Oogles, Googles, it’s party time!

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes a look at a new unique franchise, Oogles n Googles, and a new contest.
Oogles n Googles, an Indianapolis-based company that offers themed birthday parties, announced the opening of its newest franchise on the Main Line, with its newest owner, Jonathan Deglin.
There are two other franchises in the Philadelphia area and a total of 35 throughout the country. The party itself is two hours of interactive fun. The parties are geared for ages 3 to 12. Mr. Jon is what he calls himself at the parties, and his goal is to make sure the parents don’t have to do anything except enjoy the party.
From setup to cleanup, each party has themed invitations and thank you notes; uniquely themed party favors for each guest; crafts; singing; dress-up activities; playing party games; dancing; juice and a cake; colorful paper goods; a souvenir photo for each child; a special gift for the guest of honor and even a gift list for the parents.
All party themes are structured and well planned. Through song and movement, Oogles n Googles focuses on teamwork and deductive reasoning skills, which in turn help children learn about the values of practicing and working together.
They have many different types of party themes, including Wizard School; Rev Your Engines; Tea Time; the very popular Once Upon a Time Fairy Tale; Pom Pom Princess; Down on the Farm; Pop Rock Party; Super Heroes; Teddy Bear Tea; Swashbuckling Pirates; Hula, Hula, Hula Cheerleading; and I Spy Detective School.
"We try to keep it where our parties are unisex even though we have some that are geared more toward boys or girls," said Jon.
He explained in detail the popular male party theme, the pirate expedition. He tells the children that we have found out that we are all descendants of two bands of pirates.
"I let the children name their two bands of pirates," he said. "We do some team cheers so the kids can practice working together, and then we learn some pirate language to set the mood of the party. Then we go and explore every continent on earth. I teach them facts about each continent as we go on. On each continent we do a very interactive activity together.
"After they accomplish an activity on each continent, I give them a clue about something that pirates need," he added. "Once they solve it, they look for a picture of that clue and stick it with Velcro on their map. Once the full map is completed, we can follow the map and get all of the items that a pirate needs, and that is how they get the treasure. There are no parties where there is random chaos."
Here is a future scoop for my readers: Jon is starting to roll out something for teenagers like a gaming party, but he wants to make it educational.
He also has preschool enrichment programs for ages 2 to 5. Your child could learn anything from the days of the week, the months and even when certain animals hibernate.
This enrichment program through music and rhythm forces kids in a fun way to remember facts. It also teaches very young kids to interact with other kids, which is a very important life lesson.
At present, Jon will travel basically anywhere for the party. He is in the process of building a client base. Right now, his business is mostly from referrals. He has done parties up to an hour and a half away.
"My parties grow with the children as they grow," he said. "Each year they become more challenging because kids have sharper deductive reasoning skills. My goal is to have the same moms coming to me year after year."
Mothers prefer to have the parties closer to their homes, especially for the convenience of their guests, according to Jon. Some choose not to have the party in their own homes and instead have them in their own home, in their church, synagogue, local firehouse or even in their child’s preschool.
By the way, prices for the party do not vary on the theme. He also said that if a child at the party has a younger sibling, they can participate without charge. They do not just count heads.
Jonathan Deglin grew up in Lower Merion. He graduated from Friends Central High School and Franklin & Marshall College, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in pre-modern and modern European history. He then attended Widener University, where he earned his master’s degree in business administration.
Before he took the helm of the Oogles n Googles, Jon was director of circulation finance for TV Guide magazine, which is owned by Fox and is located in Radnor. He considered himself a jack-of-all-trades there.
"I did a lot of financial work, a lot of budgeting and legal work, but I also got to do a lot of the fun stuff like planning the Emmy party and working with celebrities," he said.
Jon said his decision to pursue a franchise had to do with maturing.
"As I was getting older, I was getting a little restless in a corporate job behind a desk. Also, I have three children and I wasn’t seeing them enough," he said. "I knew I wanted to do something in elementary education, as I had toyed with this idea a little bit in high school. I wasn’t about to go back to school to become a teacher. I decided to look for a specific type of business, and I thought a franchise would be the way to go for it is a set system for now, but I could always branch into other things afterward."
He noted that there are two parts to his business — the birthday part of it, and preschool enrichment.
"Both of those things allow me to use the skills that I would as an early educator, because the parties are very different. They have a lot of education value," he said.
How did he decide what type of franchise?
Jon noted that even with the economy being uncertain, parents still seem to spend money on pets and children, and he knew he would get involved in the children’s industry.
"I just had to figure out what," he said. "I did not want to do parties where the children are not learning anything. I liked Oogles because of its old-fashioned homemade type value."
Jon and his wife Lauren have three kids, Jaydon 6; Eve, 3; and baby Jacob, 6 months old. They probably have the coolest birthday parties, not surprisingly.
Through our interview, Jon made one strong impression — he takes his new franchise very seriously and truly hopes that Oogles n Googles fosters child development while generating laughter, sensory stimulation and memory retention.
For more information, contact Jonathan at 610-525-KIDS or 610-277-7573 or jdeglin@ooglesngoogles.com
Jon generously offered to donate two full party gift certificates for two lucky Kids Stuff contest winners.
Yes, you read this right! So listen up parents, grandparents or guardians: Please submit an e-mail with your name, and in five sentences or less, tell why you would like a party for your child.
Party arrangements will be made directly by the contest winner recipient and Oogles n Googles of the Main Line. However, personal information supplied by the winner will be passed directly onto Oogles n Googles. Deadline for contest is May 30. After your e-mail entry is received, you’ll receive a return e-mail. ••
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com