I have to give Kari a big 5 stars for the way they handled the negative situation from my daughter's birthday party. Not only did Kari reimburse me for the cost of the original party she offered me a free 2 hour party to show us what they can be like. We have an annual NYE party where we count down at 9pm so the kids can all bring in the New Year but the parents can get them to bed by 10pm. I asked Kari if she would be willing to come out on NYE, thinking she would say no, but she didn't, she said yes. I will admit I was hesitant. I was a little worried but I figured it would keep the kids occupied. Hannah, our performer, called me 30 minutes earlier than our planned start time just to let me know she was already in the area and could start early if I wanted, but didn't have to. I had her still come at 6:30 since most of our guests wouldn't be there by then. She had an adorable 70's flashy disco diva outfit on, which the kids loved. She was TERRIFIC. She kept those kids entertained for a full 2 hours! They loved her. Her magic show was awesome, her enthusiasm was great, and her professionalism and ability to stay in character was top notch. The parents were so impressed and happy with her! I am happy to make my first post of 2013 a positive follow up for Kari's Magic Parties and I am seriously thinking about having them come back next NYE! Thank you Kari for following through and showing me how great you guys can be, read more

I initially contacted another party performer after reading some troublesome reviews of character mixups and no shows and no refunds. But because that other performer was already fully booked, i ended up going with Kari's magic parties per recommendation of my nursing school classmate. I sent my inquiry 3-4 weeks before the party via email because their website was in construction I think at the time. When they told me they had an availability I was elated. They told me that the performer was supposed to call me by 5 pm the day before the party. The days leading up to the party I totally forgot about the performer. To my pleasant surprise miss Sarah called the day before the party. Initially the services I wanted were face painting and balloons and a sing a long. She told me since we had her for 2 hrs and only about 10-15 kids I could add another service. Since my daughter was 2 and the kids were aged 2-9 she recommended toddler time which entailed "head shoulders, knees, and toes". That sounded awesome since my daughter loves those songs but I opted for the magic show option so that the adults and older children would be entertained as well. The day of the party she arrived perfectly on time. As soon as she entered everyone was in awe of Miss Sarah's beauty. She embodied Elsa PERFECTLY. We had the movie playing during the party and some younger children actually thought she stepped out of the tv and through the front door! Lol. She asked for a place to paint and a cup of water and off she went. She stayed in character the entire time. Everyone young and old enjoyed her magic show. And she was there to cut the cake with us. She posed with EVERYONE and was so pleasant! She was very easy to talk to and kept asking if there was anything more she could do. Overall I am so thankful for Sarah and Kari's Magic Parties for the wonderful experience. Sarah had a very important job of bringing the party to life as Queen Elsa and that's EXACTLY what she did! Highly recommended and am excited to work with them again in the near future! read more

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Oh Kari, thanks so much for making all the kids so happy...... Kari was such a big hit, well worth the price and you will be so grateful that I am sure you will tip her on top of that.... She came as we requested, Tinkerbell was the theme and she did magic, balloon twisting, face painting....purely magical..... Thanks and we shall see you again..... read more

We had watch one performance at the safari run and based on that I had recommended my cousin to hire them, not only they vane hour and half later, wrong character showed up, lots kids had already gone home. Our nephew whose 5th birthday it was, he was very sad and disappointed when instead manly Woody he got a Tinkerbell. After several calls they called back and apologized and instead of refund or a discount they offer to come and do a one on one performance.. But being a kid entertainer they don't get it that the moment is lost; the party is over and kid was sad and heart broken.. he'll never forget this incident. I DO NOT recommended Kari's Magic Parties to anyone.. read more

Our Tinker Bell could not possibly be more lovely, gracious and sweet! My 5 and 2 year old little girls were thrilled. Even the grown-ups had their arms and faces painted. She sat so patiently and was so friendly to everyone in the sweltering heat. It was a pleasure having her at our party. p.s. - best of all, she wasn't wearing a wig! (thank goodness, or she would have been melting!) read more

Kari's Magic Parties : Entertaining, fun, full of surprises, not only for the kids but all the adults enjoyed it just as much. booked Kari for face painting for 2 hours but i got so much more out of it. Not only did she faced painted the kids at the party she also performed a magic show and got all the kids involved which is no easy task to control 10+ kids but Kari did it with total professionalism. the theme of the party was Alice in Wonderland. I requested if Kari would dress up as the queen of hearts and she was more then willing to do so. her enthusiasm was through the roof. days later the parents asked me about the entertainer that performed at the party to book there own. if you need kids to be entertained and distracted for a few hours while the parents get a little time to relax without worry book Kari's Magic Parties immediately! read more

Kari's Magic Parties blew me away! They were absolutely AMAZING! They did a volcano themed party and the kids (and parents too!) had so much fun! While they set up one performer played games and chatted with the kids. She got them all so excited to play and was easily able to get everyone excited too. One of the girls was very, very shy and almost never speaks, but she was even able to coax her out of her shell and get her to play along. I was so impressed how she really knew how to interact with all the different temperaments in the group. While she was able to be sweet and gentle with the shy girl, she was exciting and rowdy with the rambunctious ones! She was so good with the kids, I could have confused her for Mary Poppins. (Lol) Sometimes I've seen party entertainers awkwardly try to get the parents to join in by treating them like they are children as well, but I really liked that she found appropriate ways to involve the parents in her show. I wanted to play with my kid at the party -she's only a kid once!- and I'm so glad she provided opportunities to do so. It's seems to be so rare to find a performer who can appeal to both age groups. Everyone had a blast! I was expecting to have a big mess from all of the kids' volcanos, but like 5 minutes when they finished the show, I was pleasantly surprised to see the yard looking exactly as it was before she arrived! She was fantastic. Along with how fun she made the party, she was also so great to speak with on the phone, very reliable and easy to get ahold of. I will DEFINITELY be booking another performer for the next party. I recommend Kari's magic parties to everyone read more

I got to experience one of Kari's Magic Parties at my friend's house. All the kids after a great day of partying with one of Kari's princesses (Cinderella was at the party I was at) left with smiles! So I am having a hard time believing some of these reviews; it seems like it is other party companies trying to be evil and leave negativity to boost their sales or are they just mean spirited? It seems like the gang at Mountain House are all in this together whoever those bullies are.... This party company does it right!!! Cinderella's costume looked great, and the girl was very well poised and did a great job at my friend's party. The kids loved her! The magic show was a huge hit: very interactive with the audience (even the adults!). The little girls were very happy to have Cinderella paint their faces, they get star struck, so cute! If my girls were still little, after seeing this party at my friends house, I would have booked their next birthday party with Kari's! read more

I am in a similar situation with Alexis M. I too purchased the Living Social and used it in October 2012. Easy to book, performer was nice so i hate to give such a negative review. But hopefully this will help their business improve for the future. #1. The guy, dressed as Woody, had a ridiculous looking costume. It was like spandex with the design painted on, no real pockets or anything. It was also way small on him. I kind of knew what I was expecting since I saw the pictures on yelp and the website, but still took the chance with that character. I was kind of embarrassed with the other adults around. Not sure if the kids minded. Again, the guy was nice, so i feel bad writing this. #2. The performer was sweating PROFUSELY. Actual sweat dripping on the floor. It was pretty disgusting and definitely embarrassing. I opened the door, gave him water, brought down a portable fan, and even put a box of tissue next to his magic show. But he never wiped himself... just continued to drip on the floor. This was my biggest complaint. i think the kids liked the magic show, he wasnt the best balloon animal maker (about 50% of the balloons kept popping- maybe dollar store balloons?) and he wasnt the greatest face painter, but i didnt really care about that stuff. I thought it was a good deal for magic show, face painting and balloon animals for $179 (Living Social), but wouldnt do it again because it was kind of embarrassing (sorry, woody!) We had two other big jumpies so that helped big time with the party. we were even thinking about getting the JEssie as the performer because her costume looked better online.. but it was a boys party. read more

KARI IS BEYOND WONDERFUL WITH KIDS! She is dedicated and really loves the whole experience of entertaining! I have recommended her to my friends and clients for kids parties over and over and I always hear the same thing- they always love her! This is professional and honest business with wonderful people who love their jobs. I have only heard how well everyone loved her and her performers. Kari is great and provides a magical experience for the party! She has so many fun ideas for parties and entertaining children and this company puts their whole hearts into it for the kids! Two thumbs up! read more

I contacted Kari after reading the great reviews on Yelp to perform at my wife's surprise baby shower. From the first conversation, Kari was a true professional. She asked pertinent questions to discover the details of the event, showed up early, and remained flexible with the performance schedule. Kari's enthusiasm was contagious! The goal was to entertain the kids in attendance; however, the adults were just as entertained. The magic was age appropriate, and captured the focus of the kids from 2 to 10 years of age. I'm a firm believer of referring either only the best or noting the worst on Yelp. Happy to say that Kari's Magic Parties is the former. Book an event and see for yourself. read more

We hired Kari and one of her perfomers for our twins' 1st birthday party (vintage circus carnival theme). They arrived on time & did an AMAZING job as clowns entertaining the kids with face painting, balloon animals & general entertainment. Kari is such a wonderful person & it was so easy to work with her. She is truly a professional & is so very talented. I highly recommend Kari and her performers for your next event!!! :-) read more

Excellence. I booked Queen Elsa for my daughters party and they had the best deal for MILES! I called countless agencies, but ended up choosing Karis Magic Parties because the character was available, and the price was right! Queen Elsa stayed in character the whole time and took care of all the childrens needs at the party. Face painting, ballon animals, and sing alongs and magic show, princess freeze dance...my daughter got the special one on one bond with her and we got lots of pictures. Everyone was amazed at her performance and most importantly my daughter and her guests were very haoot read more

Overall the performer did great. I hired little mermaid (Ariel) to do face painting and animal balloons. She was running late, but called to inform me about it and also told me she would stay extra because of it. She did great with the kids and face painted what they asked for. Although, she didn't have time to do the balloons...which I was a little upset. I think for an hour you should offer one activity. Promising two isn't realistic. Nonetheless, she was great and the prefect touch to my party. I would hire them again read more

Kari's Magic Parties - Little mermaid getting ready to face paint the girls. - Magicians Near Me

This is a hard review for me to write, I'm not real big on rating people terribly on yelp. But I just can't do anything but go with the lowest possible rating for this company. I was part of a planning committee for a local charity event designed as a princess party to raise some money for local cheerleaders. We contacted Kari's several months in advance, and they agreed to donate us 4 princess for 1.5 hours each. In exchange, they would get some free publicity, some great word of mouth and hopefully some future business. Well, that didn't work out so well. What did happen was that 24 hours before the event was to begin, we received an email regretting to inform us that all 4 princesses had backed out. I understand having to back out, I do. I could accept 1 or 2 the day before, or even all 4 of them a week out. I can work around that, it happens. What I can't do is accept that all 4 princesses canceled 24 hours before they were due to arrive. It very nearly cost us the entire event. Luckily some local stepped up and saved it. So I am going to recommend not booking with them, since I don't think it's OK for any company to cancel (via email w/o phone availability) 24 hours before a 200 person charity fundraiser (or any party really). read more

I booked this with a living social deal. At the time, this business had all 5-star reviews so I jumped on the opportunity. She was great at getting back to me about booking (this was late January). The party is this weekend (3 days from now) and I never heard from her. I sent her an email 5 days ago and also tried calling (voicemail) yesterday and still nothing. I went to Yelp and saw that recently, others have also had problems with her. This is tragic bc she is ruining a very good reputation and business. I also called living social and they reached out to her on a special "merchant's line" and also voicemail. I tried calling again this morning and lo and behold, voicemail. I cancelled the gig bc I just didn't want to risk her not showing up. I am willing to pay more to get someone who will be reliable. read more

Thank you so much for doing such a fantastic job entertaining at my daughter's first birthday party! The girls were on time and very professional and were as sweet as pie. The clown outfits were darling and not scary like others that I have seen! Very professional and so sweet to the all kids. I will be using you again in the future for my son's party! Thank you again for everything!! read more

We got princess Repunzel and she was amazing... This was a surprise for my daughter could not believe it, our guest were so surprised as well! She was just great she kept all the kids so entertained and she staid on character all the time. She sang to the kids and she had a beautiful voice she was the whole package.... I think this was money well spend, this was the highlight of the party everybody was asking where did I get her.... If you want to have a magical party I would definitely recommend her... I think this will become a tradition at my household.... Thank you so much Kari! read more

Kari' s Magic Parties are amazing!!! Kari is a wonderful, professional and super friendly person. She did a magic show for my kiddos and they loved it!I highly recommend booking your next party with her business. Thanks Kari, you rock! read more

I used Kari's for my son's first birthday and it was a blast! We hired Justin Bieber as his performer. He did face painting, balloon twisting, and a magic show. We had about 10 kids and they all had fun with him. Price is very affordable for the service. Will definitely hire them again. Kudos to your team Kari!!! read more

So Kari was recommended to my Moms group and she didn't disappoint. We had 25 kids at our son's 4 year old party and we decided to go with a pirate for the boys and girls. The balloons were a big hit - she was interactive with all the kids and that many is not easy. She also got a lot of them in the bouncy house for a pirate lesson and my friends tell me that their kids are still going around going arrghh! She also arranged a photographer at amazing rate so that was great to get all the photos without us trying to ask our friends to take some. So we got to enjoy our friends, hang out with the adults and kids and I would highly recommend Kari. She made order out of chaos! read more

Kari is fantastic!! I found her contact info through a parenting magazine and booked her as a magician for my son's 6th birthday party. She called a few days before the party to confirm and go over the details like a true professional. And then she showed up on time and in an amazing wizard's costume introducing herself as "Kari Potter," which my son and his friends loved. And from the moment she appeared and for the next hour, she held every single one of the 23 children at the party (ages 2-7) in rapt attention. All of the parents at the party were amazed. We ended up sitting on the lawn with beers in our hands watching her entertain the kids and having a nice hour to to hang out and talk amongst ourselves. Every single parent told us that it was the best kids' party they had ever been to. So then a few months later I hired Kari again for my daughter's 3-year old party. My daughter is really into monkeys, so Kari worked with me to create a new theme of a monkey zookeeper (Kari even went to the store a few days before the party to specially enhance her costume). My daughter loved all the monkeys -- and Kari made sure to bring her friend "Marvin" to the puppet show. My daughter and her friends had a blast dancing with Marvin and playing games and watching the puppet show. I don't know how Kari does it, but both times she managed to hold all of the kids' attentions for the full hour. And when a few of the kids showed up late, Kari even stayed a few minutes late to make them balloon animals since they'd missed that part of the party. She is energetic, entertaining, punctual and affordable. She was wonderful, and I wouldn't hesitate to hire her again. read more

I recently used Kari's Magic Parties for my son's "dragon theme" birthday party. I hired a knight and a princess to come to the party. The performers were awesome with the 4-5 year old guests. They were patient and kept the kid's interest. Kari who organized the event was great to work with and even purchased a knight costume specially for our party. I felt the overall price for the performers was very reasonable. I would definitely hire Kari's Magic Parties again. read more

Used Kari's services for my daughter's 3rd birthday party and it was great. So glad I choose her though I wish I had her spend more time dancing with the kids then face painting. The dancing was great, the face painting was fun and you can never go wrong with animal balloons. It was great and I highly recommend them. read more

One of my friends recommended Kari and I contacted her to perform in my Son's 4th birthday party. Rather than giving me a cookie cutter package, she tried to understand the context and helped me in selecting/customizing her service. She called me the day before to confirm the reservation. On the day of the party, She was right on time and immediately started setting up her show. All the kids were really hooked onto her shows, balloon twisting, dancing, puppet shows, you name it. The kids totally thoroughly enjoyed their time. She was really warm, genuine and ensured all kids participated in the activities. I would totally recommend her service to anyone in search for a great Kids performer. read more

We had Karis Magic Parties come to our 3rd birthday celebration this weekend and we had a great experience. Booking was super easy. They are professional, they were on time , were able to provide the services I requested and the character i requested. My experience was good and I would use them again read more

I had to change to Kari's magic parties since the performer i had booked with had some change in plan. Booking was super smooth and the performer came on time, did an awesome job with the face paintings. Kids enjoyed the puppet show. This was for my son's 1st birthday and we had around 10-15 kids. All of them seemed to have had a great time. read more

Just wanted to say thank you for a wonderful magical party/princess service. Cinderella did a WONDERFUL job on last Saturday 6/15 entertaining our kid guests and our two birthday girls. She came on time, acted professionally and was really kind to them. The interactive puppet show, face-painting, as well as princess dance had put a big smile not only on the kids' face, but the adults' as well. We will definitely come back again and highly recommend your service to our friends and family. Once again, THANKS A LOT for making our kids' birthday party a magical and a memorable one. PS: Please give a big hug on behalf of our kids to Cinderella. She will be missed dearly. read more

Ok so when is yelp going to finally allow us to offer 0 stars? I booked with Kari months in advance for a PRINCESS THEMED community fundraiser. We were scheduled and confirmed to receive 4 princesses. The week of the event I reconfirmed and I had no reason to believe there would be any kind of mishap. Literally just a few hours before the event, I get an email saying they were not coming. I called, left messages and emails and never got any response. Who does that to little girls? Not only that, but they were quick to give us promotional business cards for us to put into bags we would be distributing at the event, but not show up? This is not how you do business with people..especially for a fundraiser for young girls! Don't worry kari, the word is out in Mountain House and we will not be hiring you again. Were it not for the community pulling together, the entire event would have been ruined. You definitely should not be running a business like this. I would never recommend this business. Shame on you! read more

I bought a LivingSocial deal and booked a SpiderMan performer to come and perform a magic show for my son's 5th birthday party. Kari confirmed that a female performer would come to our party since her male performers were already booked the day I'd requested. The email, also, said to call her personal number if for some reason I didn't receive a phone call from the impersonator by 5PM the night before she was supposed to perform at my son's party. Sure enough, 5PM rolled around the night before the party and there had been no phone call from the SpiderMan impersonator. So I anxiously called Kari's number. When she answered she reluctantly told me that she was waiting to call me because their performer was sick and she was trying to call other "sister" companies to see if they could fill in. She said she would call me back by 8PM to tell me whether they'd found someone. Needless to say I was completely disappointed and so was my 5 year old who was devastated that SpiderMan wasn't coming after all. If anything, I wish she would have called me as soon as she had found out that the individual was sick so I could have called around myself to try to find a replacement. I wasn't holding my breath that she would find someone less than 24 hours before our Saturday afternoon party. The fact that Kari didn't have a back-up performer was very unprofessional in my opinion, and all I got was an "I'm sorry." I'm sure she was sorry, but how can you run a company promising a service and then not have a back up if illness should come up. Oh, she did offer me a free future party, but I wouldn't feel confident booking her because of this experience. So, at 6PM the night before 15 4-5 year olds were expecting a super-hero party at our house, I was scrambling to find a last minute replacement after having already spent $110 on a performer who was going to be a no-show. Fortunately, I found someone who didn't dress up, but was very good and professional. Unfortunately, he charged a small fortune because of the last minute request. I, also, wasn't refunded any money from Kari, or LivingSocial, but was credited "Deal bucks." This will definitely be the last time I book a talent agency through LivingSocial, and I definitely won't ever use or recommend Kari's Magical Parties. read more

Karis Magical Parties was Great for us!!! My twin daughters turned three this weekend and I had such a great experience with these ladies I decided I had to write a review to counter what I read. After reading these reviews I was skeptical but desperate to find someplace with someone willing to dress up as DOC MCSTUFFINS. So I called- I didn't want a mascot costume and I wanted someone who would learn the songs. After speaking with whom I assume is Kari, she agreed to work with me to develop the character for my party even though this was not something she was prepared for or had previously done. I was elated. She developed the character, purchased the costume and it was Great!. The young lady didn't call me by 5pm the night before the party and I got nervous. But she did call me around 6:30pm and she was very very nice and friendly. She answered all my questions and left me her contact number in case I had more. She was right on time to the party and she was patient, kind, warm and very attentive. She was also flexible as I changed my package on the spot, she was patient as one of my twins was not too nice when she first arrived, she was very well versed and NEVER came out of character (She knew things that she could only know by doing extensive research or watching the show), and she even showed up with gifts for the birthday girls. I was amazed at how she was able to capture the attention of all the kids (of all ages) and even the adults, she was so warm and inviting you couldnt help but listen to her. It was very much worth EVERY PENNY and next year I will definatly be using them again. I will also recommend them to any clients whom I throw parties for. Thanks again Kari and Doc Mcstuffins...... My daughters said this was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!! read more

We had two fairies for our daughter's 5th birthday party, they came on time, met us at the park and kept the kids happy. We had a Groupon for up to 12 kids but got a second fairy because we ended up having 25 kids and wanted to make sure there was time for everyone to get a balloon and face paint. Hannah was great, she really took control, had a lot of energy, did a magic show that you could tell the kids were really into, made sure everyone was together for the cake cutting and even organized a group picture which we hadn't even thought to do. All of the kids got their faces painted after the magic show and each got a twisty balloon made for them. We would definitely recommend Kari's, they were responsive and helpful in figuring out what we needed in planning the party and everything went off without a hitch. read more

We found Kari's Magic Parties by randomly looking online and feel very lucky we used their service for my five year old's birthday celebration. We had 17 four year olds and our Pink Fairy (Hannah who was on time) was fabulous with the kids. She was engaging, had high energy, and believable. The kids enjoyed the interactive 30 minute puppet show followed by another 30 minutes of balloon twisting. During the booking process if you communicate your need they'll give you their recommendation and send you photos of characters you can choose from so you know exactly what/who you're getting. read more

I used Kari's magic party for my daughters Halloween party. There were approx 30 kids mostly kindergarten aged. Keri was very accommodating as I started looking for a magician/balloon twister 2 weeks before the party, which happened to be the weekend right before Halloween, which also happens to be the busiest weekend for magicians. Kari was able to find me a magician who also does ballon twisting. Kari also didn't have a wizard type costume but went out and purchased one for her performer(costume did not look cheesy). The day of the party our performer arrived on time, in costume and she was very polite with everyone. We had a fall fest type party so there were different games to play and we had our girl wizard sit on a hay bale and do balloon twisting for the kids. After an hr we moved all the kids inside and our wizard performed a magic show for approx 30 mins. She was very good and entertaining. She really kept the kids and adults engaged the entire time. The kids loved the group interaction and being part of the show itself. I would use her again and recommend Kari to everyone. read more