PARTY ANIMALS – How a Wild Tribe of Creatures Came to Exist + Do Good

THE ORIGINS

Welcome to the wild world of Party Animals, where a tribe of extraordinary creatures comes to life to bring joy and do good. Join us on an unforgettable journey as we uncover the origins of this enchanting circus-themed event that has captivated audiences worldwide. 

I’m on the phone discussing a circus themed event. The client is Netflix.

They want 3 giant (stilt-sized) animals for a parade at their event & are willing to cover the cost of creating such ambitious costumes.

I love the idea & I love a challenge. Fast forward a month & the costumes are finished & awesome. I volunteer to do a ‘ground’ debut of them for a Rainforest Action Network event in Oakland.

I personally wear the Zebra costume (because hello, who doesn’t want to be a zebra?) & my friend wears the Giraffe.

We have a total blast greeting guests as they arrive. (look at those smiles!)

A couple weeks later we do the big Netflix company event & our stilt tiger, zebra, & giraffe are a big hit. They greet guests, dance in a silly parade, & mingle as best a giant party animal can with humans.

This is 2016 & given that we already had other party animal costumed characters, very soon we had a nice little division, which I playfully named Party Animals. (tagline ‘bringing wildlife to your celebration’.)

Being a life-long animal lover myself, who always thought I’d grow up to do some important ‘animal-saving work’… I decide that this division is a perfect opportunity to tie in some charitable giving into my business.

So I do some research/choose 2 organizations to support, & make a donation to one of them every time any of these animal characters are booked for an event.

So thus has Party Animals organically grown over the last 7 years, adding new animals to the menu, & making a splash at parties.

Here is the page about it & below is a mini slideshow to share some of the fun we have had bringing the party animals to life in costumes & events.

THE PROBLEM

After about 5 years of this small impact initiatives existence, I felt mildly proud, but non-plussed about the amount of $$ contributed. Just one little branch of one small business can only do so much. So I asked myself what it would take to add a zero or two to the number.

The Answer: more humans buying into the idea of leveraging a creative idea in your business to support great causes & helping transform it into a Movement.

To enroll other businesses (especially in the hospitality & events industry) to give $ to causes of their choice & do so creatively)

So now this little impact initiative is seeking to grow into a large Industry-wide global impact initiative.

with your help.

THE INVITATION