Sleepovers are a part of growing up for so many children and Tentastic Parties, a local business based in Nocatee came up with a new twist on the traditional party style.
As the name conveys, they use tents to help capture the essence of a sleepover.
According to Michele Keller, we started off by making tents for our families and friends and ended up with a bevy of tents after years of doing that.
“My wife made our daughter her own teepee when she was four (years old), so we always had a teepee in the house,” Stuart Keller chuckled. “It really grew from there.”
She and her husband Stuart are business partners along with Lindsey and Jim Tracey, who they met because their daughters both danced and the families became good friends over the years.
“Our girls were at the age where they were getting big into sleepovers, so we wanted to do something related to that,” Michele Keller said.
The couples got together and thought they had a fun idea that they figured the public would love as well, and the business got underway in January as a result.
Although it has not yet been a year since starting the business, Michele Keller has been quite surprised and happy with how the community has gravitated toward their unique approach to sleepover parties.
“We were expecting to get a lot of people in the Nocatee area, but since we launched it, we’ve been receiving interest from all over and have been down to World Golf Village already for parties,” Michele Keller said. “We’ve even had parties with up to nine people.”
There is an additional charge for parties outside a 10-mile radius of Nocatee.
The setup includes each partygoer getting their own inflatable mattress with a tent to go over it and each tent is personalized with their name on it.
The tents also come decorated with lights so that the tents and beds can stay illuminated even when the lights in the room go out.
Because the business is still in its first year and early on in the process, every party they do offers a degree of learning as they continue to perfect their approach.
“Each time we think about something we can do better and we’re always thinking of new theme ideas,” Michele Keller said.
The current selection of themes they have to choose from includes pretty in Paris, gamer, sweet shoppe, Valentine’s Day, cotton candy, tropical vibes, and Boho Dreams.
“I’d just love to see it continually grow with more themes introduced as we go or where we can customize a party based on the preferences of the person hosting it,” Michele Keller said.
The themes can be tailored for both girls and boys, and the age ranges can vary from very young to teenagers.
“We’re working on getting to a place where we can do parties of five to 10 each weekend,” Stuart Keller said. “It would be nice to standardize it and maybe even get to the point of hiring on someone full-time to help manage it.”
The best way to reach Tentastic Parties and inquire about a possible party setup is by going to tentasticpartiesfl.com or their Facebook or Instagram pages.
