We were lucky to catch up with Tara Simpson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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 had always loved the idea of entertaining from a young age. Often times I would put together variety shows with my siblings and neighborhood kids to entertain our parents. We came up with skits, songs, dance routines, and even parades around the block for birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, you name it. As I got older, I got involved in theatre, choir, and became a celebrity impersonator and would perform at all kinds of events around the city. After doing a talent showcase out in Los Angeles, I managed to gain a manager and talent agent. I was so excited to begin my acting career and had dreams of landing a role on a sitcom. However, after coming to terms that it was not a place I could afford to live on my own, I came back to San Antonio. I felt stuck and didn’t know what to do next. I then decided to go to college, but I still needed a job to make money to pay for classes. It was then I came up with the idea to combine my lifelong passions of acting, making costumes, fairy tales, and all things young at heart to create a children’s party entertainment service. At first I started with just one character, one of my favorites-TinkerBell. I didn’t have much to work with, so I paid $65 for a TinkerBell wig off Ebay, used what little money I had left over to make my green dress and wings, and started advertising my services on Craigslist. “TinkerBell character for children’s birthday parties and more!” my ad read. Within a couple of weeks I got my first customer for the birthday party of a little girl named Cassandra who was turning 4 years old. I quoted the mom $75. for the appearance. She said there were going to be 32 child guests. “That sounds great!” I said excitedly. I prepared fairy house making kits and dress up supplies for 32 kids. I arrived at the party in character like I had just flown in from far away just to surprise her for her special day. Cassandra was ecstatic! We spent the next four hours making colorful fairy houses with small cardboard boxes and colored paper, playing games, learning about how to be a fairy, and making sure to paint flowers and butterflies on the face of every child. I even stayed to help little Cassandra open all of her birthday presents. After several goodbye hugs, I knew this was a wonderful way to make money, and a great way to bring so much fun and joy to children! Throughout the next year I continued to add on characters. Rapunzel was second, then Cinderella, Belle, and the Little Mermaid. I made all of my costumes myself, with special help from mom, and I pieced together wigs as well. Whatever I needed I tried to figure out the absolute least expensive way I could make it. After the first few appearances I realized I had to make some changes. I needed to set a time limit for my appearances and come up with a very structured party routine. I registered my business name and got my business license. We were officially Fairytale Friends of San Antonio! I made my own website and business cards, and throughout the first year got most business just by word of mouth. It still was not enough and I considered quitting, as it seemed all my hard work and money going into all of the behind the scenes work was just not paying off. Soon after, however, the number of inquiries suddenly started to grow. I’d come home to several emails every single day from parents asking if I was available for their child’s party and it became difficult to keep up with. I never wanted to tell anyone no, so I fit in every party any way I could. Some people even asked me if they could pay me double my rate if I would cancel someone else’s party to be able to fit them in on a certain date. (which I would never do) Some people scheduled their party up to two months after their child’s birthday just to be able to have a certain character. Charging a very fair price was always extremely important to me. I grew up having great birthday parties at home with the family, but always dreamed of doing something extra special for my birthday, and that is why I want families to be able to afford it. To me, it’s not about charging more so we get to do less work, it’s about charging less so we have the privilege of entertaining for as many families as we can all throughout San Antonio, and it will always be that way. Within the second year, I experimented with different party activities and got to see what children liked the most, or what lost their interest. I gained many repeat clients, and became very close to those families who really helped me along the way. I still get the occasional emails showing me pictures of how their children have grown, how they are doing in school, and what new things they are into. One of the families I did several parties for had pictures on their wall of all five characters I entertained as for their two daughters. It was these families that helped keep the company going, and I am so grateful for. Over the next few years, I started getting approached by young ladies who were interested in becoming a character entertainer as well or knew someone they thought would be perfect for the job, and after giving it some thought and holding auditions, our cast grew, and we added many more characters. I ordered new costumes that could fit a range of sizes and had separate supplies for every single performer. I made each performer go through several hours of training to learn the party routine, how to speak like a princess, mannerisms, posing for photos, how to answer children’s questions, how to put on costumes, wigs, makeup, and so much more. I was so nervous to have other people represent the company that I wouldn’t let a performer go out on their own until I saw them do the party routine perfectly. You know what one of my favorite things about this company is? (other than seeing the sweet smiles on all of our birthday children and families of course!) All of our performers are young ladies in college just needing a great way to make extra money. They have their week evenings free so they can focus on their studies and make a good amount of money in just a weekend. This is one thing I take great pride in. Although I don’t do appearances any more myself, I love being able to provide such a unique, fun, and rewarding job to so many young ladies who are in the same position as I was when I first started. A lot of our performers have worked with us their whole four years in college and have now gone off and started their own careers. We have entertained at over 2,000 events of so many different kinds. We’ve done birthdays, carnivals, the Battle of Flowers parade, grand openings, baby showers, and more. We have sweet stories of kids who were so happy to see us they hugged us and didn’t want to let go. Some kids were so shy to talk to us at first but then cried when we had to leave. Some kids wanted to call the Princess on the phone to tell them thank you for coming to the party and mailed letters or cards. We have touching stories of visiting terminally ill children. We have scary stories about Rapunzel’s hair almost catching on fire from the birthday candles, and funny stories about Cinderella falling over in the moon bounce! There are SO many memories we create for the children, parents, and ourselves, and no matter what we may think we already know, every single appearance is a new experience. We like to create a fun time filled with several activities, but also make sure to instill some positive lifelong messages to all the children we meet. This is something I hope to continue for as long as we have clients coming to us. You know what’s also unbelievably awesome? I’ve been contacted by one of my very first birthday girls asking if she could work for us next year as a Princess, because she wants to give others the same experience she had when she was little. That was 12 years ago, when she turned five. She graduates high school next year and will be starting college soon after. And we just can’t wait to have her join our team!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A lot of our clients say they are used to similar services who provide a character only, but we provide the whole package. Our character performers bring themed party games and more, all accompanied by music. You don’t have to provide a thing. Just sit back and relax. This is your chance to just be in the moment and watch your little one have a fun time with all their friends for their special day!

We also love to support other small businesses. Could your business use a boost in publicity? Never underestimate the power of a Princess! Get more customers into your shop. Our characters are available for meet and greets at a reduced rate for small business owners.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When the Coronavirus pandemic began, we knew we were in trouble. If any one had to shut down, it was definitely going to be event entertainment before anything else. For nearly a year we were unable to do any appearances. Our performers had to look elsewhere for work, some of them moved out of the city. Some tried to do Zoom appearances or drive by parades. We did all we could to stay afloat, and had a tough time gaining back employees once we were allowed to go back to work. We are still not quite back to where we were before the pandemic began, but are determined to keep the business growing.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Although I am very particular about how and what the performers do during their appearances, I tell them that they firstly need to just have fun. If they look like they are a character who is genuinely having a good time, it will show and will set the mood for the whole party or event. If they look nervous or worried, the audience will feel that. I want them to truly enjoy what they do, and they do!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.FairytaleFriendsOfSA.com
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/FairytaleFriendsSA