Tony the Balloon Guy

So we (Tony the Balloon Guy, Face Painter Phyllis, the thee junior members of our family business, and two family friends) got these free tickets to go to Disney World Friday, watch them film the Christmas Parade, and, as it turned out, see the Jonas (sp?) Brothers perform.  All we had to do was dress kinda Christmasy, show up at 7am, enjoy the show, and then spend the day on the rides and such for free.

But when we got there, it was pouring rain!  The parade was canceled!  We still got to ride the rides for a while, but we were so wet and miserable, we left early in the afternoon.

However, I must say, Disney handled the situation pretty well, for so many people going through such an unpleasant situation.  They gave replacement tickets for those who could come back in two days and try again, and I didn’t see any riots.

So, although Face Painter Phyllis and I had parties and a Sears promotion booked all day Sunday (11am-8pm), our friends took the junior partners back to Disney World.  They saw the parade, learned how to scream and dance around for the Jonas Brothers, and had a great time.  If you knew what the junior partners looked like, I’d suggest you watch for them on ABC Christmas morning.  But since you don’t, we’ll watch for them and tell you if we see them.

Have a fun day!

www.TonyTheBalloonGuy.com

Ever watch an old episode of Superman, or listen to the radio show?  (No, I’m NOT that old - I just like old radio shows.)

“Good morning, Miss Lane.”  “Good morning, Mr. Kent.”

A few decades later, they were Lois and Clark.  Unless you’re a lawyer character or a doctor character on TV, you’ll go by your first name now.

In real life, too.  The people at the bank call me Tony.  And I call my clients by their first names.  The restaurant owners and managers are John, Sheila, James, Rich, etc.  The magazine publishers are Angela and Jack.  The birthday party parents are… well, that would take forever.  But you get the idea.

First names are great – friendly and all.  But there’s also something neat about those “Mr. Kent and Miss Lane” days.  And men wearing hats.

Back to TV for a moment.  I was a kid in Wisconsin in the 1970s, like the kids in “That 70s Show,” and one thing that really rings true is the use of last names IN PLACE OF first names.  Those characters are more likely to be Forman and Kelso and Hyde than Eric and Michael and Steven.  That’s what life was like then and there.

Most of the kids I work with now are smaller than that, so I wonder if the older ones still fall into that last name pattern.

A lot of the kids I see regularly at work do call me by my last name when they see me, though.

“Balloon Guy!  Balloon Guy!”

Have a fun day!

www.TonyTheBalloonGuy.com

Yesterday we (Tony the Balloon Guy & Face Painter Phyllis) talked to a Chicago marketing company (we are in Florida) about doing about a half dozen events in December in the Tampa Bay area.  Today we got an e-mail about a balloon decor job in Clearwater.  All because of our website.

Funny how well a website can sell what we do.  We found that a print ad (ie Yellow Pages) did nothing for us (maybe one call in a year?), but we get calls and e-mails from the website all the time. 

Most of our bookings come from people who saw us at a restaurant or party.  Next come bookings from people who KNOW someone who saw us at a restaurant or party.  Then comes the Internet.

Thanks, Internet!

Have a fun day!

www.TonyTheBalloonGuy.com