Party Entertainment in Cornwall

Browse party entertainers across Cornwall and enquire directly - plus how long to book one for, the paperwork worth asking to see, and what the act will need from your venue.

Entertainment is one of the two things that goes first for weekend dates in Cornwall, alongside the venue. What to book for which age group is in the party ideas guide, and the cost guide puts a magician, entertainer or DJ at £150 to £350 for one to two hours. This page is the booking itself: how long for, what to ask to see, and what the act needs from the room.

How long to book, and where in the day

The instinct is to book someone for the whole party, and it is usually the wrong shape. A children's entertainer works best as a defined block with food after it, so the party has a middle rather than a long slow tail - younger children run out of attention well before the adults run out of party. For an adult evening the question is what the act is competing with: a band or DJ after the food has the room, and the same act during it does not. Send the entertainer your running order and ask where they would rather sit in it. They have watched this go wrong more often than you have.

The paperwork worth asking to see

• Public liability insurance - ask for the certificate and the cover amount, because many venues require it of suppliers and will ask you for it rather than the entertainer.
• PAT certificates for anything that plugs in, which venues with their own electrical policy will want for a DJ rig or an inflatable blower.
• For work with children, ask what DBS check they hold and at what level. A one-off party with parents present is not the same setting as regular unsupervised work, so ask what they have rather than assuming a check is required.
• For a bouncy castle or inflatable: who anchors and inspects it, who supervises it during the party, and at what wind speed they will stop.
• Whether the person you are booking is the person who turns up, or whether an agency will send whoever is free.

What the act needs from the room

Ask the entertainer for their requirements and the venue whether it can meet them, before you commit to either. The usual list is floor area and - for anything with a rig or an inflatable - ceiling height, power within reach of where they will stand, somewhere to park close enough to unload, and time to set up before guests arrive rather than around them. Add the noise curfew and whether the venue has a sound limiter fitted, which on its own decides whether a live band is viable, and somewhere to change if the act needs it.

Confirming the booking

Get the arrival time, the performance window and the finish time in writing, along with what happens if the party runs late and whether overrunning is charged by the hour. Confirm the deposit, when the balance falls due and how they want it paid. Ask whether travel across Cornwall is inside the fee: an act crossing the county may not treat that as a local job, and it is a cheaper question now than a line on the invoice later.

Ask what happens if they fall ill. A solo act with nobody to cover them is a single point of failure on a date you cannot move; some will name a substitute or an association they would call. Then send them the venue address, a mobile number for the day and the name of whoever is meeting them, because you will be occupied and they will be at a locked door.

Figures on this page are a guide only. What you actually pay depends on the supplier, the time of year, and what each quote includes - always confirm the details directly with the supplier.