We recently connected with James Bowden and have shared our conversation below.
James, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I always loved cartoons and costumes. I woke up early every Saturday morning to watch all my favorites with a bowl of cereal on my lap. Halloween held a special place in my heart since I so loved dressing up as my favorite characters from Darth Vader to Scooby Doo to Batman. Imagine the blessing of discovering that I could get paid to dress up as my childhood favorites. The summer of 1997 I launched Kids Party Experts with the opening of the Batman and Robin movie. I scrambled to assemble 2 costumes for the opening. I learned about the muscle shapes for the underbody suits, how to sew, and I tracked down the materials needed to complete the look. It was much harder in those days since the internet was in its infancy. Once I completed the costumes, I went to a local movie theater and made a deal to interact with the movie goers in exchange for movie passes. That was easy enough; I needed only to find a second actor to join me in walking around talking to excited kids at the theater. While we were there multiple parents asked about doing birthday parties for their children. This proved to be a little tougher. What would I do at the birthday party? As a child I loved the characters because of what they did on the shows. I had to figure out a way to imitate the characters the way they would be in real life through activities designed to make it feel real. Good costumes are just the beginning; if you want kids to believe, you’d better have activities that bring them to life. The first birthday party I brought over sized activities that were exciting, but they took far too long to set up. I began visiting resale shops on a regular basis in order to find the perfect addition to my character visit performances. Over time I found books on special effects used to make movies, DIY home haunt projects, and faux finish painting techniques. Those books were valuable resources when it came time to create activities for new themes that had entered kids pop culture through television and movies.
James, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My wife, Melissa, and I have been growing our costume and activity inventory since 2001. We pride ourselves on offering a truly memorable experience that can fit into most budgets. Great costumes, themed activities, themed photo props, built in giveaways, and affordable party extras are what we would want for our own children- so we provide that for our clients’ kids. Our performers stay in character from the beginning to the end of the visit, interacting using voices and their knowledge of the characters. We specialize in costumed characters, face painters, balloon twisters, and general themed party set ups accompanied by a costumed facilitator. That’s why we are the Kids Party Experts. We are different from other entertainment companies because we bring themed activities and we never just stand around dancing and blowing kisses. We provide the feeling that you just spent some time with your favorite character. It takes multiple people to provide a memorable experience at your birthday party. Before I met my wife, I was interested only in the party aspects of the job, while neglecting the business parts that truly make a business successful. While I had a knack for the childish parts of the job, Melissa had a mind for the important parts like marketing, advertising, scheduling, invoices, running maps, confirmation calls to the clients and bookkeeping. Both sides of the coin are necessary to keep improving and growing as the world changes around you. Over time we created a website that offers many answers to a busy parent who doesn’t have the time to sit on the phone with companies for hours. Here you can find photos, videos, pricing, and reviews at your fingertips. We add new content to our website almost weekly so clients can see the newest costumes, games, and photo props.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Money to reinvest in your company can be limited when you start out. Creating new products requires creativity and repurposing to move ahead with your goals. At one point our main costumed character competitor in this market decided to promote the quality of some of their costumes by providing a side-by-side comparison with a few of our costumes. They showed their costumes on one side and ours on the other side with the headline “which character would you want at your party?” I was deeply offended by this pinpointed attack on my company. I came to the realization very quickly that they were correct, specifically pertaining to costume quality. My voices and activities were always superior, but admittedly my costumes were inferior. This situation changed the entire course of my company. This specific competitor woke a sleeping giant. We are now the whole package thanks to them pointing out our shortcomings. There’s an old expression, “never interfere with your opponent when they are in the process of destroying themselves.” It’s wise to step outside of your bubble to evaluate your business from another point of view.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
In the beginning we made all our own costumes. I found it artistic and cost effective. The downside was that it is extremely difficult to duplicate certain theme characters. For the first 10 years we made all our own costumes apart from certain accessories like masks, gloves, shoes, and belts. I had hardwired myself that I must make our own costumes and that I must be our sole costume producer. Mr. and Mrs. Mouse were the last costumes I tried to make. These costumes were recognizable as the theme, but slight imperfections made them subpar by our standards. This instigated the search for quality costume manufacturers. After a few costume-buying tests, we found the maker for us. We now buy just about every costume. It saves us so much time and we can depend on the quality of appearance. I now spend that time on theme games and learning the role of these new themes. We had to retrain ourselves to buy the costumes. You must know your limitations. We are actors and game activity creators, not specialized mascot sculptors. It is one of the best decisions that we ever made. Stick to your strong points and leave the other things to those specialists.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kidspartyexpert.com/
- Instagram: @kidspartyexperts
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kids-Party-Experts-176493212412532
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSqRq2WZgaNzFozVNW1oL9w
Image Credits
Kids Party Experts