737: The 6-Figure Slumber Party Business: Don’t Sleep on This!

23:17But yeah, I mean, it's kind of a big deal. So I just want to make sure we're like not, we like doing it, but we're not doing it 100 % for the fun of it either. Right. Are the delivery people storing the tents and materials in their garage? Is there kind of a central storage unit for this stuff? Yeah, that is also the hard part to crack. So it's all at our house. We have a one car garage that's separate and it's basically a Firefly storage unit. Okay. And so you walk in there and it's where everything is stored. We would do all the packing and all the prep. And so during the week, my husband and I are one of my daughters, depending on who's drawn the short straw that week, will help us get everything ready for the weekend.

23:58And so we're packing the bins and the totes and then the bags, all the pillows and the rugs and the blankets and the sheets and getting it ready. And then the teams come by and we have a keypad on our garage. They come by and they pick everything up when they're going to set up the party. And then after they've picked everything back up the next day, they stop by our garage and drop it back off. So we really had to hire people. That's why I did it in my local Facebook group, because they need to live near me. So they're not, you know, driving 20 minutes to my house and then driving to the party house.

24:28And then it's so we're trying to minimize the time needed for them. Right. Yeah. And everything has got to be labeled in a way they can find it quickly and easily and get on their way. and okay, we need the Taylor Swift thing and we need the Harry Potter thing and we got to go over here at this time. Yeah, and that's the difference. Some of the companies across the country that have done this kind of on a larger scale, they do have their teams pack and prep everything themselves and they'll have little systems where someone comes in and pulls the right little decor items for that theme. We've talked about it.

24:58I just, again, like a control freak, I have to lay physical eyes on every single item before it goes out the door to make sure it's all in perfect shape and working condition. So it's just a choice that we've made to still be really hands-on with all the party prep and packing for them. I'm just checking if anybody is doing this near me. Seattle has one, but out in the burbs, it looks like there may be an opportunity here. We have helped people start in Dallas and East Tennessee. There are some people in Savannah and Jacksonville. So we've helped a lot of people get started. So we are available if you want some coaching.

25:32So now coaching other people to help, like, is there a franchise in your future for doing this? Like, where does it go next? We have dabbled in licensing and that's the Dallas-Fort Worth Firefly is a licensed model. I have just come to the realization that the way that this business works, you really just need help, like the first year. I'm not in this to make money off the branding. Like, I love the coaching aspect of it. And so we've really transitioned our business because we get asked all the time, like, hey, I want to start one in Pensacola or wherever it is. And it does take an amount of time.

26:04And I am sharing trade information that has been tried and proven out. I'm going to save people a lot of time by telling them the tips and tricks that we've learned over the years. So we've shifted to this coaching service where we'll help you get started. And that can look like a variety of different things. We have a startup guide on our website that basically just says the number one question people ask is, can I even do this. And there are some things that you need to know going into it. So we have this, here's what you need to know if you're thinking about doing a summer party business, kind of startup questionnaire guide info packet.

26:36And it has a lot of information in it. So I've developed that, put it out on the website. Like what would be a blocker for most people? Transportation, number one. You got to have a car that fits the tents. Oh, just like, do you have a big enough van? Yeah. Which is the number one blocker for me for staffing. I mean, people think they have an SUV. I'm like, well, well, these tents are, they are not giving. Like they have to fit your back of your trunk. Can't have any weird like plastic, you know, intention. So we have to like physically test it. Got it, got it. Storage space, availability. I have someone helping me do all the weekday stuff now with the customer communications and emails.

27:12You're going to need liability insurance. Like there's kind of those hidden costs that when people are thinking side hustle, I don't know that they necessarily have thought through all of them that we've cobbled together over the years. contracts? Are you comfortable managing like a Stripe or a PayPal or payment method? Like these are the things you have to get in place to be able to do this. Yeah. So yeah, it's really the like, here's what an average weekend looks like for us. Here's the kind of things that we do run into with customer issues. There will be dogs in people's houses. Are you allergic to dogs?

27:45Stuff like that. Are you a people person? You got to be a people person because you're coming into someone's house Sunday morning and mom and dad are still in their PJs and have had the roughest night because their kids were up all night partying. So it's just stuff like that that we try to give people a really full picture before you take the plunge and buy all this stuff and make a go at it. That's right. What you see on the social feed may not be the reality that you're walking into on Sunday morning. Exactly. That's fair. Where is your time going now, now that you've got the team in place and it seems to be running pretty well?

28:18Yeah, I mean, we're kind of at a point where if we were going to get bigger and make a time, you know, transition to doing this outside of just our side jobs, we'd have to get a warehouse and get a lot more inventory and probably a van. And there's just like, we have a trailer that we use for some things, but we're kind of at that like jumping point where we, if we're going to scale and do this full time, we're going to have to make some big changes. And at this point, I don't think that my husband or I are wanting to do that. So that's really where I think, just to kind of scratch that creative itch for me, is to help other people do this.

28:54Because it's such a well-oiled machine for us right now in Nashville. And it's been so great for our family and our teenage daughters, like being a part of this and seeing us working our butts off on the weekends. And, you know, mom sits behind a desk all day and they're seeing us carrying bins up people's stairs. And I want to give other kind of families that kind of guidance to be able to do the same thing, especially if they have younger kids like that that want to be a part of it. It's just really fun seeing people take off with it. More with Anne in just a moment, including whether or not she plans to take this full-time, some of the little upsells and extras that add to the bottom line, and some of the marketing partnerships that led to even more bookings.

29:32Coming up right after this. In sports, there's this saying that speed is a weapon. And the same is true in business. If you're missing calls or being slow to follow up with customers, you're leaving money on the table, sometimes without even realizing it because your potential customer, they've already moved on. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O. This is the business communications system built so you never miss a call. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3 ,000 reviews and it's built for how modern teams work. More than 90 ,000 businesses from side hustlers and solo operators to growing teams already rely on Quo to stay connected, stay professional, and consistently reachable.

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31:23Gusto is ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026. And it's already trusted by over 400 ,000 small businesses. I want to invite you to try Gusto today at gusto.com slash side hustle and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash side hustle. One more time, it's gusto.com slash side hustle. Yeah, I was going to ask if you foresaw it becoming a full-time business or full-time thing where you take the leap and give your notice at work? I've thought about it, but I don't know. I like doing both. I'm a corporate America girly, for better or worse, and I get to be around a lot of people and grownups during the day.

32:11But I have this really creative side to me, too, that is really hands-on, and I'm crafty and get to make all these little sleep masks and all these things that are not a part of my day job. And so kind of having that balance, for me at least, has worked really well. So I don't know. I think if I did this full time, and a lot of people do and do it very successfully, a lot of people out there are killing it. I might go a little crazy, but I don't know yet. Maybe. Ask me again in like a year or two. Yeah, we'll have to do a follow-up on that. I'm on the impulse buys, the upsells, you know, as you're in the checkout card.

32:43You know, would you like to also add on the candy bar. You mentioned the personalized sleep masks here. These are so cute. I love those. The karaoke machine, the popcorn machine. These are great. These are just little, look, if you're already having a sleepover party, have you thought about this, this, and this, right? It's a natural addition to offer this stuff and increase the average order size. Exactly. The little sibling tent was such an aha moment for me a few years ago because just party after party, I would see these poor little kids that were like, you know three four five just having a meltdown that they were left out of you know big sister's party that was being set up in the bonus room or whatever yeah and so i just started offering like do you want me to bring a tent and a mattress for them and i can pick out you know you can put a little minecraft pillow on it for a little brother or a superhero like a you know captain america pillow that i have and people love it and they put it in their room like they put it in their little brother's room and he gets to sleep in the tent on the floor overnight i love stuff like that Yeah, that's cute.

33:40Have any of these other ones kind of come from customers asking for stuff or is it like, oh, we'll put this up, we'll offer it and we'll see if anybody takes it? The invitation graphic for sure. I was not doing that for a long time. But now, you know, a few years ago when I kind of was using Canva all the time, I was like, I don't know why I'm not doing this. So that takes me, you know, 10 minutes. The thing about them, it's almost always the moms booking this party, let's be honest. These moms are generally very busy women and a lot of them work full time themselves. Yeah. You know, this demographic is a pretty successful demographic.

34:12They're busy. They outsource a lot of things, including their kids' events. Yeah, they're paying 800 bucks for a kid's birthday party. Yeah. They're like, please come do it all. Do it all. And that's part of our selling point is like, we're going to leave in the morning. You're never going to know we were there. And they love it. But the invitation graphic, just for years, they were like, man, I got to put together an invite to send out. I'm like, that's one more thing for you to do. Let me just, it's$25. It takes me five minutes. Let me do it for you. Yeah, we've got a dozen different templates in Canva we can use now.

34:38it'll be super fast. Yeah. You just fill out this little form, I send it to you and you text it out to all their friends. Done. Yeah. Cool. As you mentioned transportation, you mentioned kind of the storage logistics. Are there any horror stories where you mentioned, look, I never had to cancel on a customer, but like, what are some of the bad things that could happen here? Horror stories, very few, knock on wood. There have been times where we have shown up and it was like a war zone is very rare, but there are times where you just, it looks like a hurricane blew through that room. You need a clear space to work.

35:12Yeah. And just broken items. And this is another reason why we've really targeted our marketing to older kids over the years, not the younger kids, because they're crazy. Like you put a group of eight-year-olds in a room and nine times out of 10, they're going to break something. We have an eight-year-old birthday next weekend and you're making me really looking forward to this. Oh, you know. I can give you some tips. No chocolate, no sticky candy. Thank you. And no glitter. God, the glitter. Yeah, I think the only thing, my personal nightmare situations have always been showing up to a party that's a 45-minute drive away, and they asked for eight tents, and we brought seven.

35:54Now, that has happened like once or twice because of just communication breakdown or me moving too fast and like reading all the setup things for the weekend. But again, like every single time I bend over backwards to make it right. You know, I'll discount half their party. I always come back and bring something if I've forgotten it. We always, always, always make it right. So those are my nightmare fuel is like showing up with the completely wrong stuff. Yeah, we had a last minute RSVP. We need one more. And Yeah. And especially with the teams, there have been a few times where, again, like in packing everything, I used to have checklists and now I just kind of do it all.

36:34But like, I'll leave out a sheet or there's missing a lantern or something. And it is every time I do it, I'm like, oh, God. But I jump in my car or I get my husband to jump in his car and we drive across town so they don't have to come back and get it. We're so careful now about triple counting everything. But yeah, that's the kind of stuff that can go sideways. Yeah, you need to have those checklists and really be airtight about it because it's a customer service type of business where it's like an experience in a box where it needs to show up and be kind of a white glove. Perfect. Well done, seamless type of thing.

37:09And then again, if something does go wrong and you have the opportunity to make it right, that, oh, they went above and beyond and they did this. And now hopefully that turns into a positive review and some word of mouth. Yeah. And I think it's all just about honesty. You know, we're like, oh my gosh, so sorry. I messed up, but I'm going to be right back and I'm going to take a major discount for the time, you know, and I'm so careful about it, but it's never me. Like, you just can't try to hide your mistakes. Everybody gets it. Like, we're human. We're doing the best that we can. So it's just trying to make it right.

37:38What's surprised you the most over the last five, six years of doing this? I can't believe we're still doing it. If you had told me in 2020 that this would still be like the pace at which we're doing it still on top of, I mean, we both have very demanding full-time day jobs. It's kind of mind-boggling to me that we're like side hustle people. Welcome. Welcome to our world. I know. I know. I think the thing that surprised me the most was how much I really was missing that kind of hands-on aspect of work. You know, again, like corporate day job-y stuff scratched so many things for me, but I like being able to like physically set something up and see it and And see people smile and react to it.

38:20And like seeing kids' reactions when they come in. Because I never, we always make them leave the room and we're setting up for a lot of reasons. Okay. And then have that big reveal moment where they come back in. And it is so satisfying to see how excited these kids are. And I'm not like one of those big like I love kids people. I mean I like kids. But like if you had told me that I would get joy out of watching other kids see their slumber party, I would have been like that's really cheesy. But okay. But turns out I love it. Like I love the joy. Right. Well, it's a little bit different. This is something for me too and for my wife as well.

38:53The side hustle could exercise a different portion of your brain that you're not using at your day job. It kind of scratches some creative itch as it sounds like it did for you too. I like that. Yes, I know. My family, my sister is saying all the time, she says it all the time. She's like, I did not see this coming with you. This whole like artsy, craftsy, you know, kids event business is just so off center for me, but I love it. I love it. Yeah, it's in there. And I think who this business would appeal to is kind of that parent, you know, husband and wife team in that child age range of that, you know, eight to 15, where you already know the other parents at the schools.

39:34It's a natural fit to do these silent auctions and be maybe you're already active in these parent groups or neighborhood groups. And it's just kind of like raising your hand. I'm going to test this out. Let's see who wants to be the guinea pig here. And if you've got that creative aesthetic eye, could take a good picture. Who knows? Maybe somebody else will book it. Yeah. And I can tell real fast if someone has that because we do, we have a really bulletproof now training program, both for the teams to try this out and then us for kind of test them out. And I can tell if someone's going to be kind of as OCD about the attention to detail as I am.

40:09And a lot of the times it's the teenagers. So the teenagers come in and they get so excited about making things look perfectly and like lining up all the little garlands and the trays are perfect. And I think a lot of people just have that visual thing inside of them. And so this is a great way to do it. And the thing too is, I don't know if it's like this where you are, It is so hard for teenagers to find jobs these days, especially just with activities and all the other things. Having a job that you can do with your mom or your dad that's super flexible and you're spending time together in the car, driving to and from the parties, like, it's pretty amazing.

40:43It's just such a unique kind of setup. There's definitely some money in kids' birthday parties. We had a guy on last year who was doing outdoor foam party setups with these, you know, commercial-grade foam cannons. and you'd come and blast your kids for an hour and run around in the foam. Even my son has been invited to a couple of these video game trailer parties, which is like, yeah, there's some overhead if you don't already have the truck for one. But then you bought this horse trailer, three flat screen TVs with a couch along one side, and then like three different video game consoles. So it's like, there's some overhead, there's some setup costs, but I don't know.

41:18It wasn't, we weren't the ones hosting the party, but he's like, this was a blast. This is super cool. So I imagine it wasn't cheap. Well, that's the other cool thing about this, too. There is this whole ecosystem that did not exist five, 10 years ago of children's events. Yeah. Whatever it might be. Balloon businesses, you know, it's face painters. It's the princess trucks, the video game trucks. But then there's like the spa trucks and people that do these like dessert carts where they'll come and like set up a soda pop cart or a dessert cart. And we actually partner with a lot of them. So that's been really fun, too, because we're all just like referring business to each other.

41:53You know, if someone wants to add on something to their party and we don't offer it, odds are good I know somebody that does that. And so I'm constantly pitching business to other people and they're doing the same back to us. And so it's like this fun little Nashville party ecosystem where we all know each other. Party suppliers at Central. In my wife's wedding photography business, it was kind of this strategic referral partner, you know, gathered the business cards for the DJs, for the florists, for the caterers, whoever's there. But those were kind of different slices of the event. But it's like here, well, if I'm referring the video game truck person, it's like that may be a direct competitor or like people really adding that stuff on.

42:32Yeah. I mean, it depends. Some people just go big, right? Yeah. Sometimes we'll do a graduation party. Like we do a big outdoor backyard glamping tent too that we set up in people's backyards and then it has all the mattresses inside but you could also use it as we'll set up tables and chairs in there and have grad parties so then they'll start adding on all the other things a lot of people will add on i don't know if you've seen those big light up letters that are the numbers the one here is called letter bright nashville and they're these huge wooden numbers and letters so you'll have like the 16 so a lot of people add those onto their parties so things like that that is a great side hustle too man if there's not somebody doing those light up numbers or letters in your town.

43:12You need to do that. They're killing it. Yeah, I love this idea. And I'm already like, well, shoot, yeah. What would it cost to buy these? How long to break even? And then after that, everything is gravy. I love that. All right. Well, fireflyslumberparties.com. Check it out. It sounds like there is a training program there for aspiring slumber party entrepreneurs. You mentioned licensing, the training program. what else has got you excited for this year? I am trying to figure out what the next cool theme is always. That's kind of where my hat is always, you know, like I've always got my ears perked up and asking the girls like, what's coming?

43:45What's on the TikToks? So, you know, you're always just trying to stay ahead of the trends and figure out what the next new kind of party thing. Cause a year or two ago, it was this preppy pink thing. And Taylor Swift is kind of dying down now, bless her heart. I don't know. The kids don't want those parties anymore. Do you have multiple sets of each one? Like in case multiple people want to book it? Yeah, the popular ones, we had to. Like when the Ares tour was going on, we had Taylor Swift parties going out, literally probably two or three of them every weekend. And I had to buy, you know, multiple sets.

44:19It's really like pillow covers are kind of the big decor item that we switch out for all the themes. So it's not a huge cost. But yeah, from the most popular parties, we definitely have multiple sets. I believe it. How do you think about, I mean, is there, okay, we want to break even on our cost after one event, two events, five events, like on terms of like the equipment infrastructure? I always tell people when they're starting out, I'm like, just mentally prepare to maybe break even in your first year. Because a lot of people don't price themselves right. They price themselves too low and they're just killing themselves for very little return.

44:53And it just takes a while to kind of get your groove on. And again, like some people don't want to do a party every weekend. So when you're first starting out, it just depends how fast you want to go. Because if you go too fast at the beginning, you're going to mess up and then you might get a bad review and one bad review at the beginning will kill you. So I always tell people like go slow and don't, you know, you want to book with friends and family for the first few parties or give some donated parties. But it can take a while depending on how crazy you go with your themes off the bat. If you start small and just offer two or three, then you're probably going to break even pretty fast.

45:27I just don't want people going out there and thinking you're making six figures in a year or two. It's not going to happen. This is a long game. All right. I appreciate your honesty. Maybe a little reality check on that because I'm like, where do I sign up for something like this? But that's okay. Ground it a little bit. Okay. Pause. Go slow. Again, FireflySlumberParties.com. Check Ann out over there. Let's wrap this thing up with your number one tip for Side Hustle Nation. Number one tip, customer experience. Hands down. You have to do right by these people. It is a special event for their kid or whomever it might be, and you are there to make it magical.

46:01And so everything that you can do to make it as perfect and seamless as possible, it's just about making it easy for these families. And that's what people are paying for. I mean, it's not really about the Instagram. It's about making it easy and making a special moment for their kids. And I think that's why people are just really craving ways to make special moments with their kids and their family right now, I think more than ever. And so being able to do that and make it as perfect as possible for them is really the key. I think that's really helpful if you're selling slumber parties, if you're selling whatever it is that you're selling.

46:35You know, what is the customer really buying? They're buying this magical experience. They're buying not having to worry about it themselves. Like, what is that transformation that they're hopefully buying at the end of the weekend in this case? I think that's really important to keep in mind no matter what you're selling. And this has been awesome. I took a ton of notes. I'm excited to share with everybody about Firefly Slumber Parties and just got me looking at who is doing this in my area, what it looks like, what it entails. Now, we've been chatting the slumber party setups in this episode, but this certainly isn't the only thing that you could rent out for a profit.

47:06So to get your creative juices flowing, I want to invite you to download your listener only bonus for this episode. It's my list of 25 other unconventional things that you can rent out for a profit. Just hit the episode description or follow the link in the description. It'll get you right over there. You can grab that for free. Big thanks to Anne for sharing her insight. Thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone. Sidehustlenation.com slash deals is where you can find all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place. Thank you for supporting the advertisers that support the show.

47:38That is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. if you're finding value in the show. The greatest compliment is to share it with a friend. Fire off that text message to that person in your life who needs to hear this story. Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen. And I'll catch you in the next edition of the Side Hustle Show. Hustle on.