Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Fenstad.
Hi Nicole, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My dream since a little girl was to be on Broadway. I grew up singing and dancing and putting on shows for my family. I was involved in my local performing arts school as a child and studied acting in college. After getting a BA in Theatre from Minnesota State University, Moorhead, I made my way to NYC to break into show business. Throughout my 9 years of living in New York, I had some amazing experiences performing all over the world in musicals. I performed in National and International tours in Europe, South America, and upon the high seas in the Caribbean.
In 1998, only 1 year after moving to NY, I got cast in the musical Grease in Brazil . It was on this tour that I met a girl who’s mom ran a Princess Party business in Washington DC. After our South American tour ended she hired us to come to DC from New York and help her with the princess parties. I got a bird’s eye view of the magic that “Princess Paula”, my friend’s mom who owned this business, delivered to these children. I tucked that memory away but never forgot it. I went on to spend another 8 years pursuing my musical theatre career in the Big Apple. Then in January 2005 my life changed when I was in a fire in my apartment. Fortunately my roommate and I were able to escape from our 5th floor walk up apartment by going out the fire escape. Sadly, my whole apartment was condemned and we were displaced in a hotel for an uncertain amount of time. My roommate and I lost everything.
Two weeks later, while sitting in my hotel room, I got a call from Norwegian Cruise Lines to see if I would be interested in doing a lead singer contract on a ship that sailed out of Hawaii. A job offer in paradise to get out of the cold winter in New York, while escaping the nightmare of a devastating fire seemed like a gift from heaven. So 2 weeks later I was off to do a 3 month contract throughout the Hawaiian islands.
On the ship I had a lot of time to think and ponder life. I reflected on the fire and the trauma of losing everything. It was throughout those next 3 months that I made the decision to leave New York. I had always thought that I would one day move to Minneapolis. They were known as a great theatre community and I grew up going to shows at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. So in May of 2005 I left Manhattan. In 1997 I moved to New York with 2 suitcases and 8 years later after a devastating fire, I left the city with 2 suitcases.
For the next year I had theatre jobs lined up throughout the country. That summer, I found myself in Blowing Rock, North Carolina doing a 50’s style all girl musical called The Taffetas. It was a fun juke box musical that kept me busy doing 7 shows a week.
One Saturday in between shows I found myself at a K-Mart getting some toiletries and for whatever reason, I meandered down a toy aisle. I happened upon a bunch of discounted Cinderella costumes for little girls. It was down that toy aile that I had my lightbulb moment. I said to myself, “I’m going to start a Princess Party business.” That memory of going to Washington DC to help my friend’s mom do princess parties came flooding back to me. I bought all 10 child Cinderella costumes, got online and bought a generic blue Cinderella costume and never looked back. I knew exactly what I was going to call my business from the beginning. Princess Party Pals
After I left North Carolina, I started practicing doing parties on my friends nieces and nephews. I eventually found my way to Minneapolis in 2006 and was lucky enough to get cast at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre in the musical Grease. I continued working on my business while doing theatre and basically faked it til I made it. I made some business cards and told everyone that I met that I ran a Princess Party business. Then, I finally got my first party. The Owner of where I got my hair done, (shout out to Spalon Montage) decided to hire me for his twins 5th birthday party. I got my first paid party. It was very exciting. At this point I only had one costume, Cinderella. The Owner, Mitchell, was so supportive and kind and asked if I might be able to come back after the party as Snow White. In fact he said that he would buy another costume for me if would be willing to come back later. With a heart of gratitude I of course said yes. And that was my first party.
It was a slow start. I did 2 parties that first year, but over the next few years, I doubled the number of parties. About 5 years into the business I did a party for a mom who worked for company called Plum District. It was a website made by moms for moms. They would sell products at a discounted price in bulk. This was much like a Groupon or Living Social type of website except the subscription base was all moms. The mom asked me if I would be interested in selling my parties in bulk at a discounted price. I could set the number of parties I wanted to sell. I thought it sounded like a great idea. I created a party package that I could sell in bulk at and set the number of parties I wanted to sell. I decided that I would try and sell 50 parties. I hadn’t even done 50 parties yet so this seemed like a big but exciting number. Within a couple of hours I had sold all 50 of those parties. It was in that moment that I realized that there was a real niche for children’s entertainment. This marked a turning point in my business. I no longer worked other jobs and also stopped doing theatre. I was a full time princess.
Fast forward to 19 years later and we have 10 performers on our team, do over 70 different characters including princesses, super heroes, fairy tale characters, and a bunch of unique characters that have been created. We do between 700-800 events every year and have branched out our business to do more than just birthday parties. We also do special events ranging from Parks and Recs story times, country club character breakfasts, daddy daughter dances, customer and corporate appreciation events as well as new business openings . Our weekdays are also busy doing preschool and daycare enrichment. We take our characters and create lesson plans for kids ages 18 months-5 years old. We come dressed as a costumed character to support the theme that school may be doing that month or week. It could be space, the ocean, animals, summer, fall, or maybe even a holiday. We incorporate music, songs, theatrical story times and lessons that foster cognitive and social emotional learning that support them. We may come dressed as a shark and talk about the ocean or an astronaut and talk about space. It’s a wonderful platform for us to be creative and for us to make a different and teach. I never realized how much I liked teaching until I started doing the preschool and daycare programs. It’s been a magical discovery.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
They say it take 5 years to start a business. For me, that was pretty accurate. It wasn’t until I sold my parties in bulk through that website that I felt a real shift in my business. Even though it wasn’t a great money making venture, I did gain a lot of exposure selling my parties in bulk. I still have some of those relationships with those customers 15 years later. Moreover, after selling my parties in bulk I was able to make the shift from part time business owner to full time business owner.
About 10 years into the parties I started struggling with my voice. I would lose my voice and get hoarse after a weekend of parties. At the time I was the only one doing the parties and I was doing between 300-400 events a year. It was my wake up call that I can’t do it all by myself. I eventually got a business coach and she encouraged me to start hiring performers. That was a game changer for me. I hired my first 3 performers in 2018 and I am so proud to say that 2 of them are still doing parties for me. They are amazing performers and amazing people. It was hard to let go of some of the control, but it also freed up space for me to continue to work on the business and not just in the business. I was able to create more preschool programs and create some special events that have become signature events for us like our Etiquette with Alice class. We teach children and families table etiquette through a shared meal. We have done these classes for Girl Scouts, Parks and Recs events and special tea parties at the Mad Hatter in Anoka.
Covid also posed some real challenges for us. With the world shut down, so did my in-person party business. I had to come up with a shift that felt both safe and also magical. I was and still am a part of a business networking group and through some great master-mind brain storming sessions, they helped me come up with Princess FaceTime and Virtual Princess Parties. Every day a princess would be available for 10 minute FaceTime calls. Customers would sign up and book their time slot. Every day was a different character, so clients might book multiple sessions a week to meet different characters. We would sing songs, read a short story and do a little chit chat. It was meant to be a bright spot at a dark time in the world. On the weekends we shifted from in person parties to Virtual parties. Children would invite their friends via zoom link to share in their birthday celebration virtually. A Princess would host this event and do a virtual story time with special backdrops and songs to make the experience come to life. They were 30 minutes long and we did quite a few over the weekends in 2020. Shifting in a new technological direction not only helped us make a little income during a shut down economy, but it also pushed us into a new direction creating another avenue of income. Even today, we still do a few virtual visits and FaceTimes throughout the year. It’s nothing like it was before, but it’s a unique way to make an impact worldwide.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am very fortunate that my calling is also the way I make money and the way I contribute to the world. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher or an actress. I am so lucky that I get to be a teacher and an actress. I couldn’t have dreamt up a better career for myself than being a children’s entertainer. Even though I don’t do theatre anymore (or maybe I should say not at this time), I am still get to do a lot of singing, acting and dancing in my events. It feeds the creative artist in me. I am also a huge advocate for theatre and pride myself on seeing all of the Broadway shows that come into the Twin Cities and also much of the local professional theatre. It gives me much joy to support local theatre. It will always be an extended family to me.
Being able to hire my artist friends and young performers to be a part of my business is a great perk to running a creative business. It feels great to give other artists work and for it to be so rewarding.
I also nourish the artist in me by singing in a 4 girl a cappella singing group called Chick Cheer. We do holiday singing at Christmas time and have been doing it for almost 15 years. It really is a joy and something I look forward to every year.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Mentors and networking have been very instrumental in my business. Obviously I was inspired my Princess Paula back in 1998 to even start my business. She gave me the confidence to even know that starting a Princess Party business was actually a thing.
Hiring a business coach was also a game changer in my business. I worked with a coach for 5 years and they really helped me to become an expert on the “business” side of Princess Party Pals. They took my job from a hobby to a business. I learned how to read a P & L & understand my bottom line for what I need to make every month to stay in the black. I tracked my expenses and got comfortable with reading and tracking reports in Quickbooks. My business coach helped me create my Mission and Purpose for my business and was a real sounding board for my ideas. We made yearly, monthly, weekly and daily goals. She gave me purpose and I felt like I got an MBA in my very own business. I highly recommend working with a coach.
I also joined a networking group in 2019 and am still a part of it today. Meeting with a bunch of entrepreneurs and like minded business owners every week is a great discipline and it truly nourishes relationships. Some of my best ideas have come from the synergy of that group. I also recommend finding a networking group that can become a sales force for your business.
Pricing:
- Birthday parties are 90 minutes and start at $350 for 8 kids.
- Preschool Enrichment is $200 an hour
- Special event pricing is $250 an hour or $200 for 2 or more hours
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.princesspartypals.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/princesspartypals/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100053880015601
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@princesspartypals670
