It’s been a tough road these past few weeks. I feel you: not just as a small business owner desperately trying to survive this pandemic, but also as a bride who called off her wedding in November and had to come face to face with the cringy “non-refundable deposit” policy outlined on the contracts of so many of my vendors. I understand this is a stressful time for many, and the result can be fear and frustration. Before I dive into all of the good stuff, first let me lay out the reasons behind contracts and what we do behind the scenes at Pacific Fairytales!
The Non-Refundable Deposit (#6 in your Service Agreement)
Pacific Fairytales is constantly investing in quality tools/material/education to continuously be enhancing the quality of service – examples include paying professional seamstresses for constant fixes due to wear and tear, having wig stylists come in 1-2 times per week, ordering top quality fabric and beading, ordering the physical event supplies and maintaining the high quality standard our clients know and trust (right now, Kathryn Bass bridal is building our new Elsa gown, and it is STUNNING). It also includes sub-contracting professional theatre actors for your secured event date and time, and paying overhead costs (office space, admin team, legal team, accounting, marketing, insurance, etc).
As you can see from the above, the reason that we charge a retainer is not to cover the day of the event, but rather an entire process leading up to it. It is not a hold for your date; it is an investment in an entire beautiful dance, which you then get to see the final performance of.
Crazy that you get all of that, PLUS an hour or two with a professional actor for those prices? We know 🙂 Part of our mandate is keeping our pricing affordable so that every family is able to partake in the magic of what we do.
Now for the good stuff…
Our Solutions
We value our clients. We know this circumstance is challenging and scary and we want to do everything we can to try and keep the magic going for you. This is why our company owner is personally volunteering all administrative hours to offer the following solutions to our clients with events that have been impacted by this.
1. RESCHEDULING FEE WAIVED. All parties that need to be rescheduled due to COVID-19 will have their rescheduling fees and all resulting administrative fees waived, within reason. If clients do not have a new alternative date yet or do not respond to the correspondence emailed to them by Pacific Fairytales, Pacific Fairytales will move their booking ahead by 6 months (see #24 of your Service Agreement) and the client can then contact Pacific Fairytales to arrange a new date at a later time, based on availability.
2. ONLINE OFFERINGS. Many of our clients are now taking their events online, be it with a character zoom date, snail mail package, or video message! You can visit our online offerings page and apply your deposit towards any of the suggested ideas! Any remaining amounts will be kept on file for future bookings.
3. GIFT CERTIFICATES. Can’t use your deposit now? That’s okay. Because of the unusual circumstances, Pacific Fairytales is willing to put any unused amount onto a Gift Certificate which you can gift to a friend!
Bonus Treats
1. FREE CHARACTER VIDEO. We know a cancelled party can be disappointing for kids and we’d like to still make sure that the day itself is special. For any clients that have been forced to postpone their original event date due to government restrictions surrounding COVID-19, one of our characters will film a free 2 minute video for you to share with your child on the big day!
2. INSTAGRAM OFFERINGS. From “Move Your Body” daily segments with different characters, to Actor Challenges, to weekday Storytimes with Belle and Hermione, our actors are generously volunteering their time to keep your kids engaged from the safety of your living room! Feel free to visit us @pacificfairytales to see all of the fun ways you can engage with us (for free!) during this time.
Thank you for your support; as a small Vancouver business, we are incredibly appreciative of how wonderfully supportive our clients have been throughout this process. Your donations, emails, and words of kindness over social media are keeping us strong. We can’t wait to get back at it and throw you the BEST PARTY EVER!
Many Thanks,
Kirsty Provan
Owner/Founder
Pacific Fairytales
Aerhyn has been wowing audiences in musicals and children’s theatre around Vancouver and all across the country since 2004, as well as providing voices for video games. Most recently, he’s been a part of two touring Theatre for Young Audiences shows in Baking Time (Presentation House Theatre) and Raven Meets the Monkey King (Axis Theatre), as well as having recently returned from Regina, Saskatchewan as a part of the SaskExpress touring company. He has spent the better part of the last 10 years teaching hip hop and musical theatre to students between the ages of 5 to 22, and was the resident choreographer for the Eric Hamber Secondary musical production. Aerhyn also enjoys recording his Tune-Up Thursdays acapella covers, anything that involves food (cooking and consuming), cycling, and playing volleyball.