Parents of young children know this for a fact: Anything to do with Disney’s "Frozen" is golden.
Just imagine if Elsa or Anna could join your keiki for her birthday.
"Some of them can’t even talk, they’re just in shock," said Casey Thompson, who has portrayed many princesses over the years. "Or they’ll immediately run to you and cling onto your leg, and they’ll be there for the whole party. They won’t let you go.
"It’s really cute, adorable."
Thompson, a native of Ohio, worked for a princess party company while living in Los Angeles. Now the 32-year-old Hawaii Kai resident has started her own character parties and events company, Storybook Entertainment Hawaii, the first of its kind here in the islands.
Princess parties are exactly what they sound like: Your child’s favorite fictional princess is brought to life by an actress who attends your child’s party while never breaking character. The princess mingles and takes photos with the birthday girl (or boy) and party guests, tells stories, plays games, sings songs and presents the birthday cake.
For kids not wrapped up in the "Frozen" fad, Storybook Entertainment offers 15 other characters to choose from, including classics such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel (with a Prince Charming coming soon). But many of the princesses are inspired by copyrighted Disney characters, so the names of those characters are changed — for example, the Elsa-like character is called the "Snow Queen" while the Anna-like character is the "Snow Princess."
While the names are different, hair, makeup and costumes make Storybook Entertainment’s princesses like the real thing — the "Snow Queen" still has long, braided white-as-snow hair with a bright blue dress, and Snow White wears her signature red, white, yellow and blue high-collared gown.
Everything at Storybook Entertainment is custom-made for the company, Thompson said. She wrote a princess story that is read during parties, and her mother not only penned a song for the princesses, but also made all their costumes during a two-week visit to the islands in March. Thompson’s mother used old wedding dresses as the basis for most of the gowns.
However, the most important thing when it comes to being a good princess is personality.
"That’s first and foremost," Thompson said. "It seems like a very easy job, but when you get in there and do it, it’s not easy because you have to keep the energy up all the time."
These princesses don’t just stand around and look pretty — they actively participate in games, of which the company has 25 to choose from.
Fun for the kids, sometimes perilous for the princesses.
"I played ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ the other day in my gown — it has a 5-foot train on the back of it — I got it all wrapped up in the wheel of a stroller when I was running," Thompson recalled.
There are three pricing tiers (based on one princess): $89 for a 20-minute drop-in, $189 for one hour and $249 for 90 minutes. Additional activities include face painting (starting at $125), balloon twisting (starting at $145) and a dress-up princess trunk ($75). Thompson plans to add a tea party option and an Alice princess in the near future.
Since opening for business May 1, Thompson said she’s already booked nearly 60 parties through this year and into 2015. Because of the demand, Thompson has had to go out to many of the parties herself, though she plans to step back once she trains more princesses. She currently has four actresses in the field with 11 more in training.
To hire a princess (or princesses), Thompson recommends contacting her at least three weeks before the party, although she’s usually able to accommodate short-notice events. Companies and groups can also hire the princesses for special events and appearances.
To book a princess, visit storybookhawaii.com.
