needn't have worried though, it was clear within minutes that he was absolutely perfect. 

Fast forward to today, and Jacob is one of our most popular entertainers, and his party hosts absolutely love him! 

 

He plays a variety of different characters, but especially enjoys being Peter Pan or a Jedi. 

"When I'm Peter Pan, it's not like a clown going to the party. It's not just someone coming. It's PETER", says Jacob. True, Peter Pan has a following that kids just die for. "It's like he's a celebrity and they want to ask him all kinda of questions. Seeing how compassionate kids are about that character gives you hope for future generations. He's a really innocent character, so there's a great vibe throughout the party, and he's definitely a symbol of a growth of imagination." 

Jacob also loves being a Jedi, because he's a huge Star Wars fan himself and it's fun to share that with your party guests. 

"Jedi have this authority that's very looked up to." he says. "Kinda like a mentor, so a lot of times your shows turn in to a teaching lesson for kids on how to behave: focus, have discipline, determination and drive. Jedi are a symbol of dedication in practice. The kids know that, and when you start talking about the force, it's super believable for them. You get to teach kids a lot about respect, too. Kind of like teaching them a lifestyle of martial arts, and they're dedicated so they pay really close attention and really take a lot away."

Jacob works with kids of all ages, but particularly enjoys the 5 - 6 age group. 

"Older kids have a little more imagination and are a little more emotionally developed, but not at the age where they're questioning everything you do and trying to squash the magic. With 5 and 6 year olds, you can be more down to earth, but they still have the imagination and faith and believability in the characters."

Jacob does a ton of different activities and is a wonderfully energetic entertainer, a fantastic balloon twister, and has a top notch magic show.

"Magic is great because it's not about the destination. Kind of like life, it's all about the journey. Getting from point A to point B is boring, the adventure is in the process." 

Jacob says the laughter is his favorite part: 

"The whole process of trial and error and silliness; working together and figuring out how things work is great! Even though everything is going 'wrong' you get to go through it together, and that's the part kids love."

He also loves doing Jedi Training, of course, but his favorite activity might be the Scavenger or Treasure Hunt, "because they're usually not expecting it, so it's a fun surprise. As a parent you want to the kids' surprised face, and scavenger hunt gives yet another opportunity for that. Seeing kids work together is really cool too, instead of competing."

After hundreds of shows with Fire Pixie, Jacob has lots of wonderful memories:

Most recently, at a party where Jacob appeared as Captain America, he met Charlie, a newly 3 year old, who was obsessed with Captain America. 

"First thing he did was run to the kitchen and grab a bunch of pictures he'd drawn, and present them to me 'for keeps'. Then, he gave me the grand tour of the house, which concluded in his bedroom, where he showed me all his favorite toys. He was so proud, and obviously over the moon that Captain America had come for his party." 

When it was time for Jacob to leave, Charlie gave him a huge hug, and his dad asked him 

"What does Captain America say, Charlie?"  

"I'm Captain America and I'm going to save the day!"

And once, at a triple Star Wars party with our own Luma and Juliana, Jacob got an unexpected surprise: 

"We were in the middle of doing the magic show, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there's Darth Vader!" No one had mentioned that Vader was coming too, and he was being played by someone Jacob didn't recognize. "All the kids were going nuts and yelling at me to fight Vader." he says, "But I'd never met this guy before, and didn't want to just start attacking him!" Jacob shot a look to the hostess of the party, who seemed just as surprised as he was. Luckily, Luma and Juliana jumped right in and took over the magic, allowing Jacob to approach Vader and ask if it was OK for him to vanquish him. Vader was a good sport, and an epic battle ensued, with the kids cheering Jacob on the whole time.

After the event, we posted this great selfie from that day on our Facebook Page, and got a message in the comments from our Surprise Vader (who it turns out was a parent of one of the party guests, and a huge Star Wars fan), thanking Jacob, Juliana, and Luma for allowing him to live out one of his childhood dreams and be a part of the show. 

When Jacob's not training young padawans, or delighting kids and parents alike at parties, he's a full time student in HR (he might also go for a Masters in History, because he's a big history fan). He also works part time as a dispatcher for his family's appliance repair business. In what little free time he has, Jacob enjoys reading comics (Captain America was his favorite growing up), and spending time outdoors with his lovely girlfriend.

If you'd like to invite Jacob to teach your little ones the way of the force, and inspire them to follow their dreams, you can book him here.  

Party Craft Ideas: Spiderman Logo Piñata

Having a Spiderman themed party? Your guests will love this Spiderman logo piñata, and it's so quick and easy to make, you and your little Superhero can even make it together.

What you'll need:

• Large round balloon
• White glue
• Large paint brush for applying the glue
• Small paint brush for detail work
• Bowl of water
• Newspaper
• Scissors or an Exact-o knife
• String
• Spray paint (blue and red)
• White paint
•  Black paint
• Gold paint (optional) 
• Spider logo template (print your own here)
• Red & blue streamers (optional for attaching to the bottom)
• Candy & prizes for inside your pinãta (check your local dollar store or target for great deals!)

You can make the logo version shown, or switch things up and make a Spiderman mask version, using the same basic process:

Here's the full tutorial from Troom Troom:

Party Craft Ideas: No-Sew Jedi Robes

It's always so much fun when we arrive at a party and we're greeted by a gaggle of costumed kids. If you're having a Star Wars themed party, these no-sew Jedi robes are a great idea! They're super easy to make, and your little Padawans will definitely look the part in all those awesome birthday pictures. 

What you'll need: 

 

• Inexpensive dark brown fabric, or lighter tan for your Rey fans (yardage will depend on the number of guests)
• Scissors
• Tape measure

NOTE: Be sure to make the robes long enough to come down to the knees, otherwise it's too easy for them to slip up past the belt when your Padawan is practicing his fancy new Lightsaber moves. 

Here's a step-by-step tutorial from Mom Endeavors.

Fire Pixie on Yelp

Do you Yelp? We sure do! If you're having trouble choosing an entertainer for your party, Yelp is a wonderful resource. We have so many entertainers to choose from, and it can be tough to decide which one is right for you. On Yelp, you can see reviews from party hosts, as well as pictures of our entertainers in action. You can even request a personalized quote right from our Yelp page.

Here are a couple recent reviews we've gotten:

If you've had one of our entertainers at a party recently, we'd LOVE if you could take a moment and give us a review. It's always so good to get feedback right from you. :)

Glimmer the Mermaid -- New tail creation and show offering

I haven't posted in the last few months because I've been pouring all my energy into creating this.

I call her Glimmer the Mermaid.  :) (She's got her own facebook page, that makes her real!)

I made the LED swimmable mermaid seashells at the end of 2013, and wore them to the NC Merfest convention and they were a huge hit.  When I got home, I decided the shells needed a light-up tail to complement them.  The rabbit-hole opened up, and I dove right in.

The end result is absolutely stunning, and I am completely delighted with it.  This was the most learning-intensive and difficult and frustrating project I've attempted in.. well, since college, I think.  I have had to learn so much in so many different fields, and I've encountered so many amazing people and communities along the way.

This tail uses about 180 Adafruit Neopixels and an Arduino Micro to control them.  It's got a bluetooth feature -- I can control it with my android tablet and change the animations and brightness of the lights.  I plan to add audio sensors and possibly motion or color sensors as well (that'll be phase two, I think).

It is designed to be swimmable.  I'm doing the first full water test probably next week, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I used enough glue that nothing shorts or zaps me.  Nothing has so far,  and all the partial water tests I've done have worked fine.. but strapping a big battery and a bunch of electronics on, and then going for a swim, makes me a little nervous.

Mermaid in the bathtub!

But.  Swimming Mermaid LED Tail!!!

This is a neoprene tail painted with Jones Tones.  I used the same basic method for the tail as I used for my last neoprene Ariel Mermaid Tail, but I spared no expense this time.  I used a competitor monofin (which I like SO much better than the Rapid).  I made the scales larger and added lots of rhinestones and gems and lace.  When the lights are off, it almost comes across as "Mermaid Wedding" -- but I love the fanciness and I love how the predominantly white color scheme goes with the lights, whatever color they are.

The lights on the top part of the tail are individual neopixels cast in resin for diffusion and waterproofing.

 The lights on the bottom are neopixel strips encased in Dragonskin silicone.   This keeps them flexible (almost to a fault -- I have broken them a couple times already!) and very waterproof.

Also I made a glowing tiara with more of the resin cast neopixel "jewels".  Because Glimmer needed a glowing tiara.

All together, the outfit is just stunning.  I never want to take it off.  This tail is significantly heavier than my other tails have been (oof, abs!) but it should be close to neutrally buoyant in the water.  

I got to wear it to the A's Game season opening party at the Oakland Coliseum this past week. They put me by the sushi bar, HA! 

Glimmer was very well received.  Although, with that particular audience, most people seemed to be more excited about the light-up seashells than the fancy animated tail.  (Men.  What can you do?)

Once all the bugs are worked out and the swimmability tested, Glimmer will be available for all kinds of wet or dry events and appearances.  I'm also hoping to do a lot of photo shoots as the weather gets nicer.   I want to do sunset beach shoots, and underwater cave shoots, and fancy swimming pool shoots and snowscape shoots.  I just want to wear it everywhere.  :)  

Edit: If you're interested in geeky details about construction or coding, I'm blogging about all that stuff over at my Fire Pixie Fashion Blog.. take a look.  :)