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Name: Party Maniacs by Scott Levy

Type of business: Children's party entertainment

Address: Springfield

Telephone number: (973) 447-0616

Web site: www.partymaniacsnj.com

Number of employees: 8

Founded: 1996

Top officer: Scott Levy, founder and owner

How would you describe your business?

"What we do is simple. We keep children of all ages entertained with well-organized high-energy musical games.

"Party Maniacs provides entertainment at children's parties for 15-20 children from ages 3 to 12 and we have also done bar/bat mitzvahs. We travel to all points in New Jersey. We come to you and bring the party to your house, yard, hall, or restaurant. We work directly with the parents to come up with a fully customized one- to two-hour celebration from our many themes to keep the children happy and fully entertained with activities -- including fast-paced games, sand art, arts and crafts, clowns, costumed characters, face painting, and balloon sculpting, where each child gets a special balloon favor shaped as an animal, flower, or toy. While most of our parties are held in homes, we also present programs at nursery schools, and camps."

What makes your business special?

"Our philosophy makes us different:
1. Children should never wait; everyone should play at the same time.
2. Only winners, never losers.
3. Games should be safe and fun.
4. Parties should be easy for parents. We come to you with everything needed to clean up afterward."

What goals do you have for the business?

"My goals for the parties are to get 100-percent participation by children to enjoy our interactive games.

"The goal for myself is to make the customer happy so they will tell others about us. Most of my business is from repeats and referrals. We've been in business since 1996 and entertained children at over 5,000 parties."

How has your business changed?

"When I started 13 years ago, I started by myself and now I have a group of assistants so have the capacity to do more than one party on a particular date."

What was your most important deal?

"I was doing my student teaching for my New Jersey teaching certification in the 1st grade and doing a lot of educational games with the children. My supervising teacher suggested I start a party business. Initially, I laughed it off, because I was really busy at the time working in an internship, taking courses, and acting in a play. A month after I graduated in December with my teacher certification, I began to think about the suggestion and in March 1996 I started Party Maniacs -- that was my most important deal. I decided to call it Party Maniacs because I didn't want to be known as BoBo the Clown."

What changes do you expect in your business in the next 10 years?

"Even though many places feature high-tech, I don't. What I offer is a good hands-on game activity with no electronics, no wires emphasizing movement. I believe that children don't change in their need for interactive games."

What is the most important thing you've learned in your business?

"What I've learned is to have reliable people on my staff and to keep them happy. If they are happy, then the customer will be, too. The people who provide the service of entertaining children must be reliable and able to be on time when the party is scheduled. We must be on-schedule according to when our customer wants us. This makes our business different from a contractor, who can say they will come and then show up late or the next day and still get paid at the end. If we are a half-hour or an hour late, our customer won't be happy and there may not be a party and no paycheck."

What advice would you give to someone considering your line of work?

"There is a lot of competition today. If I would be starting this business now, it would be much harder. Good luck is all I can say to anyone who would consider this business today."

Is there anything else you would rather be doing?

"No. There isn't anything else -- that's why I'm still doing it."