We are a company dedicated to Inclusive character representation of heroes that our children look up to. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do.
Dream Parties offers children's character entertainment from an inclusive standpoint, whether that be princesses, superheroes or unique characters that we create. This is the whole reason we launched - in order to represent every little child!
Dream Parties was founded from the perspective of a BIPOC mother with interracial children - Indian and Haitian descent. I grew up loving Disney and loving fairy tales in general. But, even as a child I realized none of these characters looked at all like me. I remember asking my mother as we walked down the aisle of K-mart (perhaps I've aged myself here with reference to this store), "why aren't there any dolls that look like me?" This is exactly the type of question I don't want my 3 daughter's to ask me, albeit, this is still very much an issue today. There has to be representation for all little children - I'm talking skin colour, ethnicity, anything related to body image, you name it!
My 3 year old cutie with the Easter Bunny
I have made it my mission to make children's character entertainment as inclusive as possible. Every child deserves to see themselves in their favourite superhero or princess! If you're looking for a Disney Park's character, I know there are companies that cater to that specific genre and we are most definitely not that.
Why is Inclusion so important in Children's Entertainment?
When I was a child, I don't believe we had the luxury of questioning things.... "it is just how things are." If I went to K-mart and got to choose a toy, it would most definitely not resemble the way I look. My parents would often just ignore the questions I asked as they knew this is "just the way things are." Lack of representation of brown and black people within children's and adult's entertainment, in the toy industry and in the media is "just the way things are."
"Just the way things are" is not okay today. We have realized and studies have shown, that having a diverse workforce and educational setting is not only beneficial to black and brown children, but, to everyone! There is a unique perspective an organization or educational institution gets when they operate from a standpoint of diversity and inclusion. There have been studies done to prove the advantages of having a diverse workforce in terms of productivity, creativity and overall well-being of these organizations.
So, what does all of this have to with children's character entertainment? Well.... a lot. Here's why. If a child grows up thinking "this is just the way things are" and there is no representation of themselves within their favourite childhood heroes, then where will these children find the confidence and comfort in vocalizing their ideas and thoughts? Their heroes sound and look a certain way, but not like them... so, how can they themselves be a hero if none resemble them? It is so crucial to have representation in schools, in the media and in entertainment for children so they can feel that they truly belong - no matter where in the world they may be. This is why I have made it my life's mission to focus on Inclusion in children's entertainment. We may not be everyone's cup of tea, but, we feel we are doing important things to help for a better, kinder and more inclusive future generation.
What type of characters will you find with us?
We have a diverse range of characters and performers on our team. While we do have some very talented performing artists, we also work with local youth within Simcoe County, GTA and soon in Durham region. We make it our mission to work with BIPOC performers and performers who work with children like teachers and ECE's. The one thing we all have in common is that we love working with children. This is more important to our mission than the "performance" piece of our job.
Since we do not have a big focus on being like a "Parks Princess," we are heavily activity based. We do activities from face painting to interactive games and crafts, song and dance and of course story-time and photos. We do have performers on the team who can sing and dance beautifully and some that can engage with kids like no other. This is where it helps to have teachers on our team!
We offer custom characters along with character representations of children's favourite princesses and superheroes. We are super excited to be launching a new project with Multicultural Princesses! This will be aligned with our Inclusion Project that will be launching shortly! We will provide parents with the option to include an Inclusive Story during the story times offered within our packages. We cannot wait to get this off the ground in 2023! We hope to work with parents that feel inclusion and representation is important in today's world and welcome you to follow us on social media to keep up to date on the latest news and of course new character developments!
Keep up to date with the latest blogs, party tips and new and upcoming character creations! Subscribe Now!