Princess and Pirate Parties

Remember when you were in elementary school? And all you wanted was to hang out with your favorite Disney princess for the day? (If you were like me, your parents opted out of that trip to Disneyland and chose to take you to Canada’s Wonderland instead where all of your Disney princess dreams were crushed by the reality of chilling with Scrappy Doo. Thanks, mom and dad.) Believe it or not, you can actually capitalize on those Disney princess dreams to pay your NTSA course fee this summer! Consider becoming a performer at princess and/or pirate parties!

1. Get a costume.
One of the most important parts of the princess and pirate party gig is making sure that you have a fantastic costume! Don’t spend your own money. Instead, ask your drama department coordinator if you could borrow an out-of-use garment from their costume stock for a few months. Make sure that you clean the costume when you’ve finished all of your gigs! If your drama department won’t help you out, consider asking your friends if they have anything from previous Halloweens. (You might even have something buried in the back of your closet!) If you can't find anything, contact NTSA for help, and we might be able to hook you up with something from our stock!

2. Plan and rehearse a routine.
Most princess and pirate parties last for an hour and feature story time and a sing-along, party games (like button-button or capture the flag), photo opportunities, and a small gift for the birthday child (like a plastic princess crown or anything that costs under $2). But if you want to set yourself apart and make some extra money in the process, you might want to offer add-ons in addition to the basic package. Consider offering one or more of the following for an additional fee, but make sure that you brush up on your skills first:
- Face painting
- Arts and crafts (buy a kit for under $10, like crowns or superhero masks)
- Fencing lessons with foam swords
- Dance lessons
- Balloon artistry
- Puppeteering (special appearance by an animal friend!)
- Magic shows
- Treasure hunt

You should charge anywhere from $15-35 for an add-on depending on how material and labor intensive it is. For instance, any arts and crafts activity means that you’re going to need to buy a brand-new kit anytime you’re hired for that particular add-on, so that should definitely be at a higher price-point than dance lessons, which require no materials. Make sure to offer add-ons at a variety of price points, so that parents can pick and choose based on their income levels.

Remember: princess and pirate parties are a paying acting gig! Which means you need to rehearse just as much as (if not more than) you would for your high school musical. Invite some friends over and have them watch and participate in your routine. Yes, you might feel a bit silly at first, but rehearsing with a live audience will make all the difference in terms of how effective you are with small children. (They really are the toughest audience you will ever have!)

3. Consider partnering up.
See if one (or more) of your friends might be willing to help with your fundraising efforts. You can offer an additional princess or pirate for an extra $40 an hour. This can be especially valuable if your friends have any special skills (like fencing experience) that could be marketed as additional add-ons. If you have a friend who’s a decent photographer with pro-am equipment, you might want to also market a photography package for $50, so that parents can actually participate in their child’s birthday instead of hovering behind the iPhone waiting for the perfect shot. You can pay any of your friends 75% of their individual earnings (ex. $30 of the $40 charged for having an additional princess or pirate) and then take 25% yourself for setting up the gig.

4. Market your product.
Remember: you’re offering an alternative to a more professional product here. One-hour princess party packages from seasoned veterans can start at $125. Consider offering your princess party package for $50 instead. Create flyers to pass around the local elementary schools that clearly advertise your packages and have photographs of you in your princess or pirate (or superhero!) outfit. Make sure that you list your contact information (phone number and email address), so that parents can reach out to you. You might also want to consider going to places where parents and children spend their time and hang up posters there (ex. gymnastics and ballet studios, indoor playgrounds, arcades and family fun restaurants, sports facilities like taekwondo studios and ice/roller skating rinks, etc.). Don’t forget to tell the store managers that you’re fundraising for your summer course fee! They might be more willing to help you advertise and direct business your way if they know that it’s for a good cause.

Pro Tip: Businesses might be willing to let you advertise your services through events! See if a local bookstore or library will let you come in for a princess story hour (where you read a picture book) or if a local playground will let you host a treasure hunt (where you hide cheap trinkets all over the facility and provide students with clues to find them). This is not only a good chance for you to promote your business by letting parents see what you can do firsthand, you also might be able to get a donation from the business itself. Make sure to hand out flyers to everyone who’s participating! (Or you might want to recruit a friend who can pass out flyers while you’re busy interacting with the children!)

5. Work through the elementary schools.
See if any local elementary schools would be willing to offer a princess and pirate party at their school on a weekend! Charge $10 a student and offer two hours of storytime, sing-alongs, games, and dance lessons. You should be able to handle between 7-10 children on your own. Ask parents to pre-register by turning in a permission slip and their payment to their teacher (and then collect all of the permission slips and payments from the school after the event). If you have more than 10 children who are interested, have some friends (i.e. extra princesses) who are ready to go!