Tag Archives: hire

Events for 2017

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Tech

There’s no doubt about it, tech is here to stay and is looking to proliferate across the industry. We’ve already seen it in some instances; those attending various conferences in 2016 will have been given a barcode with their name imprinted on it upon entry and any stall whom you choose to engage with will almost certainly scan the code to add your information to their database. It’s quick and easy and these technologies are set to continue if the recent CES conference in the US is anything to go by.

Pretty much every item you use in your home is being connected to the internet in some form, so you can rest assured that before too long, there’ll be numerous new ways to interact at events. As for the event entertainment, well last year there was a rise in drone use during performances – including one that garnered a lot of praise on Britain’s Got Talent.

Intimacy

With companies and organisations still a tad uncertain about the political landscape thanks to Trump and Brexit, it appears that events will come across as a little more subdued, especially at the start of 2017. Gone are the parties where attendees number into their thousands and it’s intimacy which is the order of the day. With a small number of invited guests, companies are able to more effectively align the evening to those in attendance. Dinners are proving exceptionally popular with harpists and other background music naturally being booked to enhance the occasion, whilst we also expect larger companies to not have a number of smaller events across rather than one larger one. It keeps people in their industry talking, there’s more fun to be had and incredibly, it may even be cheaper in the long run!

Creativity

It makes sense that with the economic outlook uncertain, individuals and companies would get creative in order to receive the most bang for their buck. Whether this means creating their own act to best symbolise their business rather than hiring entertainment on the fly, or theming a party to make sure that it is as memorable as possible, creativity is the order of the day! We have a whole host of unique entertainment to hire whilst there are numerous ways in which to help make your chosen theme the best it can be including Costumed Characters and various acts that be personalised to attendees. One final thing, don’t go for a tired theme – try and think of something you haven’t heard before and we guarantee that the event planners involved will be just as excited as you about your party!

The spookier the better

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Americans go all out for Halloween and now the UK are following suite there is now not an excuse to go to town and decorate your house for the best party in your neighbourhood.

Transforming your home to a haunted house can be a great way to stand out. Red Masque directory has many party entertainers for hire that will enhance any Haunted House experience. Whether you want to stand out in the neighbourhood or attract more customers to your haunted house, Red Masque can help! Here are few great ideas for enhancing your haunted house that we advertise:

Smoke machines – From low lying smoke that gives that graveyard look to haze that allows beams of lights to be seen easily, smoke is an essential item for your haunted house.
Walkabout artist – why not hire your very own ghost that can mingle with your guests or to welcome your guests in. Imagine the scene, they look so amazing that guests are wondering if these authentic ghosts are really real??? They won’t say a word; they will just glide around your venue looking extremely spooky!
Strobe Lighting – These are a very effective way to scare your patrons in dark environments that haunted houses are known for and when utilized with ambient sound FX you can create a great “stormy night” effect.
Black Lights – Utilizing these lights add a great glow to decor and surroundings. They can also be utilized to highlight specially designed makeup and face paint that can be applied to decor and the zombies roaming around the house.

Why not look on our directory today to find the best Halloween artists out there. Hire a smoke machine, strobe lights, sound and lights for a night or a month. All of the entertainment you see if ready to be hired ready to spook your guests all Halloween season long.

Start Your Event With A Bang!

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A typical illusion show tends to last for around 30-45 minutes meaning it’s a great way to kick start your event being long enough to include a range of laugh out loud comedy moments and astonishing magic but short enough to ensure that there’s still plenty of time for guests to enjoy the rest of the evening you have planned for them.

Interactive, Unique And Amazing!
Suitable for all ages, our Illusion Show is interactive and will have everyone on the edge of their seats!

Featuring epic grand illusions that have been custom designed for you alone, live show offers bizarre, strange, hilarious and unique routines unlike anything you have seen before!

The Illusionists bring you a show you’ll remember forever! Original and exciting, this unique act will leave your guests in astonishment with amazing illusions and laugh out loud comedy!

To book illusionists just look on our Directory where you will see a whole choice to choose from. Booking from Red Masque has never been easier.

South American entertainment

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Why not embrace all that Latin spirit, hold a fun World Cup party for all your mates, and learn the life-loving, hip-swaying moves that Latin American footie fans do so well with a Latin dance band.
Go Dance
Top of your list should be the Latamba Show Band, who bring all the energy, exuberant and sequins of a Latin Brazilian party to any venue. These guys really know how to dance. Guests can sit back and enjoy a fantastic live band, vocalists and dancers performing a great show, before joining in on the dance floor! They also offer a small space/small budget option with backing tracks instead of the full bands, but still keeping all that energy and sense of fun.
Go Mega
If you want to push the carnival float out a contemporary Brazilian carnival band for hire that can fill your party with music from the streets and clubs of Rio de Janeiro. This is no small scale outfit either Carnival Bands are made up of around 25-30 musicians including five percussionists, a singer, a Brazilian ukulele player, and two gorgeous dancers in full carnival style costume!

Go Sit Down!

If learning all those dances seems a little too much like hard work, do what most football fans do, and sit back with a beer and enjoy watching the professionals do it! Carnival Party bands have their own troupe of dancers, whose performances feature Carnival samba costumes, sensual mulatta dancers, Capoeira (Brazilian acrobatic martial art dance), Lambada, Afro-Brazilian dance, Brazilian north eastern folkloric dances and much more.

Choose A Great Venue

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If you choose a great party venue you won’t need to spend as much time dressing it up to look good. There are loads of interesting venues out there to suit a wide variety of styles and themes. Have a look and visit before you hire.

Remember that if guests are travelling from out of the area, it helps if the venue is easy to find. Consider how easy it is to find parking, and also how much accommodation is available near by. The easier it is for your guests to attend, the more likely they are to come.
Entertain Your Guests, Book A Live Band
Most people are happy to have a party DJ, but anyone who’s been to a party with a live band will tell you how much better the night was.

You need something to really get guests excited and live party bands do exactly that. They’re interactive, energetic and fun. Not everyone likes to dance, but with a great live band, performing the best classic and modern party songs, even the most ardent anti-dancers will be rocking out, arm in arm, singing along on the dance floor with guests they only met a few hours ago.

Book a live band and they’ll make the party. It’s a sound investment and your guests will love you for it.
Drinks On Arrival To Welcome Guests
It’s a small touch that really shows you care about welcoming your guests, and it ensures everyone feels positive as soon as they arrive. It’s your way to thank people for coming, and it gets people in the mood to party.

In a practical sense, it also helps to alleviate the early queues at the bar, something which is sure to dampen spirits and cause frustration.

Some venues will arrange for a member of staff to personally serve drinks as your guests arrive, or you can choose to have a selection of drinks available on tables near the entrance.

As a side note, when you book your venue, get a confirmation of how many bar staff are included. Make sure you’ll get enough bar staff to ensure a fast turn around of drinks at the bar, otherwise guests will spend the whole night there.

Get some inspiration for your next event

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It’s a fact often acknowledged that the event entertainment is often the best part of a show. You want your entertainment to impress people but maybe this is the kind of corporate event where you’re looking to get your message across in a subtle way. Here are a few party ideas to get you thinking.

Pianist

Hiring a pianist for an event isn’t exactly rocking the boat, but there’s a reason why this is a hugely popular form of entertainment for hotels and functions alike. It’s often difficult to pick the right music for corporate events but pianists have the wonderful ability to judge the room and can of course flit between classical and jazz standards and the room requires. Wonderful.

Cello artists

Why have one cello when you can have four? A cello group comprise a quartet of talented musicians who can perform musical tunes from the world of pop right through to the likes of Elgar. Background corporate entertainment doesn’t have to mean ‘boring entertainment’, which is exactly where a cello group come in! They are sure to make clients and colleagues remember the wow factor at your event.

Lookalikes

The very definition of background entertainment, lookalikes simply need to stand about and do exactly as every other guest does at an event. Just blend in with the crowd. Of course, that’s easier said than done when you look like Brad Pitt, Prince William or Simon Cowell, but their job is simply to get people talking. So if your corporate event is all about networking, then hiring a few celeb lookalikes might be just the thing! Alternatively, you might like to consider costumed characters.

Harpist

Is there anything more beautiful than the sound of a harp? If there is, then we are yet to discover it! One of our most requested acts for events and weddings alike, a harpist adds elegance and a relaxing quality to any corporate event. Brilliant for guests’ arrivals as well as drawing proceedings to a close, hiring a harpist for an event is sure to go down wonderfully.

Jazz

Many people are a little afraid of hiring percussion for a corporate event, especially as background entertainment. Nobody wants a huge clanging of a symbol as guests are trying to talk with one another – rest assured that all of the musicians you see advertised are experts in their field and are sensitive to volume levels. A jazz trio or quartet might be just the thing you’re after to set the mood.

Great ways to remember your event

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Be it a corporate event, private party or wedding there are a number of ways to look back on your event that don’t include photography. Here, we run through five brilliant ways to remember your event!

Caricaturist

If you’re looking to hire a caricaturist for an event, then you have got to make sure that you are fine with having your eyebrows accentuated and your nose looking a little larger than in real life. But that’s all part of the fun! A good caricaturist knows how to draw a cartoon-style representation of their subject without causing offence and the best part is that with modern technology being what it is, you can take home a paper or digital version.

Silhouette Artist

The heights of the vaudeville era are in full display in the form of a silhouette artist, who can snip your profile into a piece of black card in the space of a matter of minutes. The best bit about this incredible form of entertainment is that you can go home and frame your silhouette later, with each individual creation being stuck onto a quality back lining.

Screen Printing

Whether you call it screen printing, letter pressing or something completely different, these fabulous contraptions can have you created your very own work of art in no time! Popular at Somerset House every summer, you too can discover the art of the print. Remember not to limit yourself to paper or card; should you so desire you can create your design on a T-shirt. Wear your creation and remember that party in style!

Ideas for a Toga Party

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A Toga party! A night to celebrate your pledged Greek loyalty by participating in traditional toga wear and drinking games. We should preface this guide to Greek-glory-seeking by recommending you party responsibly by hiring Party Buses or Chauffeurs to get you where you need to go. Now grab your bedsheets and your beer, and let’s have a Toga Party!

The Attire

There are only a few requirements for throwing a Toga Party. First and foremost: dress code. No Toga, no party. To create your Toga, you will need white bed sheets, rope sandals, and an ivy headdress. Cut, wrap, and tie your bedsheets into a Roman-inspired dress. This is a universal look, but creativity is expected. Construct an ivy halo from materials found at your local craft store (if you’ve been day-drinking and this sounds difficult, the halo is optional). Throw on the hippie rope sandals you’ve been saving in your closet since freshman year, and you’re ready to go!

The Drinking Games
Organised games for your party-goers are a must. Expect your guests to be three sheets to the wind at this point, so keep game rules buzz-friendly. Choose games like Chariot Races, where participants will pair up for a piggy-back race to the finish line without spilling their beers, or Still As Roman Statues, where your party-goers will pose as Greek statues and see who lasts the longest. Beer Pong and Flip Cup are also acceptable.

The Entertainment
Although Grecian-inspired games and drinking contests are entertaining in their own right, it’s best to have multiple forms of event entertainment for your guests. Book a DJ or Band to keep the party alive all night long. Hire a Bartender to serve up Roman-inspired cocktails and beer.
Togas, drinking, and Roman-inspired games – it’s pretty hard to mess this up. Just have fun and drink responsibly, and don’t forget Toga! Toga! Toga!

Musical Retirement Entertainment

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For almost everyone, music is the key to many wonderful past memories. And it’s one of the easiest ways to host some retirement party entertainment! Take your residents on a walk down memory lane with a musical group.

1. Barbershop Quartet
With perfect pitch and harmony, a barbershop quartet can dazzle any crowd! They generally have a large repertoire of tunes from years past and love singing for older crowds. If your guests have a request, most groups are happy to oblige. And get ready to see the ladies swoon!

2. Boogie Woogie Tribute
The Boogie Woogie is best known for those who lived through World War II. With lively patriotic songs, they entertained troops and kept their spirits up during a tough time in our history! Show your veteran retiree how much their service has meant with a Wartime tribute act. Songs like “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Pistol Packin’ Mama” will keep the crowd swaying to the beat!

3. Gospel Group
Depending on the religious diversity of your guest, a Gospel group may be a meaningful performance for them. As people are nearing the end of their lives, faith begins to play a bigger part. Booking a Gospel group guarantees a great show!

4. Crooner
Crooners were king in the ’40s and ’50s, with their smooth voices and sultry songs. Some of the best artists in history came out of this era, including Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby. Your residents are sure to feel some nostalgia with a performer like this! Whether you want an actual Rat Pack show or just a Frank Sinatra tribute, these performers love an older crowd that appreciates their act.

5. Beach Boys Tribute
Gaining popularity in the 1960’s, the Beach Boys launched a new type of musical sound with their “surf songs.” Their killer harmonies and clever lyrics helped them rise to the top of the music charts. Booking a Beach Boys tribute band is definitely one of our more energetic ideas for retirement home entertainment! If you want to see your residents groove to the music, you can’t go wrong with the Beach Boys.

Child-friendly Day

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If you are organising an event of any kind and there are children present then here are a number of ideas to ensure that if yours is a child-friendly day, that the kids are entertained throughout the event to leave the adults to enjoy some adult time…

Balloon Modellers

There are a number of fun balloon modellers to hire that can entertain children in a variety of ways. Not just for children’s parties, these superb artists can make pretty much anything out of their very special balloons. Whether a child would like a dog or perhaps even a hat ‘made’ from Pineapple and other delights, our balloon modellers are more than up to the task. Unlike other children’s entertainment, you might just find your adult guests wanting to get involved as well!

Petting Zoo

The best thing about hiring a petting zoo is that everybody can get involved and enjoy having animals at your wedding. Just like balloon modellers, this idea is perfect for guests both young and old. Children will be in their element as they pet the animals inside the enclosure and they may just be allowed to feed them as well!

Face Painting

A simple and traditional idea and one that always goes down brilliantly, face painting is a hugely popular affair at every event. Whether children would like to go for a tiger look or a butterfly, there are numerous options available to ensure that every single child is happy on your special day. With friendly face painters available all across London, we are confident you’ll be very happy with the results!