The joys of Partytrapping

Lately I came across a quote from Pearl S. Buck, a renowned Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes winner, which caught my attention, it said: "to find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth". I would take that a step further and say that "one needs to do his or her best to find joy in... anything!". But of course a large chunk of our life revolves around work, so that is surely a great starting point to pursue happiness.

The past five years at Partytrap have been full of different experiences, but what (in my opinion) kept us going is the fact that we were lucky enough to find something which we really like doing, and turning it into a job. For some of us it's a full-time commitment, for others it's a pretty demanding part-time work, but although all of us have our weak moments, I'm quite sure that we rarely 'dread' going to work.

A couple of weeks ago we organised a summer get-together - a BBQ at the beach to kind of put us all in the mood for this 'holiday season'. It was purely a social event, but what did we end up doing? Yes... 'work'! We went through the songs and dances we perform with children, we staged (for the thousandth time) Turu's scripted sketch, and most of all we enjoyed ourselves. 

It's things like these which remind me of the importance of putting enjoyment at the forefront of anything we do. Who said work should be boring? Who said 'play' is a thing we should do only in our 'free time'? (click here for a really inspiring clip on the evolution of play). At Partytrap we have all of these things in common, and especially: we love to have fun, and we derive enjoyment from entertaining others. Keep it up Partytrappers ;)

Partytrappers and friends (some of us couldn't make it on this occasion)

Children vs Animators

A hot summer's day, an air of excitment and low murmurs of children saying "bye mummy"...the bell rings and in they run. After two successful and fun packed weeks of the Partytrap Summer Club, I honestly can't tell whose enjoying themselves more, myself or the kids.

Today there was something different with the children from the moment they came in. At first I was confused with the difference in their behaviour, wording and approach but after a few minutes a little boy's word's said what we had all been thinking "I'm so excited to do the concert today, I've been practicing with mama all weekend you know" - it was motivation! Within two weeks these children have gone from just coming to have fun and going with the flow, to being excited and motivated to give off a good performance and make the people they love proud of them.

Its refreshing to see them so excited about everything they are doing, they are not only becoming motivated themselves but in turn are keeping us more motivated every day by simply picking up on their fantastic energy!

Welcome to our blog :)

For a long time we have felt that even though at Partytrap, interacting with people is key, we wanted to further this into new directions and engage with people on different levels. Welcome to the Partytrapper's Blog. I hope that this page will be both informative, fun, friendly to use and interesting.

As an animator, it is often frustrating going home after a party or event; children full of energy and bursting with smiling faces, make us feel young again and sometimes we really forget that we would be at work! As a team we regularly meet up and the common pastime among us animators is reminiscing on the fun we would have had with the children, their energy and enthusiasm as well as the funny moments that are found in any good event. I look forward to being able to blog about these moments, the exciting things that happen and of course about the warmth a child can bring to any one that crosses his/her path.

Also watch out for blogs containing delicious recipes we would have tried out, cool craft ideas and practical tips on ways of enhancing creativity and confidence in your children :)