Tag Archives: guests

Jazz it up!

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Most professional piano entertainers are able to play in the style of jazz to varying degrees, without actually being a legit jazz pianist. For many clients; Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble are jazz, and those are the melodies they want to hear. Maybe they want to hear some light FM melodies sprinkled in. Other clients want to hear classic old time Jazz and these clients would require a legitimate jazz trained pianist. Both styles are completely valid for classy cocktail music, and to be brutally honest, the majority of the guests will not know the difference unless it’s pointed out to them.

You’re having a classy event, perhaps a corporate holiday party or a cocktail hour for your wedding reception. You call up a company like Red Masque and you look on the many hired entertainment that you could get. You may want a piano player to play background music during your cocktail hour, something “jazzy”.

From the musician’s point of view, it takes much more training to achieve the status of a true jazz pianist, and as such, they get more respect in the music world. Even cocktail players that play “jazzy”, or “in a jazz style” really have a limited jazz vocabulary and can’t really “hang” with the straight up jazz crowd.

From the standpoint of a client looking for background music at their event, in our experience, it’s usually not important to them whether they are hearing legitimate jazz improvisation, or “jazzy” version of a melody. Just because it’s not straight up jazz doesn’t make it unsophisticated.

As for the pricing, with any professional entertainment you are paying for professionalism, experience, musicality, and a classy presentation that can float in the background, adding ambiance and being complimentary to party chatter. Whether it’s “cocktail music” or true jazz, the cost is generally going to be the same.

There are other things that will impact your cost more than the style you choose.

A very happy anniversary!!

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In modern times an anniversary celebration is usually held as a day of remembrance to commemorate a special event, particularly one of historical, national or personal importance: a person’s death, the anniversary of the founding of Rome or more usually a wedding anniversary.

With music being one of the most important aspects of any party you might think about a themed band or DJ to play music from the era of your wedding. For example, why not book a swing band or Jazz Band for your 50th or 60th wedding anniversary party or a Rock N Roll band for all you 1960’s or 70’s newlyweds.

Many of Red Masque tribute bands will perform in costume which can lead to even greater amusement if you make it compulsory that all your guests must dress up in gear that was trendy in the year you were married, especially if any of them still have original items of clothing from those days!

Maybe you were married abroad, be it Ireland, the Caribbean or Greece so why provide a band who will perform music traditional to that country; which will get everyone jigging, or a top class steel band to re-invoke the sound of the sea and the swaying palms you enjoyed on your Caribbean wedding day.

Many people choose to organise a 1st, 2nd or 3rd year wedding party featuring the same band they hired for their wedding day. Your guests will have loved them the first time around so it’s a pretty safe bet that the next performance will be just as great.

If you’re asking guests to wear fancy dress, then your room should be decorated in a similar theme.

For a personal treat you should ask all your friends to bring photos, anecdotes and tall tales about your years as a married couple. You can later compile these into an album to look back on and savour for years to come.

Create a bit of nostalgia

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Why not have your very own Vintage theme party and serve up vintage style beverages– why not browse our Red Masque website today to arrange the ideal food and drinks entertainment for your corporate event.

Book string quartet for your vintage corporate event to give your guests the rare opportunity to relive the 1950s musical trend that was three-part harmony singing. Close harmony singing requires huge talent and many years of practice, and when executed magnificently, like our artists can, your guests will be blown away!

Vintage themed corporate events are a big hit this year. There are all sorts of great vintage style corporate entertainment to be hired, including: a 1950s inspired pool party, complete with dressed up waitresses and synchronised swimmers; seeing the likes of 40s/50s dance troupes with a Vintage DJ….

Jazz bands and orchestras dominated what we now call the ‘vintage music scene’ of the early 20th century, which became popular in the 1910s in New Orleans and quickly spread to the UK and Europe. We have a huge collection of jazz bands, duos, trios and Jazz artists to give your vintage themed corporate entertainment the sophistication and class it needs – enquire today!

Where jazz brings sophistication, class and charm; swing, jive and rock n roll will bring movement and lots of it! Get your guests dancing all night long with one of Red Masques directory artists using swing bands, jive bands or 50s style rock and roll bands.

When you book your corporate entertainment through Red Masque entertainment you are guaranteed a class act from professional musicians and entertainers.

To book your ideal vintage corporate event entertainment, just click on the band or entertainer’s name and fill out and online booking form there and then. You are then able to discuss in personal all your needs and wants for your important corporate event.

Dare we mention Christmas?

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It will soon be almost that time of year when you dig out your fluffy jumper, drink mulled wine and enjoy the holiday with friends and families.

Did you know that almost 11 million Brits will go to their works’ Christmas party this year? It is an annual event to let your hair down and have fun and what Christmas party would be complete without some embarrassing dancing?!?

If you haven’t yet started thinking about how you will celebrate this year, now is definitely the time to get brainstorming. Restaurants and venues will start getting booked up and before you know it will be just a few weeks away and you’ll have nothing planned.

So without further ado, here are 10 fun ideas for your work party in 2016:

1. Santa’s Grotto

This can be a truly magical way to bring some fun into the office! Why not get the boss to hand out everyone’s Secret Santa presents in a grotto whilst dressed like Father Christmas himself against a Winter Wonderland backdrop?

2.Snow Machine.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Add some festive spirit to your event with fake snow. Activate it to sprinkle soft snow drops over everyone as they arrive to the party. Everyone loves snow and it can transform the venue into a magical wonderland.

3. Rodeo Reindeer

Who can resist having a go on a bucking, spinning and twisting bronco reindeer? Everyone in the office will have a barrel of laughs trying to stay on as long as possible. The question is, who out of the team will win?

4. Santa and Elf hire

If you don’t want to dress up, why not hire a Santa and Elf characters? They are the perfect addition to your Christmas event and can help liven up the crowd to create a fun, memorable evening.

5. Santa’s Thrones

What better way to surprise the boss than hire an Elaborate Santa throne? Fit for a King (or Queen), these beauties would look amazing in your office and definitely create a festive feel to get everyone excited for the holidays.

6. Christmas Prop Hire

If you just plan on throwing the work’s do at the office during work hours, go to town with Christmas decorations! We have a fabulous range of props that you can hire including a cute frosty snowman, beautifully decorated presents to put under the Christmas tree, reindeer ornaments and much more.

7. Christmas Cash Grabber

Take your mind back to The Crystal Maze and ever wondered how you would do in the final trying to grab all that cash quickly? Well you could find out for real with our fun Christmas Cash Cube Grabber. And you decide what the flying paper targets are be it vouchers, funny money or stickers! They can be perfect for office promotions.

8. Photo Booth

A better way to get all the staff together and have fun than in front of a festive background, wearing funny props and making fools of themselves? Hiring a photo booth can be the perfect entertainment idea and the staff can even record their own holiday cheer messages to each other with a video option.

9. Casino Tables

From poker to blackjack to enthralling roulette, casino tables offer a thrilling and addictive experience that will leave the entire office wanting more! Even if gambling isn’t your forte, we guarantee everyone will have an amazing time and our authentic casino tables will definitely impress.

10. Christmas Tree Buzz Wire

Have you got nerves of steel to take on the Christmas Tree Buzz Wire challenge? Who in the office has the steadiest hand and who will crack under pressure? This simple but fun entertainment idea will have everyone biting their fingernails in anticipation. With the timer counting down and your heart beating out of your chest, will you be able to withstand the tension to come out victorious?

So there you have it; 10 sure-fire ways to make your office Christmas party that little bit different this year! After all, who wants just boring party with a DJ and food when you can have a bucking bronco reindeer and a photo booth.

40th/50th /60th Birthday Ideas

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Why not give your loved one a special birthday to remember for years to come and here is a taster of what was on offer at this particular one:?

This particular party was all arranged to ensure that guests never knew quite what was coming next:

Just sixty minutes from London, Aynhoe Park offers a luxurious private home and embodies pure British eccentricity from top to toe. For Friday night, guests were treated to a sumptuous dinner and comic delights.

When you hire Aynhoe Park, it essentially becomes your home. You can do as you please and there are fantastic events staff on hand to cater to your needs. It really is an incredible place. Acts were provided to be immersive, with no obvious staging required. Saturday night was the big party day and guests could move freely from room to room, never knowing what they were about to encounter. With no announcements necessary, the evening flowed beautifully and it was a fantastic idea to enhance the event.

The pop-up nature of the evening began with a superb pianist, who performed on the vintage piano as partygoers took in the experience; drinking their cocktails, sampling the canapés on display and marvelling at the Aynhoe Park experience and quirky nature of the event!

In a different area of Aynhoe Park; A Capella singing combined with a beatboxer more than delivered and really got the party started. Guests were whooping and cheering throughout, even calling out for an encore, which was duly respected!

And for a finale, what better act than the illuminating lights of a fire show. Performing in the orangery with the audience surrounding them, they managed to create a club-inspired atmosphere that was perfect to lead into the DJ who played across two different zones – his first set was commercial pop and dance floor fillers, before moving onto deep house music until 4am!

Retirement party ideas

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If you’re planning a party for a work colleague, a novel party idea is to give a countdown clock which runs backwards for 6 months until the last day of work, ideal for someone whose retirement can’t arrive too soon!

Traditionally a gold watch was given to prized employees retiring after 30 years, though long service medals and other gifts were often given depending on the nature of the job or the type of work carried out.

These days the whole emphasis of working life is much more temporary than ever before in history, with few people expecting to stay in the same employment for 30 months, let alone 30 years!

If you, or someone you know, have been lucky enough to keep the same job right up to retirement age then they certainly deserve a fun-filled and exciting send off.

Party Themes…

To decide on a theme for your party, choose something relevant to the retiree, for example a favourite hobby, a work related topic, their favourite musical era or the place they’re retiring to, especially if this is abroad.

A popular theme is to dress up and hire a live band to suit the era when the retiree started work. For the 50’s choose a rock n roll band or Elvis Tribute singer for the 60’s go with a Beatles tribute band, for the 70’s how about a 70’s tribute act? The options are endless.

We also have a great range of lookalike artists for hire so why not surprise the retiree with a visit from their favourite celebrity or sports star?

Decorate to suit the theme…

You should dress the entire venue with memorabilia, ‘Happy Retirement’ banners and decorations which follow the theme in seamless detail. Lots of companies supply party props and ‘scene setters’

If you choose a golf theme for example then decorate the room as a golf course, with elaborate sand pits, flags, golf ball name settings and card board cut outs of famous golfers. Everyone should arrive in outrageous golfing trousers and pringle jumpers, and if your venue is a golf club why not include half an hour on the driving range before dinner?

This is your life!

A great idea for a surprise retirement party is to hold your own version of the TV show ‘This is your life’.

Friends, family and colleagues will love collecting stories, photos and tales of long-forgotten, and often best forgotten antics from the workplace or otherwise. Try and get in touch with old colleagues or long lost friends and invite them along in secret, introducing them at the perfect moment for an emotional reunion.

A confident younger relative or the retiree’s manager should host the event. Buy a ‘big red book’ as an album for the collection and present it to the retiree at the end of the night.

Creative ideas for corporate events

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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 entertainment hire for your next corporate event in 2016? Red Masque directory have the hottest trends and acts for corporate, and company parties to ensure your VIPs are very impressed and your boss 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.

The fascination with all things 007 is as strong as ever. The difference for 2016 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.

Make 2016 a year to remember

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2015 has seen Red Masque entertainment directory – bringing party entertainment to events all over London and beyond. We’ve also seen some of our former acts go on to big things.

As an agency bursting at the seams with talent, here we look at just a couple of our recently added acts to look out for in 2016.

Male and Female singers stormed onto the Red Masque Entertainment directory in late 2014 and are picking up great feedback wherever they go! The boys and girls have put everything in their set lists to make sure that everyone’s musical tastes are pampered to.

Many people believe that Rock’n’Roll will never die and here at Red Masque, we tend to agree. So when our 60’s bands are hired out, it makes us Rock ‘n’ Roll too. With a completely authentic feel and sound, these bands deliver a full sound which is bound to keep the Dance floor full at many different types of event

There’s no denying that when Dynamo and Derren Brown came onto the scene, magic got very cool again. Our illusionists work along the same ethos – sharply dressed and delivering amazing tricks using any number of items including phones, cash and other belongings and also engages with a persona that sees guests always trying to lure him back to their table to do “one more trick”!

London based Musicians with Guitars and along with silky vocals to put well known songs in a different light. Thanks to a set list that can go from Beyoncé, Farrell Williams, The Beatles and Louis Armstrong. Guitar soloists are to feature very heavily in 2016.

You can be confident that whatever event you’re planning, we offer one of the biggest and most diverse choices of corporate event entertainment to hire to make sure you get the perfect act for your event in 2016 and beyond!

Outdoor music events

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Outdoor music events are some of the most engaging and lively performance opportunities for any entertainer. The thrill of being in front of a huge crowd in an open space is enough for most artists to eagerly agree to a performance. But as every outdoor event environment comes with a unique set of challenges, an open air performance is an animal of its own. It’s crucial to be properly prepared and maintain good communication with your client. Here are a few things you’ll need to discuss prior to the event.

Mother Nature

Mother Nature is a fickle lady you’ll want to keep your eye on. Because this element is completely out of your control, you’ll need to check the forecast well in advance and all the way up to the day of the event. Include a plan for inclement weather in your booking agreement that clearly outlines what is to be expected in these cases. Whether it’s an alternative venue or rescheduling the event altogether, make sure you and your client agree to the specifics.

If there is a performance stage at the event, make sure it’s covered. A covered stage not only protects against rain, but it keeps the equipment and performers cool and out of direct sunlight. Stay hydrated, take advantage of the break times you’ve discussed with your client, and keep extra gear with you for unexpected hiccups.

Power

Always make sure your power needs are communicated with your client in advance. Getting power may be as simple as running a few extension cords, but be sure to ask the important questions to make the event organizer aware of any details that might have been overlooked.

Will a safety-certificated power supply be provided close to the performance area?
If power is supplied by a generator, will it be located at a distance far enough away as to not affect the performance?
What limitations exist regarding the running of cables within the site?
Will a PA system be available or provided by the talent?

Extra Equipment

​At every outdoor event, you’ll want to bring extra gear, but outdoor parties and events make it necessary to bring things that are not ordinarily needed.

Extension cords. It’s typical that you have to stretch our reach when playing outside.
Power generator. This can also be a big help if playing where you’re not in proximity to a building or power source.
Drum rug. This helps prevents music kits from “crawling” on a slippery surface.
Water for hydration.
Sunscreen; playing guitar in 3 hours of afternoon sun (it’s a no brainer!!).

City or Area Restrictions

When performing or planning outdoor events, be aware of any local sound ordinances. Many communities have a specific time of the day when the sound should stop, and a certain decibel level that the noise should not exceed.

Make sure that the client has contacted the appropriate council offices for rules and information according to their local guidelines. You don’t want to run into an issue that prevents you from being paid for a full set.

There are many things to consider when playing at an outdoor venue. Be sure to ask your client the necessary questions, and once you’ve got all the specifics, list all of the details in the booking agreement.

Happy outdoor eventing!

Your very own BAFTA award ceremony

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With the BAFTAs, Oscars and the BRIT Awards all upcoming this month, we are fully invested in awards shows and awards month, so today we’re taking a look at how to make your awards show that much more exciting!

Unless you’re actually shortlisted or nominated for an award, an awards evening can be a rather dull affair. Thankfully, here are five fabulous ways to improve the awards evening using event entertainment.

Live Show

This goes without saying but many people don’t really ever think about it, despite the fact that every famous awards show tends to begin with one hell of an exciting opening. Simply look on Twitter the day after a big awards bash and no doubt an eight-minute host –led song and dance routine will have had the crowd in raptures. You might not have the budget to hire Huge Jackman, but there are always other options. An indoor fire display is sure to get the pulse racing ahead of the nominations.

Awards Stings

We’ve all seen awards shows on television and to be honest, they all do the same frustrating thing when somebody wins an award. The lucky winner stands up, hugs a few people nearby and then proceeds to the stage whilst a brass band play. A brass band? This is 2016! Let’s liven it up a bit. If you hire a beatbox crew, you get an astonishing slice of entertainment every few minutes.

Cocktail Maker

Why not make getting a drink a little bit more fun than usual? The easy way to do this is to hire a few cocktail makers who understand the art of theatrics and entertainment in putting together a cocktail. It is not simply pouring a few liquids together but perhaps setting it alight, throwing it up and down and adding an umbrella at the end.

Vintage Paparazzi

With vintage paparazzi at your event, everybody will get their photo taken and feel like their privacy is being invaded just like the celebrities you see in the paper. Great fun and you’ll get to sigh with relief that it doesn’t happen to you every day!