When Jessica first contacted me to enquire about my Awesome Possum Kids Superheroes party packages in Brisbane, we talked about her to be 5 year old son who is a big fan of everything superheroes. She told me about how he loves wearing his superhero outfits and pretends to be different characters like superman or power ranger or his favourite spiderman. She also flicked through to me a cool little WhatsApp video of her 2 boys practicing superhero moves at the front of their house, with the younger following the steps of his older brother. It was super adorable and as always, I was looking forward to entertaining them and their friends and make everyone’s day extra special and fun. This blog post is inspired by my encounter with this lovely mum and her family from Brisbane’s Centenary Pocket, when I went there last weekend to perform for her son's 5th birthday.
On Saturday I finally got to meet them at the birthday party. Spiderman was the choice of the birthday boy’s so that was me for the morning - one of my favourite superheroes too, definitely. I love performing as him for the cool moves! I climbed the fence for them - an Awesome Possum signature climb, and we got into active games and magic and balloons and dance and more action packed fun with lots of superhero tricks. It was a small group of 8 kids, all their best friends came together, it was really cute. They all loved spiderman and the show and all got super excited and very into it for the entire hour.
So after all the fun superhero action we had, the next day I received a thank-you message from Jessica. She also made an awesome review for me on Google and Facebook and sent me some photos from the party and you could see the birthday boy was over the clouds.
And then in another WhatsApp message she asked me how I got into my kids party superhero career and the whole Awesome Possum Kids Superheroes entertainment gig. And I replied “you know what it’s actually a good story but I will tell you all about it later on when I’m back from the day’s party shows”.
So really she just inspired to write this, the story of Alijah Forrest and a brief history of Awesome Possum Kids Superheroes!
It all started a few weeks after I moved to Oz from London to study at university.
A friend of a friend invited me to a house party where I met this lovely couple who were performers, doing kids superhero shows. She was doing all the girl party princess characters, fairy and super-girl and he performed as spiderman, batman, pirate and all the other boy party characters. They told me all about their gigs and how much fun it was and mentioned that the agent that they work with is currently looking for new talent for boy party entertainment. I wasn't seeing it coming but I just moved here for uni and needed work
and I just said I'll be happy to meet their agent.
When I met with the agent from that boutique kids entertainment place it didn't take much for me to get excited over the idea of performing fun characters and get playful and active with kids at birthday parties all around town. I was particularly excited about learning all about magic and balloon twisting and have new skills to perform with.
In the following 3 months I was training with them. I joined other performers on their kids party show adventures, I observed and took notes and then I joined in the shows as a second character and began getting interactive with the other characters and the kids. I was getting really good at it, possibly because I had experience working with children before and attending drama lessons growing up. But definitely because it was fun and exciting and I was re discovering myself in a new and creative way.
For an entire year I was evolving and becoming a kids party entertainer who was getting great feedback and reviews and I loved it.
At the end of that year I decided to make a move to a new city to finish my studies.
In 2009 I moved to Sydney to study at a design college where I did graphics and animation.
The kids party agency I worked with in Melbourne weren't covering Sydney although my agent encouraged me to start my own gig there. So I did.
The next 4 years in Sydney was me establishing Awesome Possum Kids Superheroes, with my own website, social media and a great deal of following. It was incredible. I was running my own show.
And then, a short holiday in Brisbane made me fall in love with the place and some time after that, possibly my sense of adventure and a great deal of intuition, made me make another move, and here I was. Awesome Possum Kids Superheroes made its new home in Brisbane City, capital of the Sunshine State!
Queensland was very welcoming, for one the good weather and beautiful nature and also the locals' laid back attitudes and a sense of new world city. I quickly found myself performing at kids party shows and gaining momentum in Brisbane, Gold Coast and as far as Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. It was super exciting. I was discovering new locations and making new connections. Life was a holiday.
Since then, about 7 years now, Brisbane is home to Awesome Possum Kids Superheroes.
I find my extensive experience in performing for kids on the many platforms including stage shows, and with an extra teaching qualification and more experience, Awesome Possum is now a local legend and a trusted brand. They call me the 'Pied-Piper' of kids! Definitely a massive compliment and a testimony.
Brisbane is my city and my home and I have to say, it is a truly exciting place to be. The city is grandly up and coming, growing and expanding in many ways, and you can just feel fresh, creative, good vibes and oozing energy all around the place. The demographics are vibrant, multicultural and the place is supportive and fun.
What makes Awesome Possum so unique and exclusive I think is, I've kept it authentic to myself as a performer and creative. Yeh I've had a few attempts training new performers and collaborating with others, but I find that keeping it exclusive to me and not turning it into an agency as such just for the sake of business, retains the core essence of the experience and keeps it truly special for me and my audience.
I'm truly passionate about what I do with Awesome Possum Kids Superheroes and making dreams come true is the name of my game! And if you are looking for that extra special, extra fun, extra zing of kids entertainment - talk me! And I'm going to finish with a wee little marketing tagline for you lol .... If it's Awesome Possum - It's kids Entertainment by a PRO!
Thanks for reading my brief history.
Yours with a WAM BAM!
Alijah Brod-Forrest
Owner / performer
Available in Brisbane - Gold Coast - Sunshine Coast - Toowoomba - Byron Bay