Princess Elsa is Brooke Drayton’s most popular character. Photo: Supplied.
If your child is having a birthday party in Griffith and wants Princess Elsa, Wonder Woman, or Sleeping Beauty to host it, there is now someone you can call.
Primary school teacher Brooke Drayton has launched the town’s first mobile children’s entertainment business – Once Upon a Party Events – which is aimed at bringing Disney and superhero magic back to birthdays.
“A child can have a birthday party at their house, at Hunky Dory, Family Funland or a park or a club and I can come and run the party,” she said. “I can provide all the entertainment – the games, the music, the dancing, pass the parcel, all that stuff. I can do face painting and balloons too.
“I also dress up; the child can choose the costume – I can be a Disney princess, a superhero, Emma Wiggle, a fairy, they choose who they want to come to their party.”
Ms Drayton has been running parties and corporate events for the past three months and says seeing the looks on children’s faces is the most satisfying thing about her new venture.
“The kids all want to touch you, they want to play with your dress, or touch your shoes. Some of them just sit and stare and wonder how Princess Elsa got to their house from Iceland.
“They think you’re actually that character, they get starstruck, I think it’s something they’ll remember for a long time.
“We haven’t had anything like this in Griffith for a long time; when I was little we had a fairy land place up the main street that we could do for parties. But since then, we haven’t had anything like this.”
Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) is another popular character Brooke can play. Photo: Supplied.
The 30-year-old grew up in Griffith before moving to Sydney to study teaching. She was working at Yenda Public School until she had her first child, Memphis, who is seven months old. Her new business allows her to look after Memphis during the week and fulfil children’s fantasies on the weekend.
“Growing up I did a lot of singing and dancing, with people like Lorraine Sutton and Rayma [Torresan]. My dream was always to be a children’s entertainer. I loved The Wiggles. Then you get into high school and think that’s not going to happen, so I got into teaching, which I also love.”
Ms Drayton says her most sought-after character is Elsa of Arendelle, who appears in Disney’s computer-animated fantasy film Frozen and its sequel Frozen II. But she realises that Elsa won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
“I do parties for both boys and girls. Boys won’t tend to want a Disney princess, so I can be a superhero – Super Girl or Wonder Woman.”
Brooke can also do balloons and face painting. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
She expects things to pick up over the summer.
“People can look at my range of packages and tell me what you want, I can also customise things to what you want.
“It’s nice for kids to have that these days, I feel they’ve lost their innocence. It’s like Santa Claus, it’s something different that sparks their imagination.”
You can get in touch with the children’s party organiser via her Facebook page.
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