A thriller night…

Posted on by

If you are planning an extravagant Halloween night this year make sure you hire some spooky acts from Red Masque directory. Halloween is a night when we celebrate all that’s ghoulish and ghastly about Britain. For a party with more pumpkins than most, here are our top devilishly spooky suggestions for your own awesome Halloween party event.

Set up a screen in your garage, shed, or front room, beg or borrow an LED projector, and decorate with suitably spooky fake spiders webs. Then, throw open the doors of your monstrous new movie house! Go traditional with hot popcorn, or enjoy a witch’s brew of cocktails created by cocktail waiters. Pop on a CD of classic horror themes, or hire a string quartet to play them for you! Then, sit back and relax and scream the night away with your favourite horror flicks, from “Psycho” to “Nightmare on Elm Street”. Or choose the comedy route with “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, “An American Werewolf in London”, animation gems “The Corpse Bride” and “Frankenweenie”, the Bette Midler classic “Hocus Pocus” or cult “Carry on Screaming”!

Spare the neighbours the horror of trick or treating and invite the local kids to enjoy Halloween Serve steaming bowls of chilli con carne, add in tequila shots for the adults, and finish the whole effect with a party function band playing modern pop classics.

Banish the evil spirits that walk the earth on All Hallows Eve with your own fire celebration. Order in a hog roast, light the torches, and dot about those pumpkins you’ve been carving for weeks. Greet guests with walkabout artists or invite guests to create their own costumes from scratch. Provide a peppery feast with stuffed chilies, hot curries or spicy chicken wings, before everyone boogies on down to hell-raising music from a sizzling Rock band. Finish the evening to perfection with a hired fire performer lighting the sky with spark and flame.

Convene your own witches’ coven by getting the girls together for a costumed tour of your city’s most haunted pubs! (So, instead look for pubs or clubs offering something special in the way of live music.

It’s the dance video that spawned a revolution, and it’s never really been equalled. Until now; get a dance group to teach you and your guests the classic moves of the Thriller video, and hire in ghoulish costumes to dance in and the 1980s fashions were horrific enough!! Then, crank up the soundtrack, power up the iPad, and capture your finest Thriller moves for posterity. Or moonwalk the extra mile and hire a party function band to play the track live, followed by more demon tracks to keep those un-dead guests throwing their best moves on the dancefloor.

Make your guests smile…

Posted on by

By combining the hottest corporate event trends for 2015 and some very special entertainment, you can create a corporate event entertainment that’s still talked about long after.

For all 2015 corporate events, décor will be key. Your venue needs to wow your guests from the moment they walk in, creating a special and uniquely defined space for your event. Two highly contrasting themes are high tech interactive and natural materials, enabling your company to show off its tech prowess, or boost its eco credentials.

If you choose a high tech theme, your entertainment must be 100% integrated to the whole tech ambience. Look for entertainers that offer a tech twist in their act, such as iPad illusionists, LED Light entertainers and street magicians that work with the latest phones and mobile gadgets.

Choose musicians that blend performances with tech, such as our interactive VJ’S, or a live DJ for hire. Get your guests interacting with each other playing giant games with your very own theme.
If you are thinking about a winter corporate event into a natural winter wonderland with ice sculptures and decorated living statues, walkabout characters, and seasonal winter menus. Welcome guests with the warming aromas of mulled wine, or entice people out into the crisp winter air with heated seating areas, piles of rugs and sweet chestnuts roasting on a real coal brazier.

You could extend the theme beyond décor and food into acoustic musical acts, for a more ‘natural’ sound. Entertain with a gospel singing Christmas songs, or a trendy a Capella groups, or guitar and sax soloists.

When you want your corporate party to finally hot up, keep the theme with classic tracks that really evoke the sights and sounds with top UK function and party bands who know their Farrell and their Ed Sheeran.

Take lighting to the next level and illuminate your event to create spectacle and visual interest. Any venue can be transformed with clever and creative use of lighting even on the more limited of budgets. Use lighting to throw unusual shadows, to colour tables rather than using flowers, and use wireless technology to alter lighting states to reflect the various stages of your event.

Your entertainment should be equally well lit! Look for party DJ’S with their own light shows, rock and pop function bands that provide their own lighting, and artists that use light in imaginative ways.
For larger events, book artists that have a strong visual impact enhanced by theatrical style lighting, such as dance troupes, ballet dancers or aerial artists.

Find ways to make your party entertainment a pleasure for everyone by choosing acts that blend superb musicianship with accessible humour, such as a comedy string quartet. Or present musical acts with an international flavour, such as 1920s swing band just make people smile!

Want to make your CEO happy?

Posted on by

Here at Red Masque we think we are tooled with some of the best acts for your party which will capture your imagination. So, what are the best of the best for corporate event entertainment acts for your next corporate event in 2015? Red Masque directory have the hottest trends and acts for corporate, and company parties to ensure your VIPs are very impressed and your CEO is very happy.

Circus act entertainers have given the world of corporate entertainment a whole new generation of aerial artists, defying gravity to present unique. Even if you haven’t got a skyscraper to use as your stage, these circus-inspired artists can perform in almost any space, for any corporate event.

Aerialists use aerial circus and dance theatre with dynamic lighting and music to create evocative shows using trapeze, ropes and silks. Available as a solo artist for smaller venue, or as large a troupe as you wish, their show can be tailored to create the atmosphere you require, whether humorous, quirky, elegant. With a range of associated acts, including aerial champagne pouring, we are sure you will find your perfect act on our website.

It may be 52 years since Sean Connery first appeared as Ian Fleming’s ultimate spy, but the fascination with all things 007 is as strong as ever. The difference for 2015 is that people want to be Bond, to immerse themselves in a world where tech is top, and glamour is king.

Offer your guests a total 007 experience: an elegant stately home or iconic venue, set up as a celebrity lookalike James Bond complete with elegant hostesses serving martinis (shaken not stirred by expert cocktail waiters). Then add musical entertainment combining iconic Bond movie soundtracks and characters with dance and spectacle, such as a top party function band with a James Bond set.

Add in some more celebrity lookalikes and a John Cleese lookalike the ‘new’ Q, who sets your guests site-specific missions to test their skills.

Bespoke dance groups provide a superb spectacle that transcends language, and can be precisely tailored to your corporate event theme. From ballet dancers to contemporary rock dancers, your guests can enjoy a show full of energy, passion, augmented by state of the lighting and sound systems.

Whatever the occasion, you’ll find a dance troupe to suit; that can offer themed events such as Arabian Nights, Argentinean Tango, Burlesque, Flamenco, Irish Dancing, Ballroom Dancing, and Vegas Showgirls for example.

Surprise artists at your event

Posted on by

Hire singing waiters, policemen, firemen and a whole host of other comedy singing acts from Red Masque directory to make your event unforgettable. Discover what surprise entertainment we offer and how they’ll positively impact your event!

When you’re planning an event, you want to keep your guests entertained throughout, so the energy and enjoyment never dips. Giving them something new just when they are least expecting it is a great way to create a buzz, and to give guests something to talk about apart from the food or the football! And nothing fits the bill quite like a surprise act, be it singing waiters, firemen, or chefs.

The idea is really simple; your guests have no idea that the waiter who has been serving them, or the fireman who seems to be worried about the smoke alarms, are in fact highly talented singers, ready to grab a microphone and burst into song. As one waiter starts to sing, another suddenly joins in, and then a ‘guest’ can’t seem to resist joining in either. It’s particularly effective during a formal dinner.

It’s a great way of breaking up a meal and giving your guests something hugely entertaining when they are least expecting it!

Before the audience have had time to work out who might be part of the act, they are being royally entertained by superb singers performing anything from famous opera songs to the latest West End hits, often close up to their tables.

The voices, the energy, the performance, they are all something that you just can’t duplicate in any other way. The ‘singing waiters’ introduction is a light way to create a surprise and add a great deal of fun.

What the guests see, of course, is just the end product of a great deal of planning and preparation. Professional entertainment acts make sure that everyone behind the scenes is in the know and fully prepared, while the real guests haven’t a clue what’s going on! It’s also about preparing a scenario that is perfect for your event.

And it doesn’t just have to be waiters, guests or catering staff.

For example the client is asked to provide a photograph of one of the guests that one of the acts is going to pretend to “arrest” for non-payment of a parking ticket! Once the ‘policemen’ start singing, they perform an amazing act containing everything from opera to Rat Pack and Grease

Spectacular displays

Posted on by

As a nation, we like to celebrate a hapless hero, and top of the list must be Guy Fawkes, a man famous for having failed miserably to do what he set out to do. Fawkes and his co-conspirators planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament but on 5 November 1605, Fawkes was discovered guarding a large stockpile of gunpowder in the cellars, after an anonymous tip-off to the authorities. Here’s five great ways to celebrate his non-achievement!

Attending an organised bonfire event ensures you can enjoy the very best of everything in safety, including a bonfire, the burning of the Guy, live music, tasty eats, and of course an awesome fireworks display. Red Masque have many good firework display artists for you to hire for hundreds of charity events every year, so that you can go along, have a good time and enjoy them to the max.

Guy Fawkes Night is a great excuse to have a party where the star attraction is a red-hot band or explosive new act rather than a soggy bonfire or a damp squib! Ditch the rockets and whizz-bang in favour of guitar solos and keyboard wizardry, for a night everyone will remember for a very long time. At Red Masque, we have some of the best up and coming bands in the business.

Bonfires are fun but they are also a liability waiting to happen. So, light up your bonfire party with entertainment that makes the most of fire, light and spectacle without the health and safety issues.

Fire acts create magical patterns in the night sky using fire and sparks, for a show that has deep, primeval appeal. Or opt for the high-tech solution, an LED light show where the ‘fire’ is actually LED lights twirled, swirled and whirled to create incredible coloured patterns and optical illusions. You’ll never look at a sparkler again!

You will have to book will in advance if you want to hire a professional firework display, as they’ve been booked up for months. However, you can book a professional firework display any day of the year through Red Masque so you can enjoy a spectacular display choreographed to your favourite track for your wedding, birthday party, anniversary celebrations, proms party, graduation ball, you name it. Call us for details, and try to book nice and early!

We might have been celebrating Fawkes’ success in July instead of November, had not the opening of Parliament been delayed by the threat of plague – the gunpowder was actually stored and ready from 20th July onwards. So if you’re planning a summer party with a difference, why not celebrate the 410th anniversary of the start of the Gunpowder Plot with a midsummer Bonfire Night party.

And if you do want your own bonfire party in the back garden, always follow the Firework Code keep bonfires small and under control, and warn your neighbours so they can keep pets safely indoors. Have fun!

Now is the time to organise your Christmas event…

Posted on by

It may only be Spring but it’s always best to plan your next Christmas event as early as you can to avoid disappointment. If you want to create your own winter experience, either for a party entertainment, corporate event or business attraction, here are a few hints from Red Masque directory to make your Christmas event wonderful!
If you want a show as part of your event, you’ll need an inside space or warm, dry and well-appointed marquee to hold it in. Acts that look great in marquees include:

• Circus acts, especially aerialists, or silk acrobats!
• Dance groups who can fill the performance area with music, movement and style!
• Experienced party bands for hire that can play in all those cheesy pop hits we love at Xmas!

Make your event great by having sheer variety of entertainment on offer. So, offer lots of different acts to see, rather than one big attraction and people will enjoy the event more.

• Walkabout acts really help build a holiday atmosphere – check out Christmas costumed characters, ice characters and stilt walkers.
• Generate a warm feeling with fire acts to light up the winter darkness
• Conjure up the magic of Christmas with street magicians performing close-up tricks and illusions

Food and Drink
• Hire a hog roast or BBQ for outside cooked goodies
• Offer traditional treats such as roasted chestnuts and mulled wine that fill the air with deliciously Christmas smells!
• Be cool with a Christmas cocktail bar, decorated with ice sculptures serving frosted cocktails or frozen daiquiris (and non-alcoholic drinks for the drivers)

Fun things to do:
Visitors love interactive experiences, (aka things to do). They don’t have to be very fancy, just lots of fun for any age.

• Turn traditional side stalls into Christmas fun, such as a snowball coconut shy.
• Book a winter or “Frozen” themed bouncy castle with integrated rain cover, so the weather doesn’t stop the fun
• Get your skates on and book an artificial ice rink – all the fun, none of the wet! Most ice rink suppliers offer a complete package with chalet, boot hire, and experienced staff trained in the required health and safety procedures.

And if that all sounds great fun but such a lot of work right now, hey, there’s always next year! At Red Masque, we’re already seeing lots of people now booking acts for Christmas 2016, so find your perfect acts now to make your own winter wonderland happen.

 

A few ideas for your wedding

Posted on by

Make the most of the sunshine and delight your guests with the best in British summertime entertainment for your wedding day and evening party. Let the fun begin!

Turn your wedding into a traditional fete on the lawn, with lots of activities for all ages, and a slap-up tea on vintage china in the marquee instead of a formal sit-down meal. Everyone loves those retro fete games and side stalls, such as a coconut shy, tin can bash, skittles, hoopla, giant table football and two childhood favourites made large, a games and a giant scalectrix. Give your fete a contemporary twist with a roving street magician ready to thrill anyone with card tricks and logic-defying illusions anytime, any-place, no table required.


Fantastic feats of dexterity that seem to defy gravity, from traditional club jugglers to comedy jugglers who’ll play around with everything from eggs to bowling balls! Skilled caricaturists can create hand-drawn, unique portraits of you or your guest in under five minutes, one-of-a-kind souvenirs of a very special day. Expand your guest lists with everyone you’ve ever wanted at your party with our lookalikes, from David Beckham to Marylyn Munroe to Brad Pitt.

Keep the little ones amused for hours with the help of professional children’s entertainers. Kids can twist and turn with balloon modellers, fall about laughing with a clown, get artistic with face painters. Warning; adults always want to join in too!

Forget high priced tickets for muddy fields and distant views of so-so bands bring the festival to your wedding instead. Set up a stage or two, pop up a beer tent and start booking your acts. The famous festival mixes its music, so you can hear an up and coming bad one set, then opera the next! Do the same; mix rock and jazz, acoustic and electro, DJs, opera singers and solo sax. Remember, that gospel choir who performed at the ceremony and the function band you’ve booked for the evening would probably love to be part of your festival too!

Bring a sense of theatre to your festival with unusual acts, such as stilt walkers, living statues, mime artists, themed walkabout and more. OK, we know the weather is even more unpredictable than the best man’s speech, so choose wedding entertainment that works just as well in your venue as outside on the lawns, such as micro-illusion magicians, caricaturists or a small jazz band.


Create a lovely atmosphere during your meal with gentle background music from an expert and experienced pianist, guitarist, harpist, or even a Capella group depending on the size of your room. There are plenty of moments in a wedding meal where you can surprise your guests with unexpected entertainment. Roving magicians can work the tables to bridge the gap between taking your seats and the starter being served, for example. Singing waiters have been around for years but they never fail to amuse, delight and entertain, as your waiters suddenly develop a passion for performance along with magnificent voices!

Your guests are arriving for the evening, ready to celebrate your special day and have a really great time. So, give them an evening they’ll be talking about for years! Wow them from the first moment they arrive with living statue, as costumed artists meet and greet your guests from the centre of a table and hand them the first drink of the evening! Surprising and practical too!

Will Lady Luck smile on your guests when they play in your very own casino complete with slots and showgirls? The money may be fake, but the enjoyment is 100% pure gold.

Cocktail bartenders will conjure up incredible cocktails for your guests. Expect flying bottles, swirling shakers, exotic ingredients and a taste sensation in every glass. Photo booths bring out the teenager in everyone, so get in there and banish those passport photo horrors to history! Hire some paparazzi desperate to take your guests’ photos, and get the latest scoop. Give your guests a taste of celebrity fame when the pics get posted online to a private micro-site, to view and buy if they wish. Turn your venue into a comedy club with classic stand-up by tomorrow’s stars, or today’s big names. If you’ve got the budget, we’ve got the best comedians to hire.

It’s been an amazing day, so why not finish it with a stunning fireworks display, custom-made to your venue and requirements, and with your choice of sound track or even live music. We hope we’ve given you food for thought, so when you book your wedding think of Red Masque entertainment – it really couldn’t be simpler.

Planning the perfect party

Posted on by

My Auntie has a huge celebration for her 60th birthday party. With over 100+ guests packed into function rooms, she was determined to create an inclusive evening of live and unique entertainment for everybody attending. A night where everyone could get dressed up and simply have a great time from start to finish.

Red Masque are able to book individual artists for events as well as a full evenings worth of continuous live entertainment at parties such as this one.  

A stunning visual effect was created by booking one of Red Masque’s living statues who greeted guests on arrival. They went down a storm and were a real conversation starter… “Rather than get your drinks from the bar, you could go and get one from a living statue!” (This by the way was in the shape of a table)

The next surprise was a quartet of comedy singers who broke into song during the drinks reception to much awe and wonder from all in attendance. They were by far the favourite of many of the guests and left everyone excited for what was coming up next!

Then a fantastic live jazz band and swing band hired for the event. They started the party as people were moving from one room to the other, getting everybody in the mood for dancing!

During the sit down meal, three magicians, performed to guests in their seats with card tricks, sleight of hand and close up magic leaving all in attendance both entertained and perplexed as only magicians can!

Also providing a background ambience and continuing the jazz music theme during the meal was a saxophone artist. The incredible sax playing really added some continuity to the musical background of the event so far.

And finally, the 8-piece function band opened up the dancefloor with everyone in attendance putting on their dancing shoes and taking to the floor. Excite put their stamp on every song and provided the perfect round off to the evening

The entertainment really helped make this party into an event and a show to be beat! With wall-to-wall entertainment throughout the night from start to finish, all gaps were filled with a number of the guests commenting on how they’d never been to such an entertaining party!

So, if you think you’d like something similar for your party, please feel free to browse on our gallery and see what you can come up with to hire. Not is only is an event like this great fun for you and your guests on the night, but you’ll be safe in the knowledge that you will hire only the best artists in the business.

Entertaining the kids

Posted on by

So, the kids have stopped playing with their Christmas presents ages ago and they’re board (as usual.) Would you like some ideas on how to entertain them? We’ve come up with some great places to take them and also some DIY at home entertainment for you to hire.

A day at the museum
London museums open their doors again this weekend, and at the Science Museum there’s a fab exhibition on the birth of the space age; great for any budding cosmonauts.

But if you don’t fancy going out albeit only in the garden, build yourself a bubble-powered rocket fuelled by indigestion tablets. We are sure you will be able to find a great children’s entertainer that you can hire from Red Masque. The right entertainer will keep them amused for hours.

A Prima ballerina 
Make a budding ballerina’s dream come true with a performance of The Nutcracker by the English National Ballet.
Our suggestion: You can book ballet dance shows, with a prima ballerina teaching your child and her friends a ballet class, hair and makeup techniques and even giving a private performance. Move over Angelina mouse!

Ski Sunday
If, for you, a skiing holiday is as much about the après-ski as the slopes and wet stuff; it’s probably just as well this week. The European ski resorts are suffering from a lack of the white stuff, and you might spend more time perfecting your kids entertaining skills rather than your downhill! So, save a chalet-load of cash and take the kids to an indoor snow centre like Snow-Dome in Tamworth – other domes are available!), where they can toboggan, snowboard and freestyle to their heart’s content.

Red Masque’s suggestion: Hold a ski party! For inside parties, hire an ice sculpture and watch on a big screen some snow-boarding.  For outside events, hire an ice rink and even a snow machine if budget will allow. And, of course, you’ll need suitable music – a Snow Patrol tribute band perhaps?

Fun at the circus
Circus acts are definitely cool this year, and there are some excellent circus shows on offer this year. As Easter is fastly approaching Circus tents will be popping up all over the country which will include trapeze artists, clowns, jugglers, aerialists and acrobats.

Red Masque’s suggestion: If you think circus is impressive from the cheap seats in a tent, it’s utterly astounding close up! Hire an aerialist from Red Masque and all you’ll need is a high enough ceiling for their kit – they’ll provide the rest! Elegant, exciting and enjoyable entertainment for parties, promotions and more. Or for more circus for your cash, you can add jugglers, stilt walkers and acrobatic artists from us too.

Hopefully we’ve given you a bit of inspiration and made you think that next time, instead of you going to the fun; the fun can come to you… Have a great weekend!

Messing about on the river…

Posted on by

You don’t have to own a mega yacht to hold a party on the water! The UK has a great assortment of water-based venues for hire, from barges to battleships; Red Masque entertainment directory has a wealth of entertainment to make your event something really special.

We have listed a few ideas of maritime venues and entertainment that seem just made for each other!

HMS BELFAST IN LONDON
Yes, you can hire this iconic WWII battleship moored on the Thames. Hold an intimate drinks party in the Admiral’s Quarters, or enjoy great views of London from the Quarterdeck with 450 of your closest friends for your wedding reception. 

LIVERPOOL LUXURY YACHT
Why not party like a Lottery winner for your hen night on your own private luxury yacht, sailing from the famous Albert Docks in Liverpool out into the Irish Sea to the iconic Anthony Gormley statues (weather permitting). Perfect for you and your very own Ocean’s Twelve (i.e. 12 people max). Then why not book some dancing when you return back to the Albert Docks where you can hire a venue and dance the night away with some great female, male or group singers which will really make your party a night to remember!!

MANCHESTER PARTY BARGE
Manchester barge The Bohemia can whisk you and up to 60 guests along the hidden waterways of central Manchester for a birthday party or anniversary celebration with a difference. With space to enjoy live music on your travels, and a route that takes you past the iconic Old Trafford football ground, this is an evening to savour. Other iconic waterways offering party barges including the Tiverton Canal, Lancaster Canal and the city with more canals than Venice – Birmingham!

For entertainment ideas for smaller venues such as a barge, opt for a compact musicians that play all your favourite hits with the minimum of kit. If these aren’t appealing, why not look on our gallery of artists to see which suits your tastes as we have many to choose from. From singers to magicians, we have every entertainment option covered.

THE BRISTOL PACKET
Charter a boat to party on the River Avon as it flows through the Avon Gorge, under the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge and out to sea. The Bristol Packet company offer a choice of boats, including a traditional river steamer, an Amsterdam sightseeing boat, and an all-weather cruiser made for parties. All boats have a full bar and food can be provided. You will need some music so hire the perfect DJ from Red Masque entertainment directory.

SPITBANK FORT – THE SOLENT

OK, it’s not a boat, but it is very much on the sea! Spitbank Fort is a Napoleonic gun emplacement just 30 minutes boat ride off the coast at Portsmouth. It’s been converted into a luxurious party venue complete with roof top hot pool, sauna and fire pit. Start the fun with water sports during the day, then chill out in the pool before dinner with a drink from the bar, and dance the night away under the stars. No need for you and your best friends to worry about a taxi home either; the fort has nine bedrooms and sleeps 18! 

So what acts could you hire for this fort? Pretty much anything you like, as loud as you like – there are no neighbours to annoy!