HE'S A REAL BOY

Dan's latest balloon creation - see, he's not made of wood ;) 

JUST NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN A DAY...

You know the saying, everyone uses it from time to time, but we have found recently that there just haven't been enough hours in the day to keep up-to-date with Facebook, Twitter, our Website, Blog and any other media or Social Networking sites that we are on. But, unfortunately, that is not an excuse and we really must try harder! It means we must be busy which is definitely a good thing but we do like keeping in touch with you all though.

2012 started off much the same as 2011 finished, packed to the rafters with bookings which is great for us, but not so great if you are trying to book us for your event. We know we always say it, but it really does pay to book early and we are finding that it is never too early to book for any event with our 2013 diary filling up fast already.

So, what have we been up to since Christmas? The simple answer is…everything! We have been here, there and everywhere in East Anglia adding our own touch of magic to lots of different events. We’ve had our usual karaoke nights at The Case in Wisbech, The Ship Inn at Brandon Creek and The Red Lion at Soham, our Bank Holiday discos at Mildenhall Social Club and numerous Krazy Kidz Parties for some fantastic children along the way. We’ve met some beautiful brides already this year and had the privilege of entertaining at their wedding receptions in some stunning venues, and worked alongside our friends at Kiff Photography too.

Our school list is growing and growing and we are very lucky to have so many schools looking forward to us entertaining at their end of term discos but remember; we always let our schools book on a first come, first served basis. At last count, we are juggling dates for 12 schools…make sure to book yours early!

The public holidays and special dates so far this year have been spent amongst familiar faces for us. We got to entertain the Residents of a local care home on Valentine’s Day; the first time that KJ had been able to perform for months due to losing her voice, and it was an emotional day in more ways than one. Seeing the smiles on the faces of those there puts everything into perspective for us and we had a great time again when we went back on St George’s Day. We spent Easter working at The Horsefair Shopping Centre and, although the weather was very unkind to us that day, we still managed to put some smiles on faces which is all that matters! And then, during the latter half of the Easter holidays, KJ held a local “jam” which was very well attended again! It was a brilliant day spent with friends old and new and she is already planning the next one!

Easter Jamming! It was fantastic to see so many people!

In between all the bookings, KJ dealt with the FACE 2012 Conference with our good friend Liz from Lizzy B’s Face Painting. KJ and Liz were the organisers of this year’s Conference and reports all indicated that a good time was had by all. KJ definitely walked away happy as she won another award this year – this time for Best Kept Kit; the one that she really wanted :) Liz and KJ must have enjoyed all that organising as they have decided to bite the bullet and organise another event, with a few other colleagues, and Dan, and are busy planning the FAB Mega Jam being held in Cambridge over the weekend of 2-3 February 2013!

Dan has been busy creating some weird and wonderful balloon sculptures over the last few months, none more so than when he can be found at Arbuckles,Downham Market when time allows. We have made some fantastic friends at the Restaurant and look forward to meeting many more in the coming months too.

The Fishathon4 for Scotty’s Little Soldiers events have now taken place, and although the weather put a dampener on the planned Family Fun Day, the figures coming in so far have been amazing and we hope to be in a position to post up a final total soon. With charity events in mind, we have already decided on our chosen charity for 2013 and are very proud to announce it will be Great Ormond Street Hospital. You can find more information regarding one of the events we will be involved with here.

There have been lots of other things going on but we are sure that you’ve read enough by now anyway! We’ve posted up lots of new pictures on our Facebook page, so why not head over there and take a look! We would love to hear from you. 

KJ's latest project is well under way...watch this space for more news on that one! 

Until next time…which we promise won’t be so long!

KJ & Dan

WHOOPS...again!

Time really does fly when you are having fun...or just hard at work in our case!

It doesn't seem possible that October 2011 was the last time we actually managed to post on here but having checked, double checked and triple checked, we are guilty as charged! Hopefully, over the next few days we can get caught up and fill you in on the last few months. 

Don't forget to check back soon and find out what we've been up to.

♪

OCTOBER...how did that happen?

We have been really bad and neglected the Blog and Website over the past few months and now is the time to change that. Apologies to those of you who may have checked in here to get an update; we just don’t know where the time has gone. Not wanting to bore you senseless writing loads, we are going to try to summarise what we have been up to over the last few months and hopefully still make it sound fun and interesting. Now, what has happened since May? The simple answer…loads!

• We had the pleasure of entertaining SWISH alongside our good friend Robert Farrell as they raised funds for the village of Southery in Norfolk and have been asked back again next year so we must have done something right!

The "locals" at the SWISH Ball

• Dan has attended quite a few balloon “Care & Share Days” and learnt lots of new tricks of the balloon twisting trade and is now a member of The Balloon Artists Guild along with lots of other very talented twisters.

Inspired by Ken Stillman, Dan has turned his hand to Super Heroes

• We were honoured to be involved in a 2-day fundraising event in July for Help for Heroes and, together with a fantastic team of volunteers; we helped to raise £2582.29! And we are doing it all again next year for Scotty’s Little Soldiers and hope to raise double that!

• We have entertained at numerous schools since the last post and saw many of the children heading into their last few days at Primary School; KJ never does manage not to cry when they say their goodbyes!

• We have lost count of the number of Krazy Kidz Parties we have done but we have enjoyed every single one of them. Seeing the smiles on the faces of the children as they go home is always a huge buzz for us and we are working behind the scenes to add lots of new packages for 2012. Check out this fantastic video made by VideoUs at one of our recent parties...this makes us smile every time we watch it; hope it does you too! 

• We have seen lots of couples get married over the last few months too and being a part of their special days is something that we will continue to cherish and be very proud of for a long time to come. We wish them all the very best for the future as they continue on to the next chapter of their lives.

• KJ held another “Jam” in August and we had a house full of amazingly talented painters; and we mean a house full and the food…well, that was simply delicious with a very special cake made for KJ’s birthday which was a few days before the Jam. We had visitors from all over and it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and meet lots of new ones too!

The special cake made by Jayne from JC's Faces...it was truly scrumptious! 

• We have had some fantastic corporate bookings throughout the “silly season” with some being very new to us this year. We both received fantastic feedback on our individual services and met some great new contacts. We had the pleasure of working alongside our good friend Liz from Lizzy B’s Face Painting at some of these events too which was definitely an added bonus when you saw the length of some of the queues!

• KJ has attended another face painting training course, this time at the London School of Face Painting with the renowned painter Bibi Freeman. Look out for some very special Halloween faces now J

• We have celebrated numerous birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions over the last few months and as always, continue to be thankful for so many bookings. We really do put 100% into everything we do.

• And last, but by no means least, we attended The BPM Show at Birmingham NEC recently. This was a chance for us to see the latest products on offer within the Mobile DJ industry so keep an eye out for some new lighting effects when you next see us out and about!

We really hope that you have had a great Summer and that the long nights drawing in are not making you too down. The colours at this time of year are a great inspiration to KJ’s painting, but we too would still like a little bit of sun now and again.

If you would like any information on any of the services that we offer, please get in touch…we are only too happy to help.

So until next time…keep the music playing ♪

KJ & Dan

SMACK WRISTS

We've been snowed under over the last few months and have been very naughty and not updated...many apologies. We will be working hard over the next week to get everything back up-to-date.

KJ & Dan

A RIGHT ROYAL TIME

Easter Fun Day

This year saw the 6th year that KJ has provided the face painting for the Horsefair Shopping Centre Fun Days. Kevin, the Centre Manager, commented on just how much her kit has grown since those early bookings for him! She used to take up a small space in the Information Booth, as you will see from the photo, she’d never fit it all in there now! The one difference this year was that I was also invited along to create some balloon models for the passing crowds. The sun was beating down all day, thank goodness for the gazebo this year, and along with all the other attractions available on the day, we look our place entertaining for a few hours on a balmy Wednesday afternoon. The only trouble is that at 2pm when it was finishing time, people were still begging for more! We are happy to announce that we will back for the Summer Fun Day which has been provisionally booked for 31 August.

Shine A Light

Alongside the normal mayhem and madness of our Krazy Kidz Parties, of which there were many during April, we had our first complete UV party and the only word I can use to describe it is WOW! The party was for a young lady celebrating her 13th birthday, we provided the disco and all the UV lighting but as an added extra, they also had KJ providing UV face and body painting. The guests (and the adults) all dressed in neon colours and the room looked like we were at an 80s roller disco or in the middle of the Fame set (not that I remember the 80s much of course because I am far too young).

The painting turned out better than either of us could have ever imagined. KJ had had some neon paints in her kits for a while but never really used them very much but after being given some ideas from her good friend Lizzy B, her imagination was running wild! She painted, faces, arms, shoulders, backs and legs and once they were on the dancefloor and the UV lighting was in full force, the wash of colour was amazing and we are both looking for to the next one booked on 3 June very much!

New Clients & A Certain Wedding Day

Some new and exciting bookings have come our way this month due to both St Georges Day and also I think there was a wedding somewhere...some bloke from Wales or something ;) 

On St Georges Day this year KJ went to Downham Market to surprise the shoppers with her Fancy Faces at Tots to Teens, a lovely shop in the Town Centre. Red and white were the colours of the day but of course that didn’t mean that all they had to have painted were crosses! 

Wedding, what wedding? Unfortunately we had already taken a booking for the 29th so were unable to help out Kate & William but we were able to celebrate the Royal Wedding alongside others at The Cherry Tree in Peterborough. With face painting by KJ, balloon modelling from me, 3 live bands and much more besides, it was a fantastic afternoon in the glorious sunshine. Princesses were certainly the order of the day for KJ and I even got to make a crown for one ‘King’.

Bank Holidays

Bank holiday weekeds are always a busy time for us but one thing we do enjoy are the regular Sunday night discos at Mildenhall Social Club. They are always well attended with most people not having to get up for work the next day with the Monday being a bank holiday and they certainly do bop until they drop! The next one will be the August bank holiday weekend so if you get a chance to be there, you won’t be disappointed!  

Long Sutton Butterfly & Wildlife Park

If you look closely you can see me in there somewhere! 

Once again we have been back at the Park recently creating fancy faces and balloon models. There was the fabulous Jungle Book production by the SS Theatre Company. If you didn’t get the chance to see them over Easter, make a date to pop back in August for their production of Romeo & Juliet…they are well worth watching. And then the May Day holiday saw the return of the beautiful Siberian Huskies. The Park is definitely somewhere to go for a great day out..and don’t forget, if we are around, make sure you come and say hi. You can find more information about what’s on and when on the Park website.

And finally…

We were back at The Case for regular Thursday night karaoke with a few familiar faces from another booking popping in as well – always good to see!

Unfortunately this post is tinged with a note of sadness. One of our favourite places to entertain is The Ship Inn at Brandon Creek. The pub is one of the nicest places around and our karaoke nights have become a regular fixture over the last couple of years. Malcolm & Michelle welcomed us with open arms into their pub and became good friends as well as clients. Sadly, and very unexpectedly, Malcolm passed away at the beginning of May and our thoughts are firmly with Michelle, the family, staff and all his friends. Malcolm certainly was right at the heart of everything at the pub and he will be very much missed.

We certainly hope that wherever you are Malcolm you are singing the song you liked to sing regularly at the top of your voice and bringing as much laughter to them as you did to us.

So, it’s not all been good these last few weeks but as busy entertainers we have to keep going. So, until the next time…

♪ DAN ♪

OOPS...I FORGOT!

A little more than a month ago we published our first blog in over six. Re-reading the last post it seems that I mentioned we (namely I) would be updating every week, but to be completely honest I forgot. However I am getting better and as the ancient proverb goes things can only get better. There is so much to fill you all in on that I have decided to split it into two separate posts. 

One of David's creations

Twisting seems to have taken over my life at the moment and for the second time this year I decided to enhance my twisting skills by learning from the best. As a member of The Balloon Artists Guild I took a trip down to Banstead, Surrey to meet up with some other twisters for a day of fun and education where we were inspired by David Brenion. For those who have never heard of him, he is one half of ‘Three Circles’, an American entertainments company. I came away with some fantastic creations and more than a few ways to adapt them for countless other designs. 

With KJ now being a fully fledged member of FACE (The Face Painting Association), she decided to hold a ‘jam’ at the beginning of April. This is where lots of painters come together from all over and teach, learn from and inspire each other with their painting skills. And what a turnout it was! Over 20 painters attended from all over the Country and not just East Anglia with one painter even travelling from Wales. We filled the hall at Ten Mile Bank with colour galore and had two professional photographers on hand to capture it all on film. For her first ever jam, she certainly did good and it was a fantastic day! 

 

KJ's first "Jam" - a roaring success

Next up for me was The St George’s Day Parade in March (the town, not the month) where I was twisting creations for the public during the afternoon’s celebrations in the Market Place. Thousands of people came and went through the Town Centre that afternoon and a few of the more lucky ones were able to take a balloon home with them as a memento of the day. All I can say about this day was that it was BUSY. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any pictures myself but the official photographer did get a snippet of a balloon in one of his and if you click the link above you can just make it out :)

We've had lots of Krazy Kidz Parties also, with many new bookings coming from them too not just repeat ones which is always great news for us. Leaving lots of little ones with smiles on their faces is something that we both enjoy very much and with KJ either face painting or glitter tattooing at lots of these parties, the children have a lasting memory to take away with them too. We also had a couple of school discos just before the children broke up for the Easter holidays, something that I enjoy very much and we are very lucky to have acquired 3 more schools to add to our list recently. 

Our regular Karaoke Nights at The Red Lion in Soham and The Case in Wisbech have been as busy as usual and we also recently provided the entertaiment for some 40th birthday celebrations locally which I am sure would have carried on into the wee small hours if possible!

There is much more to tell you as April was a very busy month for us but I don't want to give it all away in this post so I will save some for the next one!  

Until next time...keep the music playing ♪

♪ DAN ♪

KJ ENTERTAINMENTS

"Bringing On Back The Good Times"

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Mail: info@kjentertainments.co.uk

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THE MISSING MONTHS

Wow… doesn’t time fly when you are having fun? It’s been a long while since our last update but hopefully things are on track and we should be updating on a weekly basis, (honestly). I thought about trying to fill in the last six months completely but this would just take too long and my memory just isn’t what it used to be. So instead I’ve picked out just have a few of the highlights to offer you.

KJ painted by our good friend Lizzy B

KJ is now a proud member of FACE (The Face Painting Association). Following lots of practice and perseverance and with the help of the neighbour’s children she passed her exam in January and is a now an award winning face painter after having picked up the ‘FACE Best Newcomer Award’ at the FACE Conference in February as well as being placed in a couple of recent face painting competitions.

November 2010: 4th placed in the WCFP Contest 

March 2011: 4th placed in the WCFP Contest

School Discos are big at the moment and a great way for the children to have fun in an environment they know and feel safe in. We have recently added 3 new schools to our list and are happy to say that feedback from all of them has been great. One e-mail received recently said...

"Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you for Friday. I have had several requests for your number and will pass on the flyers. We are keen to organise a termly disco and will definitely use you again. THANK YOU."

Ribbit

Our Krazy Kidz Parties have also gone from strength to strength and we are very happy to have lots of children celebrating their birthdays with us and their friends. We have been entertaining all ages and doing what we do best…putting a smile on the faces of the children we see! And the amount of people booking the additional balloon modelling has been fantastic and I have had great fun making lots of new things!

Christmas came and went as quick as it started and as usual, was a very busy time for us. As well as usual bookings, during December we returned to the Beijing Palace for our infamous Christmas Party Nights as well! It was lovely to see so many people who come to see us each year and to meet many new ones too. Christmas at The Beijing has been a big part of our lives for the last few years and it is always a pleasure to entertain there. 

 Just a little taster of Christmas at The Beijing

Karaoke is still very much a part of what we offer and we are happy to have been added as a regular at The Case in Wisbech as well as our others at The Ship, Brandon Creek and The Red Lion, Soham. One of the great things about The Ship is the talent on offer…we are blessed that so many fantastic singers come and see us there. Unfortunately we can’t say the same about the other places, lol!  Many new songs have been released and singers have updating their tunes too with mixed effect. Even two of our personal favourites Chris and Mick have been trying new songs too! 

 

Chris & Mick - two of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet!

And so, here endeth my first go at updating our Blog….I am sure that by the time you read this KJ will have edited most of it but at least she let me have a go!

Until next time…keep the music playing ♪

♪ DAN ♪

Week Ending: 3 October 2010

Well, where do I begin. It's October, can you believe it, only another 3 months and it will be 2011...this year has gone by so quickly and it's nearly over!

Pride were due to perform on Friday night at The Square Bar, March but unfortunately due to ill health we had to cancel. It's been a while since I have lost my voice but a hectic few weeks have taken their toll and lo and behold I woke up Friday with nothing more than a croak. We have never had to cancel a booking in all the years we have been performing and were both very disappointed to let The Square Bar down. Thankfully, they were able to find a replacement for the evening! We did offer them a disco instead which Dan would have gone along and done but they really wanted live music. We hope that anyone who went along had a great night anyway.

Saturdays are always busy for us and this one was no exception. We headed to Emneth for Erin's Krazy Kidz Party for her 6th birthday where we were providing our KKP Package 3 which consists of Disco, Party Games & Glitter Tattoos. It was lovely to see some familiar faces, including Erin herself, and lots of smiles too. This party was the first time we have offered the Glitter Tattoos although we have been offering Temporary Tattoos for many years using a different method; they certainly were very popular and all the children were very happy with them.

Saturday evening brought the return to The Tydd Gote Inn for a Quiz Night, another of the services we offer. The winners and runners-up from the last quiz swapped places for this one with the runners-up last time being winners this time and the winners from last time being runners-up. We had good fun setting the questions for this evening's quiz with some of them taking us very much back to our youth! We're back for another Quiz Night later in the year...keep an eye on the EVENTS TAB on our FACEBOOK page for more information.

And so to Sunday, the end of our week and Max and Lucy's Krazy Kidz Party for their joint 6th birthday party and what a party it was! Loads of little ones to entertain and create Fancy Faces for. We provided KKP Package 2 for this party; Disco, Party Games & Face Painting and it was an absolute pleasure to do so. Everyone joined in the games, made lots of noise and gave great big grins when they looked in the mirror! We received some great feedback at the party too which is fantastic! 

And so into another week we go. We want to wish all our birthday children a very happy birthday and hope you all had a great time at your party. Thank you also to those who have booked us this weekend; we sincerely hope that we entertained you too and if we did a really good job, we'd love to hear about it on our REVIEWS TAB on Facebook if you've got a minute to write one. If you are not on Facebook, you could leave a comment here or send us an e-mail. It is always good to know when we are doing things right but it's also good to know when we don't get it right so that we can make sure we do the next time. 

Thanks again to everyone for a great weekend; until next time...keep the music playing! 

♪ KJ & DAN ♪

Published at last!

I signed up for this Blog probably about a year ago and have finally had my memory jogged enough to actually write one! Sign up to our Blog to find out just what we have been up to in and around East Anglia as we bring on back the good times! 

♪ KJ