Enchanted by Encanto!

Here at Sparkles towers we are huge fans of all our themes. Whether it’s Disney, Marvel heroes, Harry Potter or Paw Patrol you’d be hard pressed to find entertainers who are as knowledgeable and passionate about the theme as we are but I’ve got to admit one theme has me more excited than others at the moment. ENCANTO!!!

I love it!! The songs are all fabulous, I know, I know the song we don’t talk about gets stuck in your head but Lin Manuel Miranda, who also wrote the gorgeous songs for Moana, has absolute nailed each song in the film. Or is that just the singer in me? They really are bonkers fun to sing! Surface pressure especially, you can’t help but get completely carried away with it! And we do! Every Encanto party we have has to have at least one sing-a-long!

Tunesday Encanto Zoom Sing-a-long!

We were also really excited about putting together the costumes! All those bright colours and patterns! and who doesn’t love a swishy swirly skirt with bloomers underneath!!! And our birthday boys and girls are loving the costumes too!!

But for me the best thing about performing at an Encanto themed party is being Mirabel! She is warm and funny and has such a positive vibe that you get completely caught up in her party mood! Let’s go!!! I for one hope we never stop talking about Bruno and his family! And the fiestas keep on coming!

3 Facts You May not Know About Encanto!!!

1) Clothes Make the Character

If you look closely, you’ll notice that the wardrobe of each character displays the magical gift they possess. The barbells on Luisa’s skirt are representative of her strength. Pepa, whose mood affects the weather, wears sunshine earrings. Isabella, who can make plants and flowers grow, wears a dress covered with bright blossoms. And those are just a few examples. The only exception is Mirabel, who was not granted a gift. Looking at her clothing, you’ll notice that it contains images representative of each member of her family, a fitting detail given that she is the one the family’s future depends upon.

Despite not being magical (because he married into the family) Agustin, Mirabel’s father, also has symbols hidden in his attire: a flower on his vest for Isabella, a sock with weights on it for Luisa, and another sock featuring embroidery like that on Mirabel’s dress.

2) Bruno was supposed to be Oscar!

It turns out, there was a time when no one would have talked about Bruno. The reclusive member of the Madrigal clan was initially known as Oscar. According to director Jared Bush, the team encountered a ‘legal snag’ after discovering several real people in Columbia named Oscar Madrigal, which forced them to make the change.

3) ‘Surface Pressure’ was a Highly Personal Song for Miranda

Composer Lin Manuel Miranda states that the song ‘Surface Pressure’ was inspired by his older sister Luz.

Speaking with the Washington Post, he stated, “She takes on way more responsibility than I do — I was very aware that I was the baby brother who got away with everything — so Surface Pressure is very much a love letter to my sister.” 

Eggstra! Eggstra! Read all about it!

This Easter we’ll be bringing an eggs-tra special sparkle to your Easter celebrations with personal visits from the Eater Bunny!

Your visit will be about 20-30 minutes and will start with Springtime Susie knocking on your door and asking for help. The Easter Bunny is out delivering eggs but she’s lost him! Once he’s been found you can expect silliness, a springtime sing song with Susie and of course Easter eggs and egg hunts!!

“I can't thank you enough for the visit - you were fantastic! Izzy was totally amazed by it all. You have made her day”

Thank you so much for today, you really put a smile on Billy’s face, he said it must be Santa because he knows things about me, that no one else would know, much love and a massive thank you xxx

What a fantastic visit from santa and sparkles the elf!!! Love how personalised it is and the detail that goes into each visit!!! And Caelyn said he can't believe santa knew everything!!!

You are absolutely fantastic. Thankyou very much Susie the kids absolutely loved the visit. Please may we book again for next year?

Thanks to the popularity of our Santa visits most of our slots are fully booked for Easter Weekend but there are still a few slots left so get in touch!

We promise it will be egg-citing, egg-ceptional and egg-straordinary!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

In these crazy times plans can change pretty quickly so if you need a little festive cheer, and you’ve been especially good this year, Santa might just be able to come and visit you at home.

Very limited space left but as we all know things can and do change very quickly these days so give us a call if you think we can bring our own brand of Santa’s magic to your doorstep.

Sparkles the Elf 0788 764 8734

"Thank you so much, that was fabulous! You have made two little children's Christmas!"

"Thank you so much! You brought joy not only to Matilda but to us too!"

"Happy Christmas, you do an amazing job!"

Magical Parties like no other

I’m sorry all other party entertainers but our Harry Potter parties can not be beaten!

We have the most magical activities, the most convincing Hogwarts Professors, we can’t be stumped by questions from even the most devoted Potter fan and we even have owls for goodness sake!!

And even though Zoom Parties are no longer a necessity our Zoom of Requirement is still busy because where else can your children truly believe they are performing the floating feather charm? Where else can they produce a patronus and defeat a real dementor? And where else can make even older children think twice about whether Hogwarts is actually calling them!

We love our magical parties in every way and the families that book us love us too so if you have a magical celebration coming up don’t forget to invite us! You can send us an owl here.

Return to Hogwarts

Just last Sunday after our Hogwarts Yule ball I put Professor McGonagall’s clothes away and wondered when I would get the chance to wear them again.

Being the current Headmistress of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry had become a weekly, sometimes daily, occurrence during the first lockdown but now it had become a special treat and our Yule ball was supposed to be a bit of a farewell. Gathering all our Hogwarts Students who’d joined us every week for our Hogwarts Homework show from March to August and saying goodbye to each other and that fun chapter from our strange year! Little did we know that we were days away from being right back where we started.

Hogwarts Homework was hugely popular with our young witches and wizards for a few reasons. One, they got to contribute to each show as the professors would showcase the homework they’d sent in during the week. Two, we tried to be inventive while creating our magical world with no Hollywood budget! And Three, there was Jeffrey. A hilarious plant who lives in the Herbology department at Hogwarts and sings songs about his creator Professor Longbottom! After Jeffrey appeared in the show he became a star in his own right and even started to get his own birthday bookings! And there were many children who wanted Jeffrey to wish them a happy birthday!!

We loved hearing that we were transporting the children to Hogwarts every week and it challenged us to come up with exciting new ideas. One of the most popular lessons was going to see our friend Professor Alba and her owls at the Flying Squadron and equally popular was the duelling video we made with all our students casting spells on each other! But there were simple things too that delighted our students we had feathers and owls on invisible string, mirror tricks for moving portraits and we even borrowed our neighbours bearded dragons for a care of Magical Creatures class.

When we finished the weekly classes at the end of August, after an epic plot line involving horcruxes returning from the past via a stolen time turner, we missed it terribly and now we’re gearing up to bring it back we are in equal measure shocked and delighted! And hopefully we will have enough new lessons and tricks up our sleeve for a second term.

Hard to think we’ve been living in this strange virtual world with limited contact for almost a year now but also hard to imagine is a world in which I don’t know some of the people who have become so important in our lives. Our Hogwarts family. The teachers, the students and of course Jeffrey.

Professor McGonagall will be addressing Hogwarts students past and present on Friday morning at 11am live on the portrait wall known to muggles as Facebook. Hogwarts classes will resume in the Zoom of requirement on Monday the 11th at 11am. You are most welcome to join us. Let’s see what magic we can make together this time.

and of course our headmistress….

Because a Susie Sparkles party don't stop!!

All year, no matter how the guidelines have changed, we’ve still found a way to keep the party going!!

Video chats with favourite characters! Zoom parties and treasure hunts!! Dedications of our live streamed shows, and when we could real life appearances and garden visits!

It’s been a challenging year of course but it’s been an exciting one too. Our creativity has never been so engaged and as performers we’ve never felt so stretched. The lockdown meant that we were pushing ourselves as performers all the time especially with our improvisation and character work. Whether it was trying to create a new theme and character quickly for someone or helping parents engage their children in various school projects or to fulfil some crazy idea we’d had about one of our shows. And we had a lot of crazy ideas!!

Because, of course, there was also our live shows! For 23 weeks from March to August we live streamed 4 shows a week! Hogwarts Homework on Monday, Tunesday singalongs on Zoom!! Friday Anything Could Happen comedy storytelling and Saturday story time for Snaps Yorkshire. We had a blast finding new ways to keep your children entertained and engaged every week and enjoyed and appreciated their company just as much!!

As we hear a hundred times a day it’s been a difficult year but the camaraderie, compassion and creativity we’ve witnesses from you all has helped to provide a bright light guiding us through even the darkest days of uncertainty.

Big love and kisses to all who’ve supported our family this year

Keep smiling, keep singing and keep sparkling.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

*SOLD OUT*

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I’m afraid all our home visit slots are booked and, much as we’d like to, we just can’t fit any more in! If you would like a Zoom chat with Santa or a phone call please let us know but I’m afraid that’s the best we can do!

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We believe this year, more than any other, the children of Yorkshire deserve a really special Christmas.

After a year of not seeing their friends and family, cancelled parties and missing holidays they kept smiling despite the constant uncertainty and disappointment.  

To honour them and make up for such a difficult year we want to help make their Christmases really special and end this year with as much magic and sparkle as possible.

So if you need a LETTER from Santa reassuring your children that he will still be visiting on Christmas Eve and perhaps tell them how well he thought they'd coped with a difficult year. (The tone and details of the letter are entirely up to you) Just let us know the details you want including and we'll provide the magic!

Or you might prefer a VIDEO CALL (or personalised pre-recorded VIDEO MESSAGE) from the big man himself! He'll be in his workshop throughout December and if we ask him he'll always find time to speak to his favourite children.

Then at the end of November he's personally DELIVERING ADVENT CALENDARS directly to some lucky boys and girls homes! Although places for this service are limited! He's a very busy man you know!!

But despite his busy schedule on selected days in December Santa is even making HOME VISITS!

That's right Santa himself will visit you outside your home and will pose for photos (whilst keeping a subtle but significant distance) He brings a little present and an abundance of Christmas cheer whilst his chief elf Sparkles plays pranks and sings Christmas songs with her ukulele. You never know he may even bring snow!

So if we can help you to get in touch with Santa and bring some much needed magic and sparkle to the end of this disappointing year please don't hesitate to get in touch!!

Suggested Prices

Letter from Santa    £5

Personalised Video £15

Video Call              £15

Home Visit             £30

The Man Behind The Mask

Hello! This is a post for the delightfully curious friends of Susie Sparkles who are wondering "Who is this mysterious man who has stolen Susie's heart?"

Well to start that story you have to go back ten years to a village hall in Bramham, when magic met mischief and Susie spied her Jester in his preferred habitat. On stage, flouncing about in an extravagant costume! He was hilarious and handsome and the children in the audience adored him and so did Susie. But life being the complicated beast that it is they were destined to be simply friends for a long time after.

Friends and business colleagues though as whenever Susie needed a pirate or a super hero she knew just who would be eager to take on the role. He even enjoyed the times Susie dressed him up in mascot costumes as Peppa Pig and Minnie Mouse and those costumes aren't easy y'know! You can't see, you can't talk and boy do they get sweaty! But our Jester was a master at it! Professionally speaking he was a terrific find! Fun, great with kids and up for anything!

His acting skills and background in performing make him a natural as a party host, his love of costumes and skill at making them is an incredible bonus and the fact that he's a big kid at heart and knows everything about most party themes is amazing! Whether it's the world of Disney princesses or Power Rangers and Star Wars you can't stump him! Susie's knowledge of super heroes has always been a bit sketchy to be honest and Power Rangers has her at a complete loss and so our mischievous Jester makes for the perfect partner and teacher.

So not only has the Jester (also known as Shane Huby) stolen my heart but he will also be captain of the good ship Magic and Mischief for the next few months while I'm taking my maternity leave.

It's going to be such an exciting year for us both and I don't think it's going too far to say that all our dreams are starting to come true! We really hope to see you this year and that you'll be a part of this next exciting stage of the Magic and Mischief journey. So if you need us to add Sparkles to your party don't hesitate to get in touch with us!

How can we make your dreams come true?

Practically Poppins in every way

To those who know me well I don't think it's much of a secret that out of all the characters in my vast repertoire my hands down, number one absolute favourite is Mary Poppins.

My Mary Poppins parties are exactly the kind of birthday party I would have wanted as a child. I adored Mary and wanted to sing like her, talk like her and fly up banisters like her. It was devastating to discover that the third wasn't really an option but since Mary Poppins Returns came out I'm being told by quite a few lovely people that perhaps my first two wishes have indeed come true.

"Went to see Mary Poppins at the cinema last week and just heard your voice all the way through!"

 So sweet! Thank you Ruth and then there was this lovely comment from Mum SJ

 "Personally think Carla 'Susie Sparkles' would have been better casting than Emily Blunt though"

 Gracious how kind! and O SJ if only! What a dream come true that would be! Personally I couldn't help but imagine myself in the role. Singing those fantastic new musical numbers, wearing those fabulous costumes of hers and delivering those iconic lines that lovingly threw us back to the original film.

"Close your mouth Michael, we are not a cod fish"

Being so attached to the original film I was thrilled that the cast exceeded my expectations. I was especially delighted to see Dick Van Dyke still dancing on the table and with that same mischievous twinkle in his eye at 90 years old and what a voice Angela Lansbury has at 91! Remarkable! Lin Manuel Miranda was out of his hip hop genius comfort zone but still managed to give an endearing performance and Emily Blunt of course was wonderful but if SJ and I had got our wish and I'd been cast in the role instead I would definitely have liked to have seen the Mary Poppins role performed a little differently.

Let's gloss over the fact that Blunt isn't anywhere near the vocal quality you'd expect from an actress playing Mary. It's disappointing that they didn't cast someone from a musical theatre background but that's not her fault. Emily Blunt's Mary Poppins was charming and charismatic but was it just me or was she a little raunchy at times? And perhaps a bit showy and pleased with herself? For me the intriguing unassuming nature of Mary Poppins can be summed up in the first film when Bert is making a big song and dance trying to show the children how to jump into the chalk picture and she scolds him by saying "O Bert. Why do you always complicate things that are really quite simple? Give me your hand. Don't slouch Michael" and then she just takes their hands, and to the children and the audiences surprise, she just effortlessly transports them into the picture.

The one second things are normal and you're getting told off the next second you're being given the treat of a lifetime is so deliciously exciting and the lack of fanfare and magic incantations gives you that impression that anything can be possible and adventure can come at any time when you least expect it. For me this was missing from Emily Blunt's portrayal as when she slid into that bathtub looking directly into camera and gleefully saying "Here we Go!" it was all a bit look what I did aren't I magic? Mary Poppins is arguably the most seemingly human but actually magical character in literary history and it seemed wrong to make her overtly aware and terribly proud of how marvellously magical she truly is.

Or maybe I'm just very jealous and Emily Blunt was a practically perfect Poppins in every way! That’s probably more accurate!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the film and especially Emily's interpretation of such an iconic character. But in the meantime if you're looking for an old school Mary Poppins to delight children at your party or event. Don't hesitate to get in touch!

Anything Could Happen!

I can't believe it's been over 8 months since my last blog post. I haven't told you about Mary Poppins or SNAPS or Pokemon parties! I have so much to tell you! I'll catch you up soon, promise, but first I need to talk about our Anything Could Happen show on Sunday 7th of May.

I've been working with the terrific Comedy Checkout. An improvisation group with nearly a decades experience and together we have created a one of a kind show. With an innovative approach to engage children's creativity we inspire their storytelling and help them feel confident in expressing their ideas and, trust us, those ideas just come bursting out. But why just take my word for it...

'Loved how you adapted the performance to all the children's ideas. They loved it all'

 'fully engaged and motivated. The children are still talking about it!'

'A fantastic way to bring creativity and fun back into storytelling'

This is the first time we're taking our show out of the classroom and into a theatre space, the delightful Seven Arts, and we couldn't be more excited. You and your children will laugh your socks off, I guarantee it and I know you're going to love watching us bring your children's ideas to life before their very eyes. Come join us on Sunday 7th of May and ask yourself.

What stories will my children tell?