A Life In Gowns: Meet Princess Naomi

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 Naomi!

Naomi is one of our most experienced and most requested entertainers, and it's really no wonder why. A classically trained theater actor and musical theater performer, Naomi truly embodies each character, and brings her own special brand of silly along, too. She's an incredibly versatile entertainer, and switches easily between the more traditional Princess roles and other, sillier characters. When Naomi was little, her favorite Princess was always the Little Mermaid.

 "She's super goofy and fun, but seriously curious, and always questions everything. Plus, being a mermaid is just awesome!"

As a kid, Naomi used to spend hours in the bath, her little feet crossed, make believing she was a mermaid herself, but she never imagined that she would one day be pretending professionally. 

Naomi had always been passionate about performance and costuming, and when she was little, she dreamed of becoming a professional Ballerina. The first Halloween when she chose her own costume, she was a Mouse Fairy Ballerina. 

After studying musical theater at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Naomi moved to the Bay Area to pursue another long time love: circus. A friend who had been working as a kids' entertainer suggested that Naomi might make a perfect Princess, so Naomi applied to Fire Pixie (thank you, whoever you are!). It started as a great survival job for her while she worked on a variety of different projects and trained circus, but Naomi very quickly fell in love with making kids happy. 

"It's hard to not love what you do when you see all those adorable smiles!" she says. 

Since staring with Fire Pixie, Naomi has done a ton of parties for kids of all ages, but especially loves the 4 year old crowd because "They're old enough that they're engaged, but magic is still very much alive in their imaginations."  

Naomi loves all the characters she plays, but especially enjoys being Ariel and Elsa, since they're both singers, and they really give Naomi a chance to show off her vocal chops. 

"Elsa is also a very powerful character, and definitely not your damsel in distress, so she's really fun to play." says Naomi. "Plus, all the kids absolutely love her." 

Naomi is an excellent face painter, and her magic show is top notch, but she says she really loves doing Crafts with the kids "Because you get to play with them instead of for them, and make something awesome together." 

Naomi remembers one party in particular, where she appeared as Elsa at a birthday celebration for a very special little Princess who was recovering from chemotherapy. 

"Her hair was just starting to come back, and it was so touching watching this little girl and her friends just belting out Let It Go. Overcoming your obstacles and staying strong through your struggles is really what it's all about after all." she says. 

When Naomi's not entertaining kids at parties, she can often be found flying through the air with the greatest of ease as a professional aerialist, or twisting herself in to unfathomable shapes as a contortionist. Learn more about Naomi's circus performance here. 

 

Naomi on her Aerial Frame. Photo by RJ Muna.

If you'd like to invite Naomi to your party to inspire and amaze your little Princess, 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. 

Party Craft Ideas - Lace Princess Crowns

Every Little Princess needs her very own crown, right? Help your party guests look and feel the part with these gorgeous DIY lace crowns! Make one for each of your guests so they can wear them during the party, then let them take them home as party favors. :)

What you'll need:

• Lace (various patterns & lengths)
• Elastic or pretty ribbon (for chin straps)
• Mod Podge fabric stiffener
• Acrylic paint (gold and silver work best for crowns)
• Foam stencil brush
• Hot glue gun
• Glitter (optional)
• Wax paper
• Vintage or costume jewelry, rhinestones, feathers, jeweled scrap book trim, etc. (optional)

Make them as simple or as elaborate as you'd like!

Here's a full tutorial from Catch My Party.

Sewing New Fairy Costumes - Butterfly Fairy & Peacock Fairy

It's springtime and we've been getting tons of requests for butterfly themed birthday party entertainment this month.  I had some monarch butterfly wings which were collecting dust in my office (probably since last Spring) and decided to dust them off and do something with them.  

I found some gorgeous orange and pink monarch-y fabric and sort of went nuts.  The skirt is made out of 12 "wing" sections - each layer is backed with a shimmery black fabric that peeks through the translucent sheer monarch fabric and shaped like a butterfly wing. I layered all the sections in a spiral, so when I twirl around, the skirt flutters out just like butterflies in the breeze. 

The white "dots" are acrylic jewels that catch the light and shimmer so beautifully.  I put the jewels on the top too, as well as embroidering a color-variegated butterfly using my new embroidery machine, which is just so much fun to use. 

I finished it on Friday night and couldn't help but wear it out.. we had tickets to Les 7 Doigts de la Main Circus at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley and I went to the circus as a butterfly.  I mean, if you can't wear your new butterfly skirt to the circus, where CAN you wear it?

My other personal project right now is a peacock fairy dress.  I'm taking my time with this one.. it's getting more and more complicated (in a good way).  When I was in Japan this winter doing fire dancing shows at Huis ten Bosch, we visited a nearby zoo a couple times where they had gorgeous peacocks, and I got to see one fully "display" for the first time ever.  It was astonishing and absolutely riveting, and I think that peacocks may just be my new favorite animal.  

This dress is certainly making me feel like strutting around.. I need to find an occasion for it!  I'm designing it all in separates, so I can be fancier or simpler and use all the costume pieces together or with other costumes.  So far I've made four pieces. 

The bustle is made from a stretchy peacock / animal print with gold highlights, which was the first piece of fabric inspiration I had.  

The tutu is made from lots and lots of layers of blue, purple, and black tulle and is embroidered with peacock feathers.  (I've worn these two pieces before as part of my Woodland Fairy costume).

This weekend I finished the ruffle train and the skirt.  The ruffles will bustle up, or they can be let out to trail along behind like a peacock tail.  The skirt is made from a gorgeous two-toned fabric with a silky shimmer.  It's iridescent, and looks greeny-blue from one direction and blueish-purple from another direction.  I put gathers in the front which really emphasizes the shimmery-ness of the fabric.  I put ruffles along the bottom of the skirt as well.

I'm still working out the details of the top, but there will most likely be feathers!  And I do want this to be a fairy when it's done, which means wings, of course.  I just have some vague notions about the wings so far -- and I have to figure out if Darrell will allow me to store yet another specialized set of wings in our house, or if I'd better just reuse some of the wings I've already got.  

I gotta admit - I sure do love being in the grips of a creative project like this.  :)

New Birthday Princess and Fairy Costumes, and Inspiration

Springtime is in full swing in the San Francisco Bay Area, and as I was walking through our Fremont neighborhood yesterday I saw maybe the most beautiful perfect rose I have ever seen.  It blazed at me in so many colors: red to pink to peach to bright yellow at the center, with the sweetest scent and the most delicate petals, right at the peak of full bloom.

Usually on my way to Suju's Coffee I walk with a purpose.  Got to get there.  Caffeinate.  Burn some calories.  Get back to the office before I miss too many phone calls.  However, last weekend at a fire show I pulled a groin muscle and this week I haven't been able to walk at my usual breakneck pace.  

So yesterday I meandered.  I dawdled and lollygagged.  I stopped and noticed the roses.  This morning my head is spinning with ideas.  New monarch butterfly princess costume.  Mermaid-riding-a-turtle costume.  New ideas for magic tricks and stories.  Peacock Fairy costume.  (this one's in the works and is going to be astonishingly beautiful)  I can't wait to get to it all.

As a costume designer and performer, I'm constantly amazed whenever I find inspiration.  Sometimes I feel like all my creativity has run dry, but then I walk around the corner and encounter the worlds most perfect rose, and I remember that the world is infinitely larger and more mysterious and magical than I will ever be able to discover or explore.

New Princess Photos featuring Lanie

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!