Silly Jilly can be at your party any length of time from a half hour to the whole party. One way to look at figuring out how long she should be there is decide what you want (small or large balloon animals, simple or fancy face painting), and multiply the time it will take per kid by the number of kids at the party.
Balloon Sculptures:
Big and fancy balloon animals take about three or four minutes to make, so if you had about thirty-five kids at your event and all you wanted was big and fancy balloon sculptures, you would have Silly Jilly at the party for two hours (3.5 minutes X 35 kids = 120 minutes). Small balloon animals and hats using about two balloons per sculpture take a little over a minute. Big and fancy balloon costumes take about four or five minutes to make and put on.
Event Types
Here are some types of parties Silly Jilly has performed at. Of course Silly Jilly can perform an additional types of events.
· Birthday Parties Located at a Home, Backyard, TGI Friday's, Fitz's Restaurant, Lady Bug Beads Party Room, Park, Skating Rink, Chucky Cheese, Community Center, Brentwood YMCA's Party Room, Webster YMCA's Kids' Gym, JCCA Meeting Room, Paint-Me-Pottery, Demolition Ball, Pre-School, Kartoons, Bowling Alley, Little Gym, Swing-Around-Funtown Party Room, and More.
· Dog Birthday Party: Throw a birthday party for your dog at Lucky Dog in Webster Groves.
· Company Picnics
· Grand Openings
· Wedding Receptions
· Easter Parties
· Christmas Parties
· Halloween Parties
· Bat Mitzvahs
· Girl Scout Meetings
· Church Events
· School Fairs, Field Days, and Picnics
· Walk Around to Co-Workers' Cubicles
· Family Reunions
· Block Parties
· Christening Parties
· Baby Showers
Free Balloon Animals
You can receive one of Silly Jilly's big and fancy balloon animals or wild and crazy balloon hats. Silly Jilly knows over two hundred balloon sculptures including monkey climbing a palm tree, rainbow on a cloud, bird in a cage, Spiderman, pirate costume, and princess costume.
You can visit Silly Jilly and the dentist at the same time. Once a month Silly Jilly the Clown twists balloon animals at Pediatric Dentistry of Sunset Hills. Call (314) 822-2764 to make an appointment with Dr. Albrecht, Hollander, Fernandez, Price or Autry.
If your event is located in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, or Northern Jefferson County, Silly Jilly charges the below pricing, and most other St. Louis metro area locations are $10 more. Parties located in Webster Groves school district receive a $20 discount, and parties in Kirkwood school district, Brentwood, and Maplewood receive a $10 discount. Silly Jilly will almost travel anywhere.
· $90 First Half Hour (If Silly Jilly doesn't expect to have any other parties that day, she has an hour minimum; meaning most weekends she can perform for as little as a half hour and most weekdays she needs to perform for at least an hour.)
· $25 Each Additional Fifteen Minutes
(For example a one hour performance is $140, and a two hour performance is $240.)
Sometimes Silly Jilly will charge more for events with over fifty kids.
Things Silly Jilly Has Heard Party Hosts Say, and Things Silly Jilly Has Noticed Help a Party Run Smoother
· "The ice cream cake won't fit in our freezer, so the kids are going to have to eat as soon as they get here."
· Noisemakers are a big problem. "I wish I hadn't bought those noisemakers. I was going to put them in the goodie bags, but I threw them away so the kids wouldn't torture their parents." If you give the guests noisemakers, they are all going to blow them at once, and they will keep blowing them and keep blowing them.
· "We couldn't get the boys to stop running around the house. It took me two days to recover from the party. I should have just invited the girls in her class." (She had fifteen kids at the five-year-old's party.) Parties with more kids have the advantage of often being more fun, but can create more headaches for the host especially if the party is inside. Usually the more kids at a party, the more likely the kids are to run around the house and be noisy. Running is less of a problem if the party is all girls or if the guests' parents are there. (A disadvantage to having parents there is you'll have to cater to their needs, for example asking them if they want cake and drink. A second disadvantage to having parents there is many times the adults will be talking with other parents during the magic show and the kids have a hard time hearing Silly Jilly.)
· If you don't know the names of all the kids, you may want to give them name tags. It is easier to ask a kid to behave or ask him what he wants to drink if you know his name. When the kids arrive, you could have them decorate their nametags with stickers or crayons.
· Very occasionally there will be a child at a party who is afraid of clowns. You may want to tell the parent of the scared child to please have their child stay at the party. The scared child can watch Silly Jilly from the back of the room, and once he sees how much the other kids like Silly Jilly he'll like her too. Please give Silly Jilly at least a five minute chance to entertain the scared child. Silly Jilly has had kids cry when they first see her, and at the end of the party they want to give her a hug or are inviting her to their birthday party.
· In twelve years, only once has a birthday child been afraid of Silly Jilly for the entire party, and he watched Silly Jilly the whole time, but from the stairs; just didn't want to come close to her. And only once has a non-birthday child been afraid of Silly Jilly for the whole time she was at the party.
· Increase the birthday child's self-esteem by not letting him or her see you pay Silly Jilly. This way he or she may think Silly Jilly came to the birthday party just because Silly Jilly likes the birthday child.
· Consider making things easy on you, and don't serve a meal. Most of the birthday parties Silly Jilly does only serve cake, ice cream, and drinks.
· You may want to hide your toys because it is sometimes hard to get the kids away from the toys to participate in your planned activities.
· Kids like DJs better than bands. Although most thirteen-year-old birthday parties Silly Jilly does do have a band, if you have a DJ the kids will not be able to stay off the dance floor. Instead of standing in line for a balloon animal, kids will place their balloon order and run back out to the dance floor. As opposed to a band, the DJ should have all the latest songs from the most popular teen idols. (Silly Jilly can perform at parties in plain-clothes.)
· If you have a backyard pool party, consider hiring a professional lifeguard.
· If you provide disposable cameras, you may want put a label on the camera saying something like, "Only take a photo if you are looking through viewfinder. Do not take more photos than your age, for example, if you are 5 years old, only take 5 photos." I'm amazed at the number people who just hold the disposable camera out in front of them and take a photo without looking through the viewfinder; I guess they're in the habit of using digital cameras. Little kids sometimes treat the camera like a toy, and after they have taken all the photos on one camera, they'll find another one to use up.
What Silly Jilly Does at the Greatest Percentage of Her Birthday Parties
At about half of Silly Jilly's birthday parties she'll do balloon hats, a magic show, and big and fancy balloon animals. Here are more details on this scenario:
When she first gets to the party she'll make wild and crazy balloon hats for all the kids. The kids love to see their friends in the silly hats, and the hats make really cute pictures. Also the hats serve as an icebreaker before the magic show because Silly Jilly has talked with each of the kids.
After the hats, she'll do an audience participation show consisting mainly of comedy story telling magic. This will be a self-esteem building magic show because the magic happens because the kids said the magic words or waved the magic egg, etc. In addition to magic Silly Jilly might also tell a story or sing a song. The birthday child will be the star of at least one of the activities. (If the birthday child is not shy, Silly Jilly will have him or her on stage and helping Silly Jilly with all of the tricks, songs, or stories Silly Jilly needs helpers for.) Kids age three to seven enjoy the show most.
After the magic show Silly Jilly will start making big and fancy balloon animals. She'll turn the balloon twisting into a game by asking the kids to try and guess what kind of balloon animal she is making and whoever guesses right will get to keep that balloon if they want it. This usually keeps everyone's attention for about fifteen minutes, and then Silly Jilly will start taking requests. As Silly Jilly is finishing up the balloons you can either serve
This page was last updated on: May 9, 2008
Face Painting:
The face painting Silly Jilly likes to do takes about three minutes per child; however, if she takes the more complicated designs off her board and does not use jewels, the face painting will take about two minutes per child. With both the fancy and simpler face painting, kids will choose between full-face designs and small designs. Example of full-face: tiger, pirate, or princess. Examples of small designs: flower, snake, or ladybug. The small designs are for cheeks, hands, arms, ankles and the occasional baldhead.
Magic:
Silly Jilly can have the magic show last ten to thirty minutes. She usually has it last twenty to twenty-five minutes.
References
Would like to talk with others who hired Silly Jilly? Call Jill, (314) 968-8597, or email her,Jill@SillyJilly.com. She'll give you names and numbers of people in charge of parties Silly Jilly has preformed at recently.
Availability
Weekdays:
Silly Jilly is available almost every weekday except for Thursday evenings.
Weekends and Holidays:
· May 10: available before 3:16 and after 5:59
· May 17: not available
· May 18: available anytime
· May 24: available before before 3:46 and after 9:44
· May 25 & Memorial Day: not available
· May 31: available before 4:00 and plain-clothes only
· June 1: available anytime
· June 7: available before 1:16 and after 3:59
· June 8: maybe available
· June 14: available before noon and plain-clothes only
· June 15: available anytime
· June 21 & 22: available anytime
· June 28 & 29: maybe available
· July 4: not available
· July 5: available before 6:16 and after 9:44
· July 6: probably not available
· July 11 to 20: not available
· July 26 & 27: available anytime
· August 1 to 13: not available
· August 18 &19: probably not available
· August 23 & 24: available anytime
· August 30, 31 & Labor Day: available anytime
· September 6 & 7: available
· September 13: available before 6:16 and after 9:00
· September 14: available anytime
· September 20: available after 5:00
· September 21: available anytime
· September 27: not available
· September 28: available anytime
· October 4: available before 3:45 (Jilly has 2 tenitive evening parties.)
· October 5: available anytime
· October 11: probably not available
· October 12: available anytime
· October 18 & 19: available anytime
Silly Jilly only updates this list about twice a month, so it may not be accurate, and if you have seen Silly Jilly, you might be able to talk her into performing in plain-clothes on a day she was planning to take off.
If Silly Jilly is not available when you need her, you may want to e-mail her (Jill@SillyJilly.com), and she can give you a list of names and numbers of other good clowns. Or call her (314-968-8597.)
Silly Jilly Celebrates Tim Ezell's Birthday
Reporter Tim Ezell from the Fox 2 Morning News invited Silly Jilly to his on-air thirty-third birthday party, February 21, 2002. Silly Jilly made balloon costumes for everyone including a mermaid costume for Tim.
July 16, 2001 the Fox 2 Morning Newsbroadcast live from Kartoons restaurant, Sunset Hills, Missouri. Kids from Our Little Haven arrived at 7 AM to take advantage of all the fun Kartoons has to offer. Silly Jilly spent the morning twisting balloons for the kids and did a live on-air interview with Tim Ezell. Pictured with Silly Jilly is chicken head Tim Ezell and Mariah. Silly Jilly turned Mariah into a butterfly princess by making her a princess crown, butterfly wings, and a flower bracelet.
How Can I Become a Clown?
Silly Jilly started clowning by taking a clowning class through Florissant Valley Community College Continuing Education Department. So you may want to call a community college continuing education department and ask if they offer a class in clowning, or you could wait until you receive the class schedule in the mail.
You may want to join of one of the local or international clown clubs:
Local:
· St. Louis Clowns of America International
Meets at the Best Western Westport Park Hotel (located at the NE corner of Dorsett and 270) the third Thursday of the month at 7:30. For more information, contact members Dan and Karen Lake at 314-355-0220 DanoDClwn@aol.com
· Christian Clown Club
Meets at the First Baptist Church of St. Ann the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00. Contact Past President Barbara Carter at 314-423-8700, or Curt and Diana Patty 314-962-6019, www.clowngadgetstore.com.
· Balloon Twisting "Club"
Meets at Incredible Pizza in the high school gym section usually the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:00. If you would like to attend, please introduce yourself to Linda "Whisper" Rhode ljrhode@yahoo.com, and she'll write you back with information on the next balloon jam. Or you could just show up, but you’ll risk that the date may have been changed. Incredible Pizza is hard to see from Lindbergh. Look for Outback Steakhouse, and Incredible Pizza is behind Outback.
By joining one of these international clubs you will receive the club magazine every other month. In addition to telling you all about clowning, these magazines also advertise clown conventions where you will learn a lot about clowning. Almost every weekend there is a clown convention somewhere in the United States. You'll probably learn the most by attending the annual Clown Camp convention at the University of Wisconsin Lacrosse. Call 608-785-8053 and ask for a Clown Camp brochure. One of the best Christian clowning learning experiences is the Show Me Clowns For Jesus Conference http://www.showmeclownsforjesus.org held in Lake of the Ozarks every February.
food, or Silly Jilly can pass out coloring pages, or the kids may be interested in watching Silly Jilly twist balloons the whole time.
This scenario will take about:
· Forty-five minutes if five kids or less
· One hour if six to ten kids
· One hour fifteen minutes if eleven to
fifteen kids
Silly Jilly could stay a shorter time if she skipped the hats or made smaller balloon animals. Silly Jilly can stay longer and do face painting, or she can stay the above amount of time and do face painting instead of balloon animals.
Would Silly Jilly Do My Party for a Cheaper Price?
People sometimes try to talk Silly Jilly down on her price. The answer is no, because Silly Jilly wants everyone to get an equal deal. Silly Jilly never negotiates her prices. She would make more money if she did, but it is not fair for you to pay one price and then find out your neighbor hired Silly Jilly for less because the neighbor complained about the price. You are getting the lowest price Silly Jilly will do a party for (not including schools or Silly Jilly’s relatives who sometimes get a discount, and Silly Jilly does two free charitable parties a year.)
If you want a discount you could donate to one of Silly Jilly’s favorite charities the amount Silly Jilly is charging you for the party, and if you itemize your taxes, in a way you will be paying a discounted price because the donation is tax deductible; I think. Charities Silly Jilly will accept are on her wish list at NetworkforGood.org.
Invite Silly Jilly to your child's princess party, and she can make everyone a tiara and princess magic wand. Then she'll have all the kids sit down, and she'll turn her balloon twisting into a game as she twists mermaids, fairies, and other princesses.
· Birthday Parties Located at a Home, Backyard, TGI Friday's, Fitz's Restaurant, Lady Bug Beads Party Room, Park, Skating Rink, Chucky Cheese, Community Center, Brentwood YMCA's Party Room, Webster YMCA's Kids' Gym, JCCA Meeting Room, Paint-Me-Pottery, Demolition Ball, Pre-School, Kartoons, Bowling Alley, Little Gym, Swing-Around-Funtown Party Room, and More.
