Chris Hampton is a party-planning specialist, with a number of thriving entertainment technology businesses based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Most recently, he started Boogie Heads—a company offering special technology to entertain guests at parties and events. In this article, Hampton talks about how to please guests of all ages at your next event or gathering.
Creating kid-friendly entertainment is something that has been making Disney money for many years. But it is something that a lot of other media and entertainment companies are just now trying to capitalize on, as they begin to widen their demographic and get more people to watch their movies and videos.
Among the most recent films that have come out, for example, there has been a definite lean toward making things more clean, friendly, and entertaining for a wider audience. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but it seems like there have been a lot fewer horror movies out in theaters in the past few years. At the same time, there have been many more movies rated PG-13 or below.
The reason for the shift has to do with audiences. A PG-13 movie can get a lot more of a crowd into the theater, because there are literally more people who can watch the film. But at the same time, if you are going to have a family-friendly movie that’s aimed at kids, you as the movie’s creator need to make sure there are enough jokes in there to keep the parents happy, too. That’s what film studios and companies are trying to do: make movies that will please everyone.
That leads into the creation of the perfect entertainment idea: making something that is funny and fun for a wide variety of people to participate in. I have been doing this for years: creating businesses with entertainment ideas that entire families can enjoy.
I own a murder mystery dinner theater in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. In this murder mystery dinner theater we stage comedic situations, and one is called “Mystery of the Redneck Italian Wedding.” The whole premise of the play is basically that a bunch of rednecks are marrying into an Italian mafia family. It is silly and fun, but we keep it all family-friendly so that the six-year-old laughs, the 42-year-old laughs, and everyone wins.
I like creating this type of entertainment because I view it as a challenge to make everyone in the room laugh.
Boogie Heads is another example of this type of all-inclusive entertainment. Boogie Heads is just as fun for adults as it is for kids, especially because it involves popular music that everyone knows and has listened to before.
At parties for children, it can sometimes be hard to draw shy kids out of their shell. One of the games we like to play at our Boogie Heads parties is one where the birthday boy or girl gets to pick who sits on the stools and dances to the songs, and what songs they are going to “dance” to.
That’s why I love this business so much: Everyone is having a lot of fun all the time. But overall, I tend to have a personal attraction to entertainment opportunities that are equally fun for younger and older folks. I think this personal interaction is what creates the best events for everyone involved, whether it’s a child’s birthday party, a family reunion, or a corporate event.
