Hi! I’m Kate, director of Groovy Chicks and Pirate Ships and yes I'm a definite workaholic! I first got involved in this business when i was 18 years old beginning as a birthday party host while studying at university. Then a month before my 20th birthday I took it over from the original owners - and wow what a ride the last ten years has been!

Back in 2000 the business was only running a few parties a week, and without even a phone number in the white pages, generating enough money to keep the business going was challenging to say the least! Despite lack of funding, and lack of business experience, I was determined to open a gorgeous party venue where children's imaginations could come alive and their birthdays could become vivid, cherished memories. As an adult, I always remembered the magical feeling of walking into the magic cave at Christmas, or The Lost Forest stores (sadly no longer) and that was exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to be able to create for others.

For many years I worked 7 day weeks building the business with our mobile parties, to a point where opening a venue would be possible. Then in 2005 I finally found a location that could work: an old house that was a commercial property on South Road in Mile End. Although it was much smaller than what I had hoped, with a limited budget I had to make it work! And so, I set to work with the help of a couple close friends and family turning the old bedrooms into beautiful children's party rooms. After a seemingly endless number of seven day work weeks spent designing, painting, building (and developing a power tool collection better than most men I know!) in August 2006 the first Groovy Chicks and Pirate Ships birthday party venue was FINALLY opened!

Now, more than 5 years on, I have lost count of the hours, days and weeks I have spent adding to all the rooms to make them better than ever. Many of my "holidays" are spent repainting, rebuilding and updating to create the most amazing atmosphere for the kids I can. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the delighted look on the kid's faces as they walk in to one of the rooms - it always makes all the work worth while!

This year in addition to our venue, mobile parties and events, I have also been incredibly excited to start designing, building, sewing and launching a new range of designer party hire equipment and decorations for parties at home! I realised parents were tired of wasting money on cheap themed decorations that they had to just throw away, so I set to work developing a high quality, designer hire range, that could bring the magic of our party venue atmosphere into people's homes. Many of my nights and weekends are currently spent adding to this exciting range!

I feel blessed that I enjoy such a challenging, varied and rewarding job and I hope I am able to continue doing it for many years yet. If you would like to chat with me about a party or upcoming event (or just to let me know you loved The Lost Forest as much as me!) please send me an email to: groovychicksandpirateships@gmail.com

BPsych