Do you have Disney Characters?
– Our Creative Philosophy
Great question!
First, it’s amazing of you to think about doing something special like this on top of all the driving, planning, watching, cleaning, and packing stuff (…omg kids require so. much. stuff) you do for your child every single day.
If LinkedIn won’t acknowledge that your job as a parent is one of the toughest – we will.
You’re doing such a *great* job that you deserve a personal assistant – especially for huge days like birthdays that sneak up waaaay too fast.
~ Enter Snow White to whistle and keep tons of kids busy at their party, right? ~
We thought that was the perfect idea, too, until Mitch pointed something pretty wild out to us.
(…ah right. You don’t know Mitch. Scroll down and I’ll tell you.)
Mitch is single dad who was out-of-ideas (and out-of-energy) to pull anything off for his daughter’s 5th, so I offered to dress up as a princess and play with allll the children for the whole party for him.
He accepted, but then…I panicked.
(Hang on, I promise this panic part has a point. Hi, I’m Fae, the founder of Happily Ever Laughter – k, back to the story)
Mitch was the very first parent we ever helped back in 2006. I’d worked as a Disney Princess for kids before, but this was the first time on my own.
I wasn’t sure what else to do AFTER just ‘looking like Cinderella’.
There wasn’t time to buy that famous blue gown (Amazon wasn’t a thing back then), so I made a pair of faerie wings and started driving, planning, watching, cleaning, and packing stuff (…omg kids require so. much. stuff).
I walked (ahem, ‘flew’) into Mitch’s, armed with the perfect wig, flower crown, and stomach full of butterflies…but – the kids didn’t seem to notice *any* of it.
They cared about something I totally didn’t expect.
They wanted to know:
WHO is this faerie person?!
They had never seen me on TV or in a film, so their curiosity EXPLODED:
“What do you eat for dinner, Faerie?”
“Where do you live, Faerie, can you see my house from your house, Faerie?”
I had been so used to children just yelling Disney movie lines at me that I had forgotten how much fun it was to inspire make-believe by being ‘just like them’.
It brought me back to my nanny & summer camp counselor roots and I was THERE for it.
“I like pizza for dinner!”
“If I wear glasses, I can see your house from my treehouse in Santa Cruz!”
The kids were hooked, and after hours together, I had to pry myself away to get some…well, pizza back in Santa Cruz.
After that first-ever party, I got 2 things from the birthday girl:
1. A new name: ‘My Faerie’
and
2. An invitation to her friends’ next FIVE birthday parties.
Although those two gifts were awesome, the most valuable gift I got was realizing that a person dressed like Cinderella wasn’t what holds children’s attention.
It’s that when children meet a magical friend who is ‘just like them’, that’s what makes them feel truly seen & special.
Mitch sat back that day 16 years ago, relaxed, and watched his baby girl have the best birthday ever, without having to lift a finger.
Since then, if my math is right, over 1,000,000 children have now giggled at the jokes of a Happily Ever Laughter faerie, princess, or pirate that was just like them, magical.
So, next time you’re trying to plan a party while driving, planning, watching, cleaning, and packing so MuCh sTufF, let us help you by surprising your child with a magical experience led by a one-of-a-kind character, designed just for them.
Have fun! It isn’t every day that grown-ups get to spend time looking for Princesses.
