Long, long ago Fantasy Faces was just a few fairies, mermaids, and princesses. But then the oddest thing happened (or, at least what we thought was the oddest): people kept asking for clowns.
We’ve always known plenty of professional clowns: gentle, silly humans who love to make kids laugh.
But what surprised us is how many parents wanted clowns, when so much of the US seems to have a clown phobia.
So to make sure we only ever send are Never Scary Clowns to make children smile, we’ve tried to narrow down trends we saw in most clowns you can hire and tried to ask some critical questions:
- The majority are retirees or over 45. A quick search on GigSalad will confirm this: just look through the photos of clowns. In a child’s schema, are they just not around enough people their grandparent’s age to really place clowns?
- Most don’t look quite “right” when compared to other humans. Of course, this is the point of a clown: big nose, huge shows, giant hair… something is just BIGGER and more caricatured. It’s supposed to make a clown look silly, but what if it doesn’t seem silly to kids?
- Loads of makeup. From full-white faces to a ton of face paint, a lot of their faces are obscured. Does this make children uncomfortable?
- They look similar to the mid-20th century clowns. So why does this matter? Because they all look a lot like Pennywise, creepy clown toys, the Joker… how much of that has stuck with kids, even if they’ve only seen it in passing?
Based on these 4 observations, we’ve used a little faith, trust, and pixie dust to create Never Scary Clowns:
- Young and energetic, but not too over-the-top. Our clown are all age 20-40, around the age of our tiny guests’ parents–many of which who have younger siblings or children the little guests’ ages!
- Regular clothes you’d see on the street: but neon, patterned, and layered! Whether it’s silly tutus, leggings, and piles of costume jewelry; or plad shirts, neon glasses, and homemade pants… our clowns look less like something out of a story and more like a really fun adult!
- Minimal makeup. Maybe a clown is rocking a painted-red nose and some blue cheeks, or just some 80s glam makeup. The point is to make them look inviting, not obscure their face.
- Ditch the retro look. We stay as far away from the “classic clown” as we can to distinguish ourselves from scary clowns. No overly-baggy clothes, no curley afro wigs, no giant shows or painted hands…. we don’t even want kids to THINK about those scary clowns!
We’ve also taken a few extra precautions:
- Many of our clowns have professional experience working with kids on the spectrum, and can make sure to either give a child with autism plenty of room or interact in a way that makes them feel safer, since clowns can be over stimulating for many kids with special needs.
- No in-your-face gags to get rid of that “unpredictability” that can keep kids on edge. Clowns might make jokes or gag themselves, but won’t squirt a kid with water, do anything that explodes, or otherwise break kids’ safety bubbles.
We love our clowns, and hope you will too!