I hired Princess Parties and More for my daughter''s Frozen-themed 5th birthday party, mainly because of all those 5 stars on yelp. But I personally think the company's service still needs improvement for the reasons I will describe at the below.
1) Communication. The owner of Princess Parties and More, Larissa, is pretty difficult to reach compared to other small service companies. Every single time I called her, I would reach her voice mailbox and I needed to leave several voice messages or several emails to get her response.
The owner, Larissa, explained to me afterwards that she needed to take care of kids and family, so she was not that responsive as I expected. As a mom of two kids and a career woman, I completely understand balancing business and family is very hard, especially for a woman, but kids and families should not be the excuse to for not responding to clients' emails and not calling back within a few days. Just my personal opinion. If you are too busy to reply to client inquiry, then just hire a helper or sleep less or be more organized and efficient..
2) Regarding the Queen Elsa. She did not sing or dance with kids as described in the package information . I am especially disappointed at this, because my kid and her friends looked forward to singing Let it Go and Can we build a Snowman with Elsa. Music and songs are integral parts of a princess party, especially for the character of Elsa. If I can only choose one activity for Elsa to do, I definitely will go with music and songs.
Larissa later argued that the reason Elsa did not sing or dance was because our party was too chaotic, kids were not interested in listening to her singing, and kids were distracted by movie Frozen playing in media room. Well, I guess no one would believe a group of 4 and 5 years old girls had no interest in listening Elsa singing Let it Go!! My side of story is when Elsa did group activities like storytelling, all of girls' eyes were on her, but Elsa just did not sing or dance with them. Only when Elsa was painting face or did balloon sculpting for one kid, did other kids run to their moms to show off or go to media room to see the movie. i think it is very natural for a group of 4 and 5 year old kids to do so. And it became an excuse for Elsa not singing with kids. By the way, for those who may wonder how chaotic my party could be, the number of kids Elsa needs to entertain in my party is only 6, all girls. 4 Boys who were not interested in princess were either quietly eating food or running around. Another 4 kids who came later than Elsa's arrival were not engaged at all. They were quietly playing by themselves.
3) I ordered the Wish Come True Package (supposed to last 75-90 minutes). I told Larissa my party would start at 3pm, and she recommended Queen Elsa to come at 3:30pm so that guests who might be late can also get a chance to interact with Queen Elsa. I agreed with her and booked Elsa to come at 3:30pm. I don't know what time Queen Elsa showed up in my party, but I know she left the party at 4:30pm sharp. Larissa later argued that the reason Elsa left at 4:30pm was because she arrived at 3:15pm. Apparently Larissa forgot it was her who recommended me to book Elsa to arrive at 3:30pm for those guests who may come late. When I complained about Elsa not engaging those kids who came late, Larissa said, well, because those kids were late. Yes, they were late, but on the other hand, Elsa arrived too early.
4) My daughter's costume is prettier and cleaner than Queen Elsa's costume. I will upload a picture of her costume, full of wrinkles and even yellow stains. Yes, kids like my daughter and her guests do not have attention to details, but does that mean that you don't need to spot clean and iron the costume at all?
This is the first time I hired princess for the birthday party. So I don't have comparison with other companies. Overall, Queen Elsa is good at engaging my daughter and other few kids who came before her arrival. But as a mom and client who pays for the service, I feel the service is not worth $275 plus tips and 5 stars rating. I know being a princess is hard. But no job is easy. And when I brought up these feedback to the owner, I only heard she kept defending herself and her employees. I think she does not know the importance of showing empathy for clients.
By the way, I ordered a personal mini cake a week before my party from Larissa , that cake is smaller than hand palm. Larissa called it as a last minute order, to prove that how hard she tried to satisfy client needs. I don't think any bakery store will agree that a order of a mini personal cake placed a week advance is a last-minute order.
ps: this is just my personal experience. Maybe I just had bad luck, but it is a true story. read more