Complaint Review: NYC pARTy Kids - New York New York

DO NOT purchase a package from this company -the owner/coordinator, Shawna, lacks serious time management skills, is completely unprofessional, and her facility at the Hungarian House was despicably filthy.  I had not seen many reviews of this place before I purchased and I should have kept shopping. 

- ZERO TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS:  Shawna did not manage my party at all like you expect a paid event planner to run an event.  My husband and I were reminding her all along the way that activities were running over, that pizza had arrived, that it was time to cut cake. After all of this, she was furious that our party went over the time slot. 

- Shawna had another event an hour after mine was booked, and I caught her three times cutting out crepe circles and making phone calls in preparation for that event, instead of managing mine.  

- I had a food delivery scheduled the morning of my party and Shawna was not at the facility to receive it, even though she requested a morning delivery. 

- My contract included an additional helper, who was a no-show. 

2) FILTHY FACILITY: The Hungarian House is not kept clean. It was filthy the day I visited (I was told there was a party there the night before and not yet cleaned), and the day of my party (I was told same excuse). Shawna, even though she arrived 2.5 hours before the event, did not bother to clean up the dirty floors or the cluttered coat check and countertops. There were shopping bags of junk all over the kitchen area and piled up in the entry room. The clutter didn't seem to bother Shawna at all until I pointed it out to her and then she tried to hurry to clean up, and she was totally offended when I asked her to mop.  This is all happening 10 minutes before my guests arrived. 

- Something died or rotted in one of the refrigerators and Shawna seemed surprised.  Shawna, an owner of this facility, assured me twice that none of the problems were her fault or responsibility. 

3) CHEAP, LOW-QUALITY THEME: I booked a Superhero party and paid extra for Spider-Man.  While he was great- the kids loved him- the props were cheap and low-budget. Shawna used crepe-paper draped over chairs and called it an obstacle course, and taped some cardboard cutouts on the wall (which fell down). Additionally, she was not great at running the activities and there were gaps of time where the kids weren't doing anything but running wild - but not because that was planned. I am trying to imagine how seriously **ridiculous** this party would have been without him. 

In the post-party emails, I told Shawna I was unhappy. She was totally rude and refused to take responsibility for the glaring issues, and she was adamant that she "delivered" on my contract. She even tried to charge me extra for the time that we went over. This makes no sense, but is evidence of her lack of time management. The kids at the party were all ~5 yrs old so they had fun running around and hanging with Spidey- I am very glad for that, but please do not waste your time or money with this woman. She is way in over her head and clearly lacks the desire to build a successful business. There are so many more professional, clean, and well-run options out there.