Birthday Party FAQ
Birthday Party FAQ:
Q: What is your schedule for the pool portion of a party? What do you do?
A: At Halifax Mermaids, we follow research on child development that suggests children do not get enough physical activity, or unstructured freeplay time. As opposed to having a schedule of events during a pool party, we often take our queues from the children. The children set the tone and let us know what they are interested in.
For the first part of a party, many children may be nervous or curious of the mermaids. We often end up slowly moving around, careful to give nervous children space. We answer questions, let them touch our tails, hair, and costumes, and engage with them. Some children won’t need this time, but in our experience many younger ones do.
Once children are feeling comfortable, mermaids do their best to make their way around the pool and interact with all children. Some children may not wish to interact with a mermaid. We chat with them, swim with them, offer them rides, offer to show them tricks, and if we have an underwater camera, teach them how to do that.
Mermaids are always prepared to play little mini games with children like diving for treasure, races, or pretend play. But we take the queues from the children and do not force them to do these activities.
We will make every effort to pose for photos with every child with special focus on the birthday child.
We gives rides when it is safe to do so, and often will push children around on floaties. Sometimes we sing, tell jokes, or stories. We do our best to give children individual attention.
Q. Tell me about mermaids rides.
A. Mermaids are capable of giving children of any size a mermaid ride. Due to the buoyancy of our tails we will not sink with a child on our back. We usually request that younger children where flotation devices while having a ride. A child will sit “piggy back style” on our backs as we go underwater and pull them along. Rides are usually short distances. Mermaids only give rides at our discretion. We need to be safe and if a pool is too filled with children we may not be able to give rides. Also, if the chlorine is too strong we may need to stop giving rides. Mermaids have to give rides with our eyes open underwater in order to be safe. If the chlorine burns us to the point we can’t see clearly above water, we will need to stop giving rides.
Q. I bought a mermaid tail/fin from you or another company for my child to swim in, any tips for me?
A. We will do our best to help your child learn to swim, but swimming with feet attached in a single fin is a learning curb that most children do not achieve instantly. This is why we suggest purchasing tails with removable fins, or open ends. That way your child can safely kick their feet when they need to.
Q. How do you handle behaviour issues in the pool?
A. Please see our booking agreement under “Behaviour policy”
Q. What if my child just doesn’t end up being interested?
A. We do our very best to win over uninterested children. It can be frustrating for a parent to hire mermaid performers only to have their birthday child scared and uninterested. We ask for your understanding as we do not wish to force children to do anything they are uncomfortable with. If in the end your child just wants to do their own thing (heck, it’s their birthday) we will be sure to spend time with all the other children keeping them happy and entertained.
Q. What do you do during the party room portion of a booking?
A. It can take us up to 15 minutes to transition mermaids to the party room depending on where it is. It typically takes that long for all the kids to get transitioned too. Some people book an extra 15 minutes of transition time and we’re okay with that. Depending on the package you’ve purchased we usually get situated and while we are, encourage the children to start eating. Then we call kids over one by one starting with the birthday child to give them their treasures, signed photo, and pose for a photo with them. If you purchased the photography package our photographer will be snapping photos all around. The rest is up to you and the kids. Sometimes we sing songs and tell stories, sometimes we eat food with the kids, and often the birthday child enjoys blowing out candles on their cake with us. Some kids like to open their presents with the mermaids too.
Q. What do your mermaid treasures consist of?
A. A variety of things depending on what we can order in and what materials are available to us. To know what we’ll have on hand specifically for your party, please contact us. Our mermaid treasures only make up about 20-30$ of your total fee. But if you would like something more specific or more variety we can charge a bit extra. Sometimes mermaids are able to get better deals or items in bulk as a company that you would not be able to get as an individual.
Q. What are you dry parties like?
A. We currently only have Mermaid Mimi taking dry parties and she’s very custom! You can contact her for ideas but please know that extra materials (such as things like face painting) may incur an extra fee.
Q: What is your schedule for the pool portion of a party? What do you do?
A: At Halifax Mermaids, we follow research on child development that suggests children do not get enough physical activity, or unstructured freeplay time. As opposed to having a schedule of events during a pool party, we often take our queues from the children. The children set the tone and let us know what they are interested in.
For the first part of a party, many children may be nervous or curious of the mermaids. We often end up slowly moving around, careful to give nervous children space. We answer questions, let them touch our tails, hair, and costumes, and engage with them. Some children won’t need this time, but in our experience many younger ones do.
Once children are feeling comfortable, mermaids do their best to make their way around the pool and interact with all children. Some children may not wish to interact with a mermaid. We chat with them, swim with them, offer them rides, offer to show them tricks, and if we have an underwater camera, teach them how to do that.
Mermaids are always prepared to play little mini games with children like diving for treasure, races, or pretend play. But we take the queues from the children and do not force them to do these activities.
We will make every effort to pose for photos with every child with special focus on the birthday child.
We gives rides when it is safe to do so, and often will push children around on floaties. Sometimes we sing, tell jokes, or stories. We do our best to give children individual attention.
Q. Tell me about mermaids rides.
A. Mermaids are capable of giving children of any size a mermaid ride. Due to the buoyancy of our tails we will not sink with a child on our back. We usually request that younger children where flotation devices while having a ride. A child will sit “piggy back style” on our backs as we go underwater and pull them along. Rides are usually short distances. Mermaids only give rides at our discretion. We need to be safe and if a pool is too filled with children we may not be able to give rides. Also, if the chlorine is too strong we may need to stop giving rides. Mermaids have to give rides with our eyes open underwater in order to be safe. If the chlorine burns us to the point we can’t see clearly above water, we will need to stop giving rides.
Q. I bought a mermaid tail/fin from you or another company for my child to swim in, any tips for me?
A. We will do our best to help your child learn to swim, but swimming with feet attached in a single fin is a learning curb that most children do not achieve instantly. This is why we suggest purchasing tails with removable fins, or open ends. That way your child can safely kick their feet when they need to.
Q. How do you handle behaviour issues in the pool?
A. Please see our booking agreement under “Behaviour policy”
Q. What if my child just doesn’t end up being interested?
A. We do our very best to win over uninterested children. It can be frustrating for a parent to hire mermaid performers only to have their birthday child scared and uninterested. We ask for your understanding as we do not wish to force children to do anything they are uncomfortable with. If in the end your child just wants to do their own thing (heck, it’s their birthday) we will be sure to spend time with all the other children keeping them happy and entertained.
Q. What do you do during the party room portion of a booking?
A. It can take us up to 15 minutes to transition mermaids to the party room depending on where it is. It typically takes that long for all the kids to get transitioned too. Some people book an extra 15 minutes of transition time and we’re okay with that. Depending on the package you’ve purchased we usually get situated and while we are, encourage the children to start eating. Then we call kids over one by one starting with the birthday child to give them their treasures, signed photo, and pose for a photo with them. If you purchased the photography package our photographer will be snapping photos all around. The rest is up to you and the kids. Sometimes we sing songs and tell stories, sometimes we eat food with the kids, and often the birthday child enjoys blowing out candles on their cake with us. Some kids like to open their presents with the mermaids too.
Q. What do your mermaid treasures consist of?
A. A variety of things depending on what we can order in and what materials are available to us. To know what we’ll have on hand specifically for your party, please contact us. Our mermaid treasures only make up about 20-30$ of your total fee. But if you would like something more specific or more variety we can charge a bit extra. Sometimes mermaids are able to get better deals or items in bulk as a company that you would not be able to get as an individual.
Q. What are you dry parties like?
A. We currently only have Mermaid Mimi taking dry parties and she’s very custom! You can contact her for ideas but please know that extra materials (such as things like face painting) may incur an extra fee.