I wish this were my stretched limo, but it was just a loaner for a party

  One of my kids favorite songs is “How Many Clowns Can You Cram in a Car?”  And I will admit that I kind of like the song as well.  Since I have to drive all over Greenville, SC to entertain at birthday parties or do balloon twisting at restaurants, I spend a lot of time in my car.  If you also add in my trips to Anderson or Spartanburg, SC AND my annual trip to Cincinnati, OH for a balloon convention I spend a whole lot of time in my car.  Many people have vehicles that are reflections of their personalities.  And I guess that being an entertainer in the Upstate of SC I would have to have lots of personality.  I do comedy magic, I am a balloon twister, I even perform occassionally as a clown.  Here are some things that you will likely find in my car. 

• Balloons – I generally have a few bags of balloons somewhere.  You never know when you might be called to do a balloon delivery, or just get a chance to brighten someone’s day with a twisted creation.
• Markers - While I can make some pretty incredible balloon sculptures, markers can help add the finishing touches.
• Magic Tricks - Whether I am a birthday entertainer, or a corporate entertainer, I usually like to add some comedy magic to the show.  Some of the tricks even involve balloons which is an added bonus for me!
• Face Paints – my wife is the real talent here, but I am learning more to be a better face painter
• CDs – Since I might be driving for an hour or more, why not make my time a little more useful.  I like to listen to audio books on marketing, goal setting, and even jokes on compact disc.
• Gum – I have lost 24 pounds, but when I am in the car snacks can be a real temptation.   I don’t have any teachers around, so I can chew – chew away on some sugar free gum.
• Clown nose – I keep my red clown nose in my glove compartment.  Sometimes even when I am not entertaining as a clown, I will put my clown nose on and drive around just to give other drivers a relaxing laugh.

     My car is actually like a mobile office for my entertainment business.  So look for my little white Taurus with the “Tie Dye Balloon Guy” on the front license plate.  And if I am wearing my clown nose make sure you smile extra big.

I can’t remember whether we call this economic downturn a recession, depression, or hiccup. But everywhere from Greenville, SC to Thousand Oaks, CA, people are feeling the effects of less money. Or are they? In the same week I read about jobless rates over 14% in parts of the country, I also read that Avatar has taken in 1.85 BILLION dollars. Even in a slow economy, people want quality entertainment, kids are still going to have a birthday party EVERY year, and sometimes a little family friendly fun is a worthwhile investment since it can lift spirits.  It is no wonder that the entertainment industry as a whole thrived during the Great Depression.

Here are some tips from a professional entertainer on saving some money while still allowing for some great entertainment.

BUDGET :  Guess what?  Christmas comes around the same time every year.  Unlike Easter, which has a sneaky way of changing on the calendar every year, Christmas is always December 25.  Likewise birthday parties are an annual event.   When you have a need arise for entertainment, you generally have lots of advance notice.    So be smart and budget your time as well as money.  Check out my Squidoo article on themes for birthday parties for more of my thoughts on the subject.

It is not uncommon for birthday parties to cost several hundred dollars.  By planning ahead and setting aside just a few dollars a week, you can have that much more for your party.  Joy Set Entertainment can take a deposit either online or by phone for any of our events, which will make your budgeting that much easier.

COUPONS are more popular than ever.  Today you can use coupons to save on movies, vacations, and popular restaurants.  Clowns, face painters, balloon artists, and magicians also offer coupons from time to time.  Look in the phone book,  local parent guides, or on the internet to see if any performers in your area have money saving coupons.  And yes, Joy Set Entertainment does have a few coupons out there, you just have to know where to look.

SPECIAL OFFERS are out there as well, and like coupons they help generate additional awareness and business for the company and help you save money.  Don’t be afraid to ask the entertainment company if they have any special offers.  Did you know that Joy Set Entertainment has a special offer for discounts on additional entertainers at the same event?  So if you are looking to hire a magician, a face painter, a clown, and a balloon artist, you could save lots of money by getting them all from one location.   Here are some other discounts offered by Joy Set Entertainment:

• Nonprofits can secure most services offered by Joy Set at a great discounted rate.
• If you hire us more than once in the same year you can save some money.  Lots of corporate event planners have taken advantage of this.
• Discounts on birthday parties done Monday – Thursday. 
• When you make a deposit for your event, Joy Set will subtract ten dollars from the balance due.
• Joy Set offers party planning services including balloon decor.  Joy Set waives the set up fee when we are hired to do decor and entertain at a party.

     Hopefully this short blog has given you some ideas for saving money on entertainment and entertainers.  Feel free to share your own ideas by commenting in the section below.

Joy Set entertainers and artists improved their skills in 2009.  The Tie Dye Balloon Guy continued to learn new balloons.    He concentrated more on balloon decor.  Joy Set Entertainment looks forward to seeing more fusion of balloon twisting and balloon decorating.  Our face painter, Paula, went to a face painting seminar in November.  With some of the techniques she learned, she is already been requested for repeat business by amazed customers.  We have begun to network with quality entertainers to be able to recommend the best.  If you are a family friendly entertainer in Anderson, Spartanburg, Greenville, Greer, or other upstate SC please contact us. 

Our goals for 2010 are to become the trusted source for  entertainment in Greenville, SC and the rest of the Upstate of SC.  Whether it is a balloon twister, or a birthday party entertainer, or a balloon twister, or a magician for a corporate picnic, come to Joy Set Entertainment.  Happy New Year!

What would you get him for Christmas?

There can be unique problems with being an entertainer in Greenville, SC.    What kind of Christmas present do you get for a clown?  What would be an appropriate present for our Greenville face painter?  Then there are all the other entertainers that we offer, such as the Tie Dye Balloon Guy, comedy magicians, and more.

Gift certificates are a popular option, but to me they are not personal enough.  So I have decided to turn this into a contest.  I want you to tell me what would be a good Christmas present for one or more of the following:

• Face painting by Paula:  a face painter that can be seen at grand openings, school festivals, and church events
• INRI: a hobo clown in the upstate of South Carolina (primarily Greenville, SC)
• B. Glad: an Auguste clown that does lots of birthday parties in Simpsonville, Mauldin, Easley, and Anderson, SC
• The Tie Dye Balloon Guy:  works all over Greenville at restaurants, birthday parties, corporate events, schools, and libraries

Use the comments section to give me your suggestions.  Your suggestion can be real or humorous.  I will chose one winner that will receive their choice of a balloon twisting kit (featuring the Tie Dye Balloon Guy) or $50.00 off any party package.  The winner will be announced on Christmas Adam (December 23rd … Adam came before Eve)

Happy Thanksgiving

May this be a true day of gratitude for all the blessings of family and friends.

The local marketing firm who hired us to do the job gave us free passes for the same sneak preview we were helping to promote (by tying 200 three foot balloons to the top of the theater), so my family and I decided to go.  After all, the movie was about balloons to some extent, so I almost felt it would have been blasphemous to pass it up! As other movie goers arrived that evening, many of them noted the balloons (well really, how could you miss them?) But in most cases, the kids looked up and pointed while the Moms and Dads hurredly tried to scoop them up and get them inside to get seated. Sure, people saw the balloons, but at that point they merely served as a marker more than anything else.

Before the movie began, I honestly kind of separated myself so to speak from the world of latex. I knew the balloons were going to be used to float the main character Carl’s house, but I figured that wasgoing to be the extent of the balloons’ involvement in the story (much like the Koons sculpture in “Night at the Museum II” ; it was just kind of there in the film without any other purpose than comedic effect).

I’ve never been more wrong.

The balloons in “Up” weren’t just a punchline or a spectacle. The artists at Pixar (and I mean “artists” in the truest sense of the word) showed people that they could be so much more.  Balloons were used to represent Carl’s dreams. Whether it was the\solitary floater Carl pretended was a zepplin when he was a child or the hopes he and his wife Ellie shared for their future together, balloons were always there.

They symbolized freedom too. When the world around him seemed to be crushing his spirit, balloons gave Carl the ability to escape it. But it was more than that; balloons allowed Carl to maintain a level of control in his life as well, something that few elderly people areable to maintain as they age.

And finally and possibly most importantly, balloons were commitment.  Touching moments in the film between Carl and Ellie were accented by single helium balloons passed between them. Carl helped build their lives together by selling balloons in the park. And finally, the 10,000 or so rounds attached to the roof of Carl’s home were the means to an end of fulfilling a lifelong promise to his beloved bride, and one not only of reaching a destination, but never forgetting that adventures never truly end but simply start anew.

It’s easy sometimes for us as balloon professionals to lose sight of things. For the past 30 days, balloons have honestly only meant one thing to me….work! I have found myself so busy working longer and longer days and getting less and less sleep that they had become a chore. The only meaning to me as of late was that balloons were my job, and while yes there were moments when I could be creative and design new things, it was still at someone else’s beck and call.   I was still under the gun, I was still not getting much sleep, and Iwas still missing out on important moments in my family’s lives. Yes,all of this amounts to a nice payday when it’s all over, but still. They had become less and less fun for me.

But Disney did something in one night that we in this industry have not been able to do as a whole for…well, possibly ever. They showed 300 or so people in the course of 100 minutes that balloons are far more than just rubber bubbles tied to ribbon. They CAN be so very much more.

Aside from the balloon element to the film, it was just a fantastic movie. Visually, the effects were astounding. I was floored at just how lifelike they were able to make these animated balloons look. But aside from that, from the littlest details to the broadest imagery the look of the film absolutely left me in awe. The funny parts weren’t just funny; they were hysterical. And at the same time there were such touching moments in the film that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. And the final moments of the film…well, if you don’t at least get choked up, I’d have to wonder if you even have a heart.

But here’s what I was getting at before. As people left the theater, the balloons were still on the roof. The marketing firm had hired another company to highlight the cluster with a spotlight, and even though it wasn’t really dark yet, it drew people’s attention back to the roof and the balloons.

But this time, their reaction was VERY different. These balloons weren’t just a marker any more. People stood there in the parking lot just gazing up at them, the same people who were rushing in to get inside before were now just standing there watching a bunch of balloons float around. Many of them were snapping pictures with their phones, and even a few folks started tearing up at the sight of them. Suddenly these grown ups were staring in amazement like little kids! And at what? Just a big bunch of balloons.

It was at that very moment that I realized what had truly happened. These people bonded so much with the film and the plight of Carl that now balloons meant something totally different to them as well. Even if it was for only a moment, each one of those people now saw balloons in a completely different light. Sure, maybe some of them were just admiring the spectacle of the mass, but the end result was the same. Balloons MEANT something to them now.

And THAT is what we must do if we ever expect to truly change our image as a whole in the event world. Sure, we always hear how balloons represent emotion and fun and festivity, but over time it can dull us as it’s told to us over and over and over again. We all need to look deep inside ourselves, rediscover that passion if it’s not bubbling on the surface and find a way to convey that kind of energy and symbolism to the world. And if you need help doing that, you MUST go see this film.

Thank you, Pixar. When the balloon industry needed a “stimulus package”, it got more than it ever could have asked for in “Up”. And while it will certainly serve as a financial boost for us, I for one feel the emotional one I found from this film was worth so much more.\ And with that being said, I am honored to have played even a smallpart in the giant wheel of this movie. I truly am.

Steven Jones
AerationDecorations.com
AeraDecoVideo.com
FLOATtheconvention.com

First, I am naturally an introvert.   If the Tie Dye Guy is around, I am quite content to stay in the shadows. It is very easy for me to make sure the props are taken care of and everything is set up behind the scenes and not even speak a word to the group in front of me. But that is not always the case. There are times when I also enjoy being the center of attention. This usually happens when I am dressed as a clown and Carl is the “straight man”. During those times is when the audience cannot believe that I would rather not be seen at all.

Secondly, I have worked in a child care center for over twelve years. In my time there, I learned to approach younger children very cautiously. I had a student one year, at the age of three, who did not like clowns, puppets, or characters of any kind. One afternoon, I had to prepare for a job, and it would be easier if I put on my makeup in the classroom. I put her in charge and asked her through each step if I should continue or stop. Her mother was amazed when she picked up her daughter that day and discovered there was a clown in the room and the little girl was not afraid.

I also thrive on the people who tell me they are afraid of clowns at the beginning of an event, but then they change their minds about halfway through saying, “You’re not a scary clown.” So I may not be the loudest, craziest clown you encounter, but I do enjoy entertaining in my own quiet manner.   I may be the perfect entertainer for a birthday party or school event with young children.

“Thank you,” I said.  But I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant.

“I mean, you are all over the internet.” the mom explained. “I was doing a search for Greenville birthday entertainer, and you were the first listing. And you also showed up for balloon twister, clown, and a lot of others”

“Oh, yeah.” I said. “I have been doing a lot of work on my site to make sure people can find me. So if you look for Greenville balloon twister, Greenville balloon guy, Greenville face painter, or almost any family friendly entertainer option in Greenville, I am there.” Of course I had a lot of help from Michael Clay and his Marketing Master Group.  Mike offers an informative 10 week bootcamp via the internet to teach companies exactly how to get their message out effectively through the internet and other creative means. 

Really, I am not all over the place.  I am all over Greenville, SC and the surrounding areas.  I live in the county of Greenville.   This is an important fact.  Right now, if you look up “balloon twister Greenville” in a search engine, some of the companies that come up are actually only web listings for balloon artists that are two hours or more from Greenville.   And some of these same companies may advertise that they offer “Spartanburg clowns” without having a clown within 300 miles of Spartanburg.  I live less than 20 minutes from Spartanburg and Anderson.

The bottom line is that if you are in the Upstate of SC, Joy Set Entertainment wants to earn your trust as the best entertainment company in Greenville, Anderson, Spartanburg, and beyond.  We are all over the … upstate of SC!  ;-)

Joy Set has done events all over SC.  Most of our events are in Greenville and the smaller cities in the Upstate of SC such as Mauldin, Fountain Inn, Simpsonville, Greer, and Easley.  But we still manage to get into Spartanburg, Anderson, and Laurens.    We have even been hired for events in Myrtle Beach, Columbia, and Charleston. 

Of course we have made it out of our home state as well.  We have done events in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Nebraska, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, and Missouri.

Playing the fool at Balloon Town USA

Somehow I always get to play the fool.  In 2005 I was hired by the Greenville Library to play a court jester for a medieval theme.   In 2006 I donned the fools garb for whole week at a church in Greenville.  And then in 2007 I played a jester at an event called Balloon Town USA.  Under the direction of Steve Jones of Aeration Decorations,   a team of balloon twisters and balloon decorators from all over the world collaborated on the worlds largest balloon sculpture, which was the town of Balloon A Lot.

Historically the jester / clown / fool has always had a significant role in history in many different cultures. The medieval jester was thought to be a special case that God had cursed or blessed with a childlike madness. Many jesters were actually quite skilled in music, juggling, singing, telling riddles, or other talents.  Their primary role of course was to entertain the king and his court. However the jester could often make comments to the king and other important officials that most certainly would have endangered others. After all, who would be mad at the sayings of a “fool.” The jester used humor to remind others of their own foibles.

I realize that I have been blessed by God with a childlike “madness”. He has given me many skills that I can use for His purposes. Science has discovered the health benifits of humor.  Laughter reduces stress, relaxes muscles, boosts the immune system, inhibits pain by producing endorphins, and so much more.  This world seems so crazy at times. We all need a good laugh now and then.  The average two year old laughs 40 times a day, while the average 40 year old laughs two times a day.  If you are feeling the stress of day to day life, maybe you need a jester to help you laugh just a little bit more.

  One more thing. The word “fool” comes from the Latin word follis which means “bag of wind.” Not a bad thing for a balloon guy!

Aydeloof is fooled ya spelled backwards.

Carl “The Tie Dye Balloon Guy”
aka “Aydeloof the Jester” 
or how about ”Just Air” the Jester