The Official Bubble Party Thread. Join in! :)

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Just Booked my biggest Bubble Party ever, today... for my township's Earth Day Festival. Actually it will be a PBnJ Party. ( Thanks, Shane ).... for up to 1000 people. Not all at once.
 
Just wanted to say, do not be tempted to use the new Crayola "washable" color bubbles. Yeah, they wash out.... after like 5 washes. And I have heard that there is now a Jelly Belly brand of bubbles with colors and scent.
 
Looks like I will be doing my first unoffical bubble party July 1st here at home/ I've been thinking about it for a couple of years now and I recieved a call from a corporate client a couple of weeks back wanting to rent a bubble machine for a week so I took the plunge and bought one of these

http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?Category=&ItemNumber=1334

The rental will pay for half the machine. I figure I'll pick up some bubble wands and see how it goes. If I can handle it I'll buy the plan and go from there
 
Just sent out 50+ brochures today for my 2012 booking season. Seems early, because most of my events fall between April 15th and October 15th, but it really is not all that early. These schools frequently have stuff set up for the year by mid February at the latest. 2011 was not my best year... in fact, it was probably my worst year, but I did very little advertising and I lost a multi - school account. If business for them is better, I expect to expect to have them as clients again.
 
Hey Chuck
Just getting ready to jump on the "Bubble Party Bus". Purchasing from Rob. I've been lurking since 07!
I figured, what the heck?
There have been TONS of budget cuts from the state, county, city etc. for 2012, but I think there are other opportunities
to market this type of service.
I'm sure this has been talked about elswhere in this thread, but I'm lazy. What type of system do you typically bring to your Bubble Parties?

Thanks!
 
Cyndi,

I use 2 Bubble Kings, and have a 3rd as a backup.

I use a Fender Passport or a Carvin powered speaker.... I even used to use a $200 Behringer powered speaker. I usually bring a netbook, but have been known to use an iPod. If it is ONLY a kids event ( bubble party ) you only need a library of about 40 - 50 songs IF you do like me.... have the hour planned out. Kids LOVE it when they have seen you more than once. They like knowing what happens next. And if you switch it up, sometimes they will tell you that you messed up, LOL.

Other than that, I have a headset mic because I like having my hands free.

I imagine Chicago has a ton of daycare centers. If you get lucky and one chain likes you, you might get a good portion of the chain. I had one year that I had 34 booked in a chain, but their business went way south in the last several years, and I only did about 10 for them, IIRC.

Oh, and props... kids love props.
 
Wow .... Chuck....too late. Already did. I looked at the sight & noticed there hadn't been any "news" since 2009.
Oh well.....live & learn. I was hoping that the info from Rob would be some help with designing a contract, etc.

Don't know if I could ever bring myself to bring one speaker to anything, so something like the Passport would be good. No insult intended - I'm just goofy that way. The headset is an EXCELLENT idea & thanks for the heads up on planning it out & how the kids react. That is too funny! Ditto on the props - I had glow sticks at a party for 13 year olds & it was quite a hit. Parents also loved it - go figure.

Yes there are TONS of daycares here in Chicago! But, I am thinking of also marketing to the parents on the "higher end of the income scale" & bringing it indoors - finding an alternative to the bubbles.

Thanks Chuck. I appreciate it!
 
Technically a passport is 2 speakers. :)

I can tell you what a charge in Philly.... $195 gets a 1 hour event at a daycare. The price is $249 for a private 1 hour event.... however, private events rarely last 1 hour. I add $75 per hour after the first one, usually. What I love is the fact that these are generally stress free events during the week.... and not much more stress on the weekends when I do private parties.

Doing them inside is not my thing.. I tried it 2x now and I find it too messy. But I also offer parachute and jump parties now, and they can be done indoors... same price.


BTW, my contract for these is the same as for everything else. I just make minor modifications.
 
A Message From Rob Peters; owner and Administrator of Bubble Parties.com

Even though I am not active in this forum ( I rarely participate in online forums these days for several reasons, most of which is because I am running a full time Entertainment company that includes Bubble Parties.com), I have decided to post today based on recent remarks in this forum. I am subscribed to this forum and receive updates on a daily basis.

TO BE CLEAR...I am not posting to start a "pissing contest" or engage in controversy here....I am simply responding to some of the recent feedback I have been reading. In fact, anyone who would like to speak to me about Bubble Parties, or this post is encouraged to email me at [email protected]. I will be happy to chat with you individually.

With regard to Papa Deuce....I left you a voicemail at your office this morning. I think we need to talk about some of these posts. Out of respect for you, I am not going to use this forum or post to air out any issues between us. I look forward to hearing from you.

I would like to respond to Chuck's claim that I am "not very good at it", as posted above. My intention is not to attack Chuck, but rather, set the record straight!

Since the transition of this program over to me, I have been doing my best to run things and integrate this program to improve it and take it further, in addition to running a multi op, full service entertainment company. Since 2007, I have:

* Completely overhauled the website (which for the first 6 months was completely out of my control) and currently maintain it
* Maintained online listings for approximately 40 providers on an annual basis
* Set up discount programs for Bubble Machines with TWO DJ Equipment dealers for those providers who maintainted their online listings
* Worked with Parenthood.com for a national advertising campaign for Bubble Parties.com
* Set up tracking so that providers can know how many clicks their listing on Bubble Parties.com is getting
* Have hosted conference calls for providers (at LEAST 6 a year)
* Taken phone calls and responded to e-mails from individual providers
* Set up and produced a demo video (I WILL agree with Chuck that the quality was not what I hoped for, but I did get releases signed from parents of each child in the video, arranged the shoot and did a show for the day care for FREE ! There is a new video being released in February, 2012 that is of better quality and is professionally produced)
* Contracted and paid for a professional graphic designer to produce new Bubble Parties marketing materials for providers. These materials were available in 2009 and were just discontinued in 2011 because we are now working with Breakthrough Marketing.

In addition to all of that, I did manage to perform over 200 bubble parties in 2011 as well as numerous other event, including Weddings, Corporate Events, Private Parties etc.

So why am I telling you all of this ?

Well, I am proud to be running this program. I am proud that John picked me to do it. This program has evolved from "just purchasing a marketing plan" into something more. And I think the information above speaks for itself. I haven't just been "sitting around counting money." and I can understand Chuck's disappointment about certain things. This is a WORK IN PROGRESS. And I can assure everyone that in February, 2012, there will be more steps forward. I will be announcing these changes to all current purchasers of the plan who are current with their listings and membership first, then to all purchasers of the plan who have not renewed.

As far as Chuck's disappointment and comments, he is entitled to his opinion. I have always been a person who wants to "do the right thing" to someone who feels they have been wronged by me. Again, out of respect to Chuck, he and I can have that conversation privately.

Lastly, I have always appreciated the dialogue I have observed in this forum, and I have no "ill will" to anyone who did not purchase the program, or decided to drop their listing/membership. I have been building this program into something that can benefit those who purchase the plan/program I am providing. And there are some big things on the horizon.

Thank you for reading....continued success to you all!
 
I was wondering who would call him. Gotta love spies.

And I have no intention of calling Rob. I felt like my money was wasted, as was my time.
 
Rob thanks for your proper reply to the comments made in reference to your business. I agree that things should always be resolved in a proper manner and also agree it should be between those who are connected to the situation. Rumors fly when it becomes second hand and spread across the internet. Experience says so. I have done laundry at a public laundromat and prefer doing it in the privacy of my own home.
 
Way back when... (if you notice Chucks comment on the very first post), you'll discover that I too had an interest about "teaching" DJ's how to do a bubble show. The "book" was WWAAAYYY over priced for information that had been gathered here and there, and was simply comment sense knowledge on how to entertain kids(IMHO). Any "clown" book could be adapted easily... just add bubbles.

No disrespect intended to the books author, but any teaching book over $100 is far sighted to this market, I don't care how good it is. I do, however, consider Chuck to be the authority on the subject, and would purchase a book from him.
 
Tyrone...

You are entitled to an opinion. Thank you for sharing.

With no intended disrespect to you or any other readers:
This book does MORE than teach DJs how to "do" Bubble Parties. It's a BUSINESS PLAN that teaches you how to develop this into part of your DJ business. There's information about marketing, pricing, business practices and more. When John Allo passed away in 2007, I took over this business. At that time, I RE-WROTE the plan to add more information to focus on the marketing aspects of this program. So it is more than just a "teaching book". In February of 2012, this "book" was developed into a Business Program that provides more than "just" a book.

This forum was started by Chuck in an effort to share ideas, and I will agree that in this thread, there have been many ideas shared by him and others. I applaud him for that and agree that Chuck's posts are helpful and insightful.

I would probably purchase a book written by Chuck....you can never stop learning in this industry!