On Saturday, 10 June 2017, Elissa and I had a lovely time with our children’s entertainment and activity provider industry peers at the 2017 National What’s On 4 Kids Conference and Awards.
The guest speakers at the conference taught us a lot about our industry and all the different ways we can share our services with parents and teachers.
We even got to meet TV stars Tina Harris and Mark Harris from Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band – as seen nationally on ABC Kids, Channel Seven and Nick Jr.
The awards night was a fun gala dinner where we recognised all the entertainers and activity providers around Australia who are doing great things for kids.
We were a finalist in the ‘Best Party Entertainment’ category.
Best Children’s Party Entertainment (Party Planners and Entertainers, Clowns etc) sponsored by Lah Lah’s Big Live Band
To be a finalist is a big deal in itself! And while other categories all had five finalists, ours had seven! A huge congratulations to the winning finalist Kids Disco Parties. They provide kids around Melbourne with awesome dance parties at schools and birthday events each week!
We brought Troggg and Flossy along to bring lots of smiles and laughter to everybody in attendance at both the conference and the awards, and received a lot of very nice compliments, and posed in a lot of photos and selfies with everybody.
It was a very fun weekend at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane.
On Friday, 30 November 2018, Elissa and I had a lovely time with fellow business owners and staff at the 2018 Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards.
Hosted by Robin Bailey (Triple M Radio, Nine Network’s Weekend Today), the Eatons Hill Hotel & Function Centre Grand Ballroom was filled with a few hundred owners and staff members from Moreton Bay Region businesses who were nominees and finalists in the awards.
The awards night was a fun gala dinner where we recognised all the hard work done by businesses big and small from around the region.
We were a finalist in the ‘Quest Community News Business Marketing Excellence Award’ category. Winner –Caboolture RSL
Kindred
Larrikin Puppets
Sebel Margate
Sesame Lane Childcare and Kindergarten
To be a finalist is a big deal in itself! A huge congratulations to the winning finalist Caboolture RSL!
We brought Troggg and Marina along to bring lots of smiles and laughter to everybody in attendance at the awards, and received a lot of very nice compliments, and posed in a lot of photos and selfies with everybody.
It was a very fun night out at the Eatons Hill Hotel.
Tonight’s the night! We’re putting on our fancy duds, grabbing a couple of puppets and heading to the Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards Gala Dinner this evening! We’re finalists in the Quest Community News Business Marketing Excellence Award category. Fingers crossed! ?
Quest Community News Business Marketing Excellence Award
Caboolture RSL
Kindred
Larrikin Puppets
Sebel Margate
Sesame Lane Care and Kindergarten
Troggg and Marina will be coming along with us to meet and mingle with the other business nominees and finalists at the gala dinner.
Larrikin Puppets is a nominee in the 2018 Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards!
We’re very happy to be a nominated business in the Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards this year. Puppets are quirky and puppet businesses are niche, so it’s nice to receive a bit of recognition. Winning an award would be amazing and very good for the growth of this plucky little puppetry business. Fingers crossed! We’ll see how we go.
The Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards aims to underpin economic diversification and sustainability through the recognition, reward and support of business growth, invention and innovation across the Region.
On Saturday, 10 June 2017, Elissa and I had a lovely time with our children’s entertainment and activity provider industry peers at the 2017 National What’s On 4 Kids Conference and Awards.
The guest speakers at the conference taught us a lot about our industry and all the different ways we can share our services with parents and teachers. We even got to meet TV stars Tina Harris and Mark Harris from Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band – as seen nationally on ABC Kids, Channel Seven and Nick Jr.
The awards night was a fun gala dinner where we recognised all the entertainers and activity providers around Australia who are doing great things for kids.
We were a finalist in the ‘Best Party Entertainment’ category. Best Children’s Party Entertainment (Party Planners and Entertainers, Clowns etc) sponsored by Lah Lah’s Big Live Band Winner –Kids Disco Parties
Happily Ever Laughter Children’s Entertainment
Larrikin Puppets
Strawberry Fundaes Kids Parties
Superstar Parties
SuperSteph’s Super Party Heroes
Unreal Kids Parties
To be a finalist is a big deal in itself! And while other categories all had five finalists, ours had seven! A huge congratulations to the winning finalist Kids Disco Parties. They provide kids around Melbourne with awesome dance parties at schools and birthday events each week!
We brought Troggg and Flossy along to bring lots of smiles and laughter to everybody in attendance at both the conference and the awards, and received a lot of very nice compliments, and posed in a lot of photos and selfies with everybody.
It was a very fun weekend at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane.
Previously we wrote a blog post about how Larrikin Puppets was nominated in the national What’s On 4 Kids Awards in the ‘Best Party Entertainment’ category.
Well, thanks to all of your votes, we are now a finalist in that category! Thank you very much, everybody!
We’ve answered some interview questions and are looking forward to attending the big What’s On 4 Kids Conference and the Awards Dinner, both being held on Saturday, 10 June at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane. Troggg and Fossy (with Brett and Elissa) will be attending too, and meeting several other great entertainers and educators from around Australia.
The Best Children’s Party Entertainer category (Party Planners and Entertainers, Clowns etc) sponsored by Lah Lah’s Big Live Band has been narrowed down to seven finalists. They are:
Happily Ever Laughter Children’s Entertainment
Kids Disco Parties
Larrikin Puppets
Strawberry Fundae Kids Parties
Superstar Parties
SuperSteph’s Super Party Heroes
Unreal Kids Parties
A lot of competition here from some truly amazing and hard working entertainers. So please keep your fingers and toes crossed for little old us! 🙂
Whatever the outcome, we’re looking forward to spending a full day and night listening to guest speakers who are industry leaders in the children’s entertainment biz, and cheering on our fellow finalists who all share our passion for bringing smiles and laughter to their little faces, and making life fun and full of wonder and joy.
Scroll down and look for ‘Best Party Entertainment’. Then scroll down the drop-down menu to find Larrikin Puppets. You may vote in the other categories too for entertainers or classes or activities that you also like. But for the Best Party Entertainment category, please do us a huge favour and give us your vote.
Voting closes on Friday 17th March 2017 at 6pm EST.
The 2017 Di Bella Coffee What’s On 4 Kids Awards reward, recognise and celebrate the very best in children’s activities, classes, clubs, volunteers, family days out and kids’ party entertainers across Australia. #whatson4kidsawards
The 2017 What’s On 4 Kids Awards will be held on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor.
The full list of What’s On 4 Kids Awards nominated entertainers in the Best Party Entertainer category are:
Balloon Artistry by Aaron Smyth
Cleo the Clown
Easy Breezy Parties
Emabella Rose Face Painting
Ever After Parties
Face Painting By Starface
Fly By Fun
Funtime Kids Parties
Gecko Sports
Glass Slipper Entertainment
Happily Ever Laughter Children’s Entertainment
Jack Sharp Magic
Jelly Tots Perth
Kids Disco Parties
Kids Entertainment Sydney
Kids Love to Cook
Larrikin Puppets
Laser Warriors Mobile Laser Tag
Lil Busy Bodies (Anita Nichols)
Lilly’s Body Art
Little Builders Entertainment
Parties Kids Remember
Pinta Crafts
Strawberry Fundaes Kids Parties
String of Beads Parties
Super Hero Parties – Super Steph
Unreal Kids Parties
Voting in the What’s On 4 Kids Awards closes on Friday 17th March 2017 at 6pm EST.
On Monday 12th of October 2015, Brett Hansen, Elissa Jenkins and Troggg flew down to Melbourne to attend the Small Business Development Conference 2015 Gala Dinner for presentation of the National NEIS Association Awards. The Awards Dinner was held in the Limelight Room at Etihad Stadium in Docklands, Melbourne.
Brett had been nominated for the BizCover NEIS Change Award by his NEIS business mentor Sandra Gartner. Larrikin Puppets was set up under the NEIS programme in 2012. To explain what NEIS is, here’s a description from the National College of Business Management website:
“NEIS is an Australian Government initiative to assist eligible job seekers who are interested in starting and running a small business. NEIS commenced in 1985 and is currently the longest running and most successful self employment program in the country. NEIS can provide you with accredited small business training, business advice and mentoring, as well as ongoing income support for up to 39 weeks”.
Why Larrikin Puppets was nominated in the ‘Change’ award category, is best explained by Brett Hansen himself, in this story he wrote prior to winning the award on the night:
My Story: I have been a creative person since the first time I picked up a crayon. I have always drawn, played piano and performed puppetry. These have always been my greatest talents. I was pretty terrible at most other things at school.
Fast forward to my adult life – After years of studying animation, fine art and film, nobody would hire me in those industries. I was a hobby cartoonist and keyboard player in several bands, but the only paid jobs I could ever get were janitor, dish washer, retail worker, storeman, and call centre phone monkey. I eventually studied business and office admin so that I could get better jobs. But I still couldn’t get into anything better than the above list of occupations. I was never able to earn much money. These are minimum wage jobs.
My wife was very unhappy about both the money side of things, and the fact that I was depressed, miserable, and aching from all the heavy lifting. I’d sometimes work up to 15 hours a day and still not have enough money to pay the bills, let alone take my wife out for a nice dinner.
Performing puppetry was one of my talents, and eventually an opportunity to perform in a local production of Broadway puppet musical Avenue Q came up. I auditioned and was accepted into the company as the show’s ‘puppetry consultant’, as I was the only one with the skills to train the other actors in puppetry. I was also cast as a co-puppeteer for two of the characters. This was a volunteer activity. No payment. But it was a wonderful experience, which I balanced with my full time day job. Six months later, Avenue Q ended. My full time day job ended. And my marriage ended. All at once. I was at rock bottom, with nothing to my name but whatever savings I had left, and a few puppets.
I had wanted to start up a puppeteer business on the side for a while. But time around long work hours was difficult. Now I finally had an opportunity! I had NOTHING to lose.
Someone suggested that when I go to Centrelink, I ask about the NEIS programme (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme), which is an entrepreneurial alternative to filling out job diaries. If you are unemployed and have a great idea for a new small business, NEIS is fantastic! They put you through a Certificate IV in Small Business Management, Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations. Then they team you up with a business mentor for one year. Your assignments throughout the course are literally the things you need to get your business started – All the necessary licences, insurances, marketing tools, etc.
Three years later, my business takes me all over Queensland performing regular puppet shows at parties, festivals, childcare centres, schools and ticketed theatre events. I’ve also been able to puppeteer in several film and TV projects. I met and married a wonderful woman who loves me for all of my quirks and creative madness. She shares my journey as we live and work happily from home together.
And tomorrow, we’re off to Melbourne to attend the National NEIS Association Awards Gala Dinner. My NEIS mentor nominated Larrikin Puppets in the ‘BizCover NEIS Change Award’ category, and now I’m a finalist in the top 3!
My life went through some huge changes at the time I started my business three years ago. That’s why I’m up for a “Change” award. But whether I win the award or not, my life is better than it ever was before three years ago because every day is now different, interesting, exciting and full of love and support.
And that’s what motivates me to get up everyday and run my own business. Thanks for reading 🙂
Brett (and Troggg) won the BizCover NEIS Change Award on Monday, 12 October 2015 at the Small Business Development Conference in Melbourne.
I like my life because every day is different and interesting. Last week I performed puppet shows at a library, a fish & chips restaurant and a school.
I attended four dinner/drinks gatherings, including one in a back alley American style bar and one on a union roof top. This week I got to meet two goblins (Hobble & Snitch) and perform some puppetry on their show.
Then for a film, I puppeteered a psychiatrist in a session with acclaimed artist Richard Bell. For the same film, I also puppeteered two characters relaxing on a beach, a monster throwing darts, another monster painting on canvas, and lead a team of puppets on horses galloping into a nightclub. I attended a theatre tribute show of 1980s sitcom, “The Golden Girls” (Thank You For Being a Friend) starring puppet versions of the cast.
I also performed music at the weekly improv comedy show I’ve been a part of for the last four years.
On Monday, my beautiful wife Elissa and I will be flying down to Melbourne (with Troggg) to attend the National NEIS Association Awards Gala Dinner. Larrikin Puppets is a finalist in the ‘BizCover NEIS Change Award’ category.
The reason why my business is a finalist in that particular category is because my life went through some huge changes at the time of its inception three years ago.
And whether I win the award or not, my life is better than it ever was before three years ago because every day is now different and interesting. Brett Hansen – Owner and Principal Puppeteer at Larrikin Puppets.
Previously we wrote a blog post about how Larrikin Puppets was nominated in the national What’s On 4 Kids Awards in the ‘Best Party Entertainment’ category.
Troggg and Fossy (with Brett and Elissa) will be attending too, and meeting several other great entertainers and educators from around Australia.
A lot of competition here from some truly amazing and hard working entertainers. So please keep your fingers and toes crossed for little old us! 🙂
