I love being a birthday party entertainer

I admit it.  I love my job.  I absolutely love it.  I don't have a typical workweek or workday.  Sometimes the events can be sporadic, and sometimes overwhelming.  But I love what I do to earn money for my family.   I have a special offer at the end of this blog to help you lover birthday parties too!   I have met many entertainers in the upstate of SC.  Some started out years ago doing birthday parties, but now they say they have moved on to "bigger and better things."  Not me!  I truly love being a birthday party entertainer.

Like father, like son.

I was meeting another balloon twister from Greenville, SC for a balloon jam.  A balloon jam is when two or more balloon twisters get together to share ideas, stories, and tweak their balloon designs.  Anyway, we had met at a donut shop.  I took my son with me, because being the intelligent parent that I am, I figured I would give my son some sugary donuts washed down with a high caffeinne drink and then let him go to sleep for the night.

Anyway .... my friend and I were about an hour into our jam session.  We had made lots of balloon animals, and come up with some cool balloon hats.  I noticed that my son was quiet, too quiet.  I looked around and finally found him in the corner of the donut shop.  He had taken apart a display of their bags of coffee and had put them all on the floor.  "What are you doing son?" I asked.

"Look," he said, "Ground coffee!" 

I don't know where he gets it. : )
Please check out our website http://www.joyset.com/

My favorite balloon creation

As a balloon twister in Greenville, SC I get asked all the time "What is your favorite balloon to make?" That really is a tough choice for my current balloon creations.  I tend to like the more unique balloons that other twisters don't make, or the interactive balloons, such as the football field goal balloon.  However my favorite balloon creation of all time was actually one of my most simple balloons.

The Kirby Salesman

I never try to torture sales people.  I really don't.  But I have upset a lot of them.  Its just part of the life of being an entertainer.  First of all, it may take several months to see me.  If you have something to offer me that I am interested in, I will make an appointment to see you.  But .... if a customer call me and wants me for the same time, the customer is going to get priority.  Everytime.  And I am always upfront with sales people when they make an appointment  One salesman was particularly offended when I postponed our appointment for the fifteenth time.  He asked what did he have to do to see me.  I told him he could hire me to make balloons for about an hour and I would meet him anytime and anyplace.  He didn't go for it.  One health insurance salesman waited six months to see me.  He persevered and I became a customer.  Kudos to him.

My first penguin.

I was a fairly new balloon twister in September of 1996.  The Tie Dye Balloon Guy had not yet emerged.   I had already been clowning for almost two years, and I was ready to try some new skills.  I got books from the library, and got a basic balloon sculpting video to begin my quest.  I practiced for what seemed like months just to get a basic dog to come out just right.  Sometimes the front legs were bigger than the back and sometimes the dog looked more like a giraffe.  Mostly I just popped the poor pooch. POP!  Lots of pops ... and groans (from me, not the poor doggie).

Ah, but back to the penguin.  This was my first semi public display of balloon twisting.  Joy Set Entertainment was booked for a small community festival.  I took requests, which thankfully for me stayed within the usual parameters for a beginning twister.  "Can I get a sword?"  "Make me a flower."  "Why does my dog look like a giraffe?"  I turned to the youngest of the bunch, a sweet little green eyed, brown haired girl and asked what she would like.  "I want a penguin."