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Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
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Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
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Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
It's the six figure slumber party Side Hustle. Anytime you can build or buy something once and get paid for it multiple times, my ears perk up a little bit. Today's guest has done just that in a super creative space. And that's Instagram worthy. Slumber parties. Stick around in this one to learn how she found her first customers, the pricing and logistics behind the business, how you might start something similar in your own area. From Firefly slumberparties.com Ann McGraw welcome to the Side Hustle show.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Thank you for having me. So happy to be here.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
I am pumped for this one. So last weekend, as just one example, you did five parties at 800 to $1,000 each. This is a serious side business and you're still working full time?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yes, yes I am. This is a side hustle for my husband and I for sure.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, I mean we're talking 10 grand revenue plus per month here, seasonality, all this stuff. I didn't even know this was a thing. Where did the idea come from for this?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Well, we definitely did not come up with the idea ourselves. It has been around out there for probably seven or eight, nine years. Some people have been doing it across the country and other in other regions. We're in Nashville and my daughter actually in 2020, saw it on. I can't remember if it was TikTok or Instagram the time. Some girl out in Arizona was having a slumber party like this and we couldn't find anyone here to do it. So that's kind of where it started. So we didn't originate the idea and there's thousands of people doing this, but ours has definitely kind of survived the times here and is doing really well.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay, so gone are the days of bring your sleeping bag and camp out in the basement of your friend's house. I'll try and bring up some pictures of the setups here, but it's like these beautiful canopy tents and air mattresses and it's like a really, you know, made for social media type of event. And is that where, I mean, what comes first? We got to buy some inventory for this for our own daughter's birthday party? Is that where it starts?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Sort of, yeah. We had to figure out if we were going to just do this kind of one off thing or if we were going to build it to scale and just started talking to some other people that were doing it in Chattanooga, which isn't that far from us, and they were looking to do an outpost in Nashville. And so they kind of gave us some tips on what to buy and how to set up what we needed to do for decorations and all that. We had to build the tents ourselves and get the dimensions to actually like sew the fabrics for the tent covers. And we ended up kind of buying them out a few years later because they were closing down shop. And so we were running the Chattanooga business for a bit there. But yeah, everyone does it a little bit differently. So we had to figure out what worked for us here.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay, I'm looking at some of these build outs. So there is some startup costs, there is some initial idea validation. You couldn't find any competitors doing it locally, but you had a sense that there was some demand. I mean, your own daughter is telling you that there's some demand.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
There were one or two people doing it in other areas of Nashville. Nothing really big, but the thing about this business is it's so hyperlocal and because we can only do a few parties a weekend that really you could have one in like your own ten mile little town and then someone else can be in the next little suburb and doing it and you're not really stepping on each other's toes because there's just not enough capacity to be doing this for people all over one city in a size like Nashville. The key for us was deciding, you know, what themes were going to be really popular, because that's what people are interested in, letting their kids pick out the party theme. And that's where having at the time, my daughters were 10 and 12, and they were like the perfect demographic for this in the little mini focus group. So they would be like, hey, boho is blowing up. Like you're gonna wanna introduce a boho theme. So things like that were really helpful.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay. So I'm thinking that's helpful to understand who the target customer is. Kind of these preteen age. Is it mostly young girls?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Boys too, I guess, but there are definitely some boys. You'll see that soccer one you just scrolled by. And we do a superhero one that's really popular. Yeah, that was also a big learning for us when we started. We had thought and some other people were targeting a really younger age than what this is really good for. So a lot of our initial themes were almost too young. They were like unicorns and ballerinas and Frozen. But the people doing slumber parties, you know, with 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 kids, that is really age like 10 to 15.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
We do younger, we do older. But figuring out that sweet spot, like the Taylor Swift age, that party theme does bonkers. Like the Swifties is like the core age here, like the tween teen. We do a lot of 12th, 13th, 14th birthday parties.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay. Yeah. I see some of these themes.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
The neon glow one that's hugely popular. Yep.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
The T. Swift eras with the big disco ball pillows here. There's ballerina party, there's boho one. Camp, camp out. Kind of a Moana tropical luau type of thing. Harry Potter theme, Minecraft. There's a ton at this point. And imagine it just started out with one or two to kind of get the ball rolling.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Exactly. We started out with I think probably four or five. And a lot of what you'll see here in the photos, they're like slight variations. So the problem with this business, the challenge is the inventory. There's just a lot of decor items and so having really high quality, keeping them in perfect, really good shape, really clean, but just storing all of this stuff. So if someone requests a custom theme, you'll see one on there that said hearts and horseshoes. Some girl was really into horses and so her mom wanted to do a hearts and horseshoes theme. So we charge a custom theme fee. But then we get to introduce that into our catalog. So we charge a very nominal theme fee just to cover basic supplies. We don't try to like gouge people on it because we know that that theme is then something we can keep selling and keep repurposing going forward.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Right. If somebody asked for it now, we can add it to the catalog.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Exactly.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
How much does it cost to come and have you set one of these up?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
So this has also changed a lot over the years. We really underpriced ourselves at the beginning, but we now start at. There's a four tent minimum, and it starts at 4:25. And that's all in. That includes setup, pickup, delivery, everything. And then we have a whole kind of a la carte menu of party extras that you can add if you want, like a candy bar or custom pillowcases with the kids names on them or sleep masks or. We used to do pajamas that. That got out of control. We do a karaoke machine. We do a bubble machine. Like a popcorn machine is really popular. We rent out the popcorn machine a lot. So we have like a rental inventory that we add onto these parties.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
But yeah, so it starts at 4:25. That's kind of our. This is worth our time because we have to get there, set up, and then come back. And then the next day we have to go back and pick it up and come back. So it's just a lot of time to get to and from a house.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah. You're almost exclusively Friday evenings, Saturday evenings, and then the following morning, come back and tear it all down, pack it back up, do it again the following weekend.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
What was the startup cost for maybe building out this initial set? You know, four tent minimum. Okay. It's this boho theme that the daughters are after or this T. Swift theme. It's really cool to be able to use it over and over again, especially once it's built out. But there is a startup cost here.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
There is. The most expensive thing for us is the air mattresses. We actually started out with foam camping mattresses, and then transporting them got to be a challenge, and we switched to really high quality camping air mattresses. And those are, you know, like $50 a pop. And we're replacing those more than anything else. I mean, our initial startup cost, it was probably all in less than $5,000. Because we made the tents ourselves. They're actually really cheap. You just buy these wooden staves at Home Depot and drill some holes in them. And we've kind of perfected that construction mechanism over time to make it really easy and durable to hold up for all the taking down, moving it, setting it up, taking it down.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
You know, it uses little elastic hair bands. Like there's a lot of. It's not expensive. The tent covers, the fabric. Tent covers. Those can add up. So we've been really purposeful at like keeping those in really good shape and making sure that we're keeping them clean and don't have to keep remaking them just because fabric is an expense. But that's rare that we have to replace new tents.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
All right, that's helpful to know. So you get this first set up, you have a sense of, yes, I think this is something that people want. And then you start spreading the word. Is this local neighborhood Facebook group? Like, how do you raise your hand and say, yes, we're open for business?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Definitely local Facebook groups, parent groups. So my full time day job is in marketing. So I think that really just helped me a lot because I've been working in social media since the dark ages. And so just being able to take really good photos and our Instagram page has really been our main selling point. And just making that a really visually appealing. It kind of does it for me. The beauty about this business that I would never have been able to explain beforehand is you really have built in word of mouth at every single party, because not only is that party girl or boy, but usually it's. It's girls. They've got five, six, seven, eight friends there. And their mothers come in and see it when they come and pick up their daughter. And they're like, oh, my God, my daughter wants to do this too. And so it is just like a trickle effect of, I want to do this for my party, I want to do this for mine. And then they're all posting it on their social media and so their neighborhood friends see it. And so I can actually tell if I have a party in a certain neighborhood, like, I'll start to get inquiries in that neighborhood for a few months and then, like, it'll shift to a different part of town because I think, like, the word will trickle out in different ways. It's really interesting.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, I like that built in word of mouth where the party attendees, well, they've got birthdays coming up too. They see this.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Everybody has a birthday. Birthday.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, we've seen the same with our kids.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
And then the little siblings. Yeah. And then the little sister wants one when she turns 10 in two years. And so we do a lot of repeat customers. There's a large percentage of repeat business where People either it's the same birthday girl getting it year after year for three, four years or multiple siblings in the same house. So that's been really fun to get to know some families.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Are you doing anything proactively to drive online reviews or anything else outside of kind of this initial social media push?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, absolutely. About a week after each party, I have a templated email that goes out asking for Google reviews and it's hit or miss. Most people don't take the time to do it, but the people that do it's definitely helped. And I do that manually. I will say too, the main marketing that I do outside of social is we do a ton of school donations like silent auctions. So a lot of the schools around here do fundraisers or their fall carnivals or, you know, spring festivals or whatever. And they're all doing silent auctions. And this is such a great silent auction item for families to bid on. And again, you know, then when they win, they're having this party and they're inviting other kids from that school.
Host (Podcast Announcer)
Yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
So it's a donation, but it's a marketing expense and it's been pretty effective.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, I bet. Yeah. You show the pictures and people sign up for the silent auction and then, yeah, like you said, it has this viral effect of the eight other kids who were at the party. Yeah, that's a good way to do it. I'm on the Google business profile. I see 22, 5 star reviews views with a bunch of the pictures on here. And we've heard from other guests where anytime you're doing a setup or teardown, it's like another excuse to add a picture to kind of feed the machine in a way to give Google what it wants to chew on more data. Oh, we're at this neighborhood, we're in this location, like getting really hyper specific with some of that stuff.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, absolutely.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
So you're getting some really positive initial traction. People like what you have to offer. But now you've kind of committed yourself on your off days, your off hours to doing this setup and takedown and delivery. And I imagine at a certain point it's like, this is supposed to be my weekend too. I like the, you know, putting in the time, putting in the effort to build something, but it becomes, I don't know, do you have that moment of, well, what did I just commit myself to?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Oh, a million times. Especially as our girls were getting older, they were getting more and more busy. I mean, their weekends were becoming dominated with their own activities and we had a million talks like, can we even keep doing this? And I just couldn't figure out I'm a little bit of a control freak and how to outsource this and let other people help us. How to hire staff yeah, because I think the secret to our success is that I am really, really focused on customer experience and attention to detail and just, you know, making sure everything is perfect and it's hard to trust other people with that, which I'm sure any business owner understands. So yeah, we were at a point where we're like, either we're just gonna kind of shut this down or we gotta hire help and get some of our weekends back for our family. So we finally, finally cracked that a few years ago. I'd say about three years ago, we really leaned into staffing and it's been a game changer.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Hey, real quick, your free listener bonus for this week is my list of 25 other unconventional things you can rent out for a profit. Just hit the show notes, link in the episode description and you'll be able to grab that for free. I've got more with Ann in just a moment, including how she grew her team to free up her time, the tools and tech she uses to manage all the bookings and inventory, and what might block people from getting started in this business. Coming up right after this.
Host (Podcast Announcer)
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Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
where did you look for something like this? Like look, it is super part time. It's kind of weird hours. Where do you look, how much do you pay? What makes sense here?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
I started with one mother who she had actually had a party for her daughter and she had reached out to me and said hey, this is really interesting, do you need any help? And for a while I was just like no, I don't even know what that looks like. I don't know how to ask for help. But she was ended up being my first test case because she's on the exact opposite side of town from me. And so it really worked out well. She was almost like our west outpost and we gave her a bunch of tents and like the most popular themes and so she could do all the prep and set up on the west side of town when party inquiries came up. So I really just started with her and her tween. I think she was 11 at the time. Daughter would come along and help her and we were doing with our own daughters so we should have known this, this is such a great kind of first job for a young tween or teenager that can go with a parent. But there's a lot, it's very hands on, it's very like visual. It's very satisfying for them to be a part of. But having that adult with you and so they were doing that for a while and so I used that as the model. Then when we were going to hire more teams and posted in my we have a huge local Facebook group in our part of town and just said we're looking for some more teams to help us. And this is what works really well. Like a parent teenager combination or two older teenagers that can drive and that you're comfortable going in other people's homes. So it was a lot of just making sure people understood the responsibility of going into these families homes and paying attention to detail. And every time I post that I need help, I get 20 to 30 people instantly contacting me that they want to do this. So we did it slowly.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah. They need, while they're representing your brand, they need to understand the aesthetics of it. And I guess you kind of have a playbook like look, make it look like this. But then you get to a room that is shaped a little weird. The couch is in the way.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, I have like visual sheets that I print out with every party that says this is exactly what it looks like. We've got that part down to a science. But people love it because it's so flexible. It's like the perfect part time job because I don't make anyone commit to a minimum or a maximum even. So we use the band app and have polls on your availability and if a party request comes in for a certain weekend and we see, you know, Lisa's available on this weekend, we'll ask her if she wants to take that one. If it books and if it says yes, you know, if they book then she gets assigned to that party. The number one thing I've always asked for people is once you say yes, that you'll take a party, like there is no backing out because I've never ever canceled on a kid's birthday party and won't do it like but there are times when I'm out of town and I'm like, if you commit to doing a party, there's no backup. Like you have to, we. I have to be able to depend on you and rely on you that you're going to. And that ruins some kids 12th birthday party. And we've never had an issue with it, so but it's so flexible. You can do one party a month. You can do. Some people do one to two parties every weekend because they're like saving up for a trip to Italy with their daughter so they can kind of scale up and back as much as they need to.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Which app was that again?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
We Use the band app for our staff management. So all the team communications goes through band. It's kind of like a group me b a n d. Yeah, it's very similar to GroupMe. A lot of kids activities use it, like school teams and baseball teams and soccer teams and cheer teams. So a lot of parents are already familiar with using it, but it lets you do like the calendaring and the events and then the chats and then they upload their pictures after the party. So I can take those and use them on social media, but all communication stays within that. I also have a full time now customer service manager. So she's the one doing all the party bookings and customer communications. So she manages the staffing schedules and all the client bookings and does all that band communication with all the team members. And she's just a godsend. She just is a lifesaver.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay, which set is going where? Who is in charge of setting it up? Yeah, this is the master spreadsheet jockey of coordination.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
That was a big unlock for me too, because for the first probably three years I was managing it all in Google Docs, Google Sheets and spreadsheets. And it worked for me, but then it didn't work. So I got to a point of scalability where I was just like toeing that line of messing something up. Like I knew it any day I was walking a tightrope of missing something or it was a terrifying state of the business where we'd grown big enough to where my systems were not scaled to keep up.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
And I finally just like put a pin in the ground and did a bunch of research on other technology platforms that I could use and did trials on Dubsadoo and honeybook. And we've been on honeybook. I paid a consultant, like a upwork honeybook person to come in and set Honeybook up for me. And that's where all the client bookings and the invoices and the contracts and everything go through. And a complete game changer is finally like paying for a tech system to manage all the client stuff.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, that makes sense for the setup and tear down helpers. Are you paying per job, per mile, per hour? There's a lot of different ways you could structure it.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
After tinkering with it for a while, we just do one flat rate per party. So it's $150 per party, and that includes setup and pickup. There are some instances where one team can only do setup and another team will come and do pickup. So they just split that.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
We tried doing it per tent. And it just got so complicated because people would add a tent last minute, like, it didn't feel fair. If it's a long distance, like, if it's somewhere outside our normal area, we'll charge the customer a distance fee. And then we. We pass that straight on to the. The setup team. And if something ever goes wonky, like, it's rare, but I'll sometimes just kick a little extra money over. And then they also get tips, so most customers will throw in tip money, and so that goes straight to them as well.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Oh, okay. That's pretty cool.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
So now just looking at kind of the gross margins on it, if I'm charging $800 to the customer and I'm getting or paying $150 for somebody to set it up, it's like, okay, now I've got a $650 spread, and if I could do right, two, three, four of those in a weekend, and I didn't have to, you know, drive around on a Friday night and do a bunch of this stuff myself, like, it's looking like a pretty sweet business.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, it is. And that's why we raised our minimum to 425. Because when you're staffing this out at that 150, like, you gotta have some margin because there is upkeep. We have costs. It's not like it's completely free of the. The physical. The inventory costs or sunk costs. We're doing replacements, but, yeah, I mean, it's kind of a big deal. So I just want to make sure we're like, not. We like doing it, but we're not doing it 100% for the fun of it either.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Right. Are the delivery people storing the tents and materials in their garage? Is there kind of a central storage unit for the stuff?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, that is also the hard part to crack. So it's all at our house. We have a one car garage that's separate, and it's basically a Firefly storage unit. Okay. And so you walk in there, and it's where everything is stored. We would do all the packing and all the prep. And so during the week, my husband and I, or one of my daughters, depending on who's drawn the short straw that week, will help us get everything ready for the weekend. And so we're packing the bins and the totes and then the bags with all the pillows and the rugs and the blankets and the sheets and getting it ready. And then the teams come by, and we have a keypad on our garage. They come by and they pick everything up when they're going to set up the party, and then after they've picked everything back up the next day, they stop by our garage and drop it back off. So we really had to hire people. That's why I did it in my local Facebook group, because they need to live near me. So they're not, you know, driving 20 minutes to my house and then driving to the party house. And then it's. So we're trying to minimize the time needed for them.
Host (Podcast Announcer)
Right?
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah. And everything has got to be labeled in a way they can find it quickly and easily and get on their way. And okay, we need the Taylor Swift thing and we need the Harry Potter thing and we got to go over here at this time.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah. And that's the difference. Some of the companies across the country that have done this kind of on a larger scale, they do have their teams pack and prep everything themselves. And they'll have little systems where someone comes in and, you know, pulls the right little decor items for that theme. We've talked about it. I just, again, like, control freak. I have to, like, lay physical eyes on every single item before it goes out the door to make sure it's all in perfect shape and working condition. So it's just a choice that we've made to still be really hands on with all the party prep and packing for them.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
I'm just checking if anybody is doing this near me. Seattle has one, but out in the burbs, it looks like there may be an opportunity here.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
So we have helped people start in Dallas and East Tennessee. There were some people in Savannah and Jacksonville, so we've helped a lot of people get started. So we are available if you want some coaching.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
So now coaching other people to help, like, is there a franchise in your future for doing this? Like, where does. Where does it go next?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
We have dabbled in licensing, and that's the Dallas Fort Worth Firefly is a licensed model. I have just come to the realization that the way that this business works, you really just need help. Like, the first year. I am not in this to make money off the branding. Like, I love the coaching aspect of it. And so we've really transitioned our business because we get asked all the time, like, hey, I want to start one in Pensacola or wherever it is. And it does take an amount of time. And I am sharing, you know, trade information that has been tried and proven out. Like, I'm going to save people a lot of time by telling them the tips and tricks that we've learned over the years. So we've shifted to this coaching service where we'll help you get started. And that can look like a variety of different things. We have a startup guide on our website that basically just says the number one question people ask is, can I even do this? And there are some things that you need to know going into it. So we have this. Here's what you need to know if you're thinking about doing a summer party business. Kind of a startup questionnaire guide, info packet. And it has a lot of information in it. So I've developed that, put it out on the website.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Like, what would be a blocker for most people?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Transportation. Number one, you gotta have a car that fits a tent.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Oh, just like, do you have a big enough van?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah. Which is the number one blocker for me for staffing. I mean, people think they have an suv. I'm like, well, these tents are. They're not giving. Like, they have to fit your back of your trunk. Can't have any weird, like, plastic, you know, indention. So we have to like, physically test it.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Got it, got it.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Storage space availability. I have someone helping me do all the weekday stuff now with the customer communications and emails. You're going to need liability insurance. Like, there's kind of those hidden costs that when people are thinking side hustle, I don't know that they necessarily have thought through all of them that we've cobbled together over the years. Contracts. Are you comfortable managing like a stripe or a PayPal or a payment method. Like, these are the things you have to get in place to be able to do this.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
So, yeah, it's really the. Like, here's what an average weekend looks like for us. Here's the kind of things that we do run into with customer issues. There will be dogs in people's houses. Are you allergic to dogs? Like, stuff like that. Are you a people person? You gotta be a people person because you're coming into someone's house Sunday morning and mom and dad are still in their PJs and have had the roughest night because their kids were up all night partying. So it's just stuff like that, though we try to give people a really full picture before you take the plunge and buy all this stuff and make a go at it.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
That's right. What. What you see on the social feed may not be the reality that you're walking into on Sunday morning.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Exactly.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
That's fair. Where is your time going now? Now that you've got the team in place and it seems to be running pretty well.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah. I mean, we're kind of at a point where if we were going to get bigger and make a time, you know, transition to doing this outside of just our side jobs, we'd have to get a warehouse and get a lot more inventory and probably a big a van. And there's just like we have a trailer that we use for some things, but we're kind of at that, like jumping point where we, if we're going to scale and do this full time, we're going to have to make some big changes. And at this point, I don't think that my husband or I are wanting to do that. So that's really where I think just to kind of scratch that creative itch for me is to help other people do this because it's such a well oiled machine for us right now in Nashville. And it's been so great for our family and our teenage daughters, like being a part of this and seeing us working our butts off on the weekends and, you know, mom sits behind a desk all day and she's, they're seeing us carrying bins up people's stairs. And I want to give other kind of families that kind of guidance to be able to do the same thing, especially if they have young, younger kids like that that want to be a part of it. It's just really fun seeing people take off with it.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
More with Ann in just a moment, including whether or not she plans to take this full time, some of the little upsells and extras that add to the bottom line, and some of the marketing partnerships that, that led to even more bookings coming up right after this.
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Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
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Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
to ask if you foresaw it becoming a full time business or full time thing where you take the leap and give your notice at work.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
I've thought about it, but I don't know, I like doing both. You know, I'm a corporate America girly for better or worse and I get to be around a lot of people and grownups during the day and. But I have this really creative side to me too that is really hands on and I'm crafty and get to make all these little sleep masks and all these things that are not a part of my day job and so kind of having that balance for me at least, least has worked really well. So I don't know, I think if I did this full time and a lot of people do and do it very successfully. A lot of people out there are killing it. I might go a little crazy, but I don't know yet. Maybe ask me again in like a year or two.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, we'll have to do a follow up on that. I'm on the. The impulse buys the upsells, you know, as you're in the checkout card, you know, would you like to also add on the candy bar? You mentioned the personalized sleep masks here. These are so cute.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
I love those.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
The karaoke machine, the popcorn machine. These are great. These are just little. Look, if you're already having a sleepover party, have you thought about this, this and this? Right. It's a natural addition to offer this stuff and increase the average order size.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Exactly. The little sibling tent was such an aha moment for me a few years ago, because just party after party, I would see these poor little kids that were like, you know, three, four, five, just having a meltdown that they were left out of, you know, big sister's party that was being set up in the bonus room or whatever. And so I just started. Do you want me to bring a tent and a mattress for them? And I can pick out, you know, you can put a little Minecraft pillow on it for a little brother or a superhero, Like a, you know, Captain America pillow that I have. And people love it. And they put it in their room. Like, they put it in their little brother's room, and he gets to sleep in the tent on the floor overnight. I love stuff like that.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, that's cute. Have any of these other ones kind of come from customers asking for stuff, or is it like, oh, well, we'll put this up, we'll offer it, and we'll see if anybody takes it.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
The invitation graphic, for sure. I was not doing that for a long time, but now, you know, a few years ago, when I kind of was using Canva all the time, I was like, I don't know why I'm not doing this. So that takes me, you know, 10 minutes. The thing about them, it's almost always the moms booking this party. Let's be honest, These moms are generally very busy women, and a lot of them work full time themselves.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
You know, this demographic is a pretty successful demographic. They're busy. They outsource a lot of things, including their kids events.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah. If they're paying 800 bucks for a kid's birthday party, yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
They're like, please come do it all. Do it all. And that's part of our selling Point is like, we're going to leave in the morning, you're never going to know we were there. And they love it. But the invitation graphic just for years, they were like, man, I got to put together an invite to send out. I'm like, that's one more thing for you to do. Let me just. It's $25. It takes me five minutes. Let me do it for you.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, we've got a dozen different templates in Canva we can use now. It'll be super fast.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, you just fill out this little form, I send it to you and you text it out to all their friends. Done.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yep. Cool. As you mentioned transportation, you mentioned kind of the storage logistics. Are there any horror stories where you mentioned, look, I never had to cancel on a customer but like, what are some of the bad things that could happen here?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Horror stories? Very few. Knock on wood. There have been times where we have shown up and it was like a war zone. It is very rare. But there are times where you just, it looks like a hurricane blew through that room.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
You need a clear space to work.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah. And just broken items. And this is another reason why we've really targeted our marketing to older kids over the years. Not the younger kids, because they're crazy. Like you put a group of eight year olds in a room and nine times out of ten they're gonna break something.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
We have an eight year old birthday next weekend and you're making me really looking forward to this.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Oh, you know, I can give you some tips. No chocolate, no sticky candy.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Thank you.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
And no glitter. God, the glitter. Yeah. I think the only thing my personal nightmare situations have always been showing up to a party that's a 45 minute drive away and they asked for eight tents and we brought seven. Now that has happened like once or twice because of just communication breakdown or me moving too fast and like reading all the setup things for the weekend. But again, like every single time I bend over backwards to make it right, you know, I'll discount half their party. I always come back and bring something if I've forgotten it. We always, always, always make it right. So those are my, my nightmare fuel is like showing up with the completely wrong stuff.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah. We had a last minute rsvp, we need one more. And you're like, oh, okay, shoot. Now I gotta go back to the garage.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah. And especially with the teams, there have been a few times where again, like in packing everything, I used to have checklists and now I just kind of do it all. But like I'll Leave out a sheet or there's missing a lantern or something. And it is. Every time I do it I'm like, oh God. But I jump in my car or I get my husband to jump in his car and we drive across town so they don't have to come back and get it. We're so careful now about triple counting everything. But yeah, that's the kind of stuff that can go sideways.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah. You need to have those checklists and really be airtight about it because it's a customer service type of business where it's like an experience in a box where this needs to show up and be kind of a white glove, perfect, well done, seamless type of thing. And then again, if something does go wrong and you have the opportunity to make it right, that, oh, they went above and beyond and they did this. And now hopefully that turns into a positive review and some word of mouth.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah. And I think it's all just about honesty. You know, we're like, oh my gosh, so sorry I messed up. But I'm going to be right back and I'm going to take a major discount for the time, you know, and I'm so careful about it. But it's never me. Like, like you just can't try to hide your mistakes. Everybody gets it. Like we're human, we're doing the best that we can. So it's just trying to make it right.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
What's surprised you the most over the last five, six years of doing this?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
I can't believe we're still doing it. If you had told me in 2020 that this would still be like the pace at which we're doing it still on top of, I mean, we both have very demanding full time day jobs. It's kind of mind boggling to me that we're like side hustle people.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Welcome. Welcome to our world.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
I know, I know. I think the thing that surprised me the most was how much I really was missing that kind of hands on aspect of work. You know, again, like corporate day joby stuff scratched so many things for me. But I like being able to like physically set something up and see it and see people smile and react to it and like seeing kids reactions when they come in because I never. We always make them leave the room when we're setting up for a lot of reasons.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
And then have that big reveal moment where they come back and it is so satisfying to see how excited these kids are. And I'm not like one of those big like, I love kids people. I mean, I Like, kids. But, like, if you had told me that I would get joy out of watching other kids, like, see their slumber party, I would have been like, that's really cheesy. But okay. But turns out I love it. Like, I love the joy.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Right? Well, this is a little bit different. This was something for me too, and for my wife as well. Like, the side hustle could exercise a. A different portion of your brain that you're not using at your day job. It kind of scratches some creative itch, as it sounds like it did for you too. I like that.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yes. I know. My family. My sister is saying all the time. She says it all the time. She's like, I did not see this coming with you. This whole, like, artsy craftsy, you know, kids event business is just so off center for me. But I love it. I love it.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah, it's in there. And I think who this business would appeal to is kind of that. That parent, you know, husband and wife team in that child age range of that, you know, 8 to 15, where you already know the other parents at the schools. It's a natural fit to do these silent auctions and be. Maybe you're already active in these parent groups or neighborhood groups, and it's just kind of like raising your hand. I'm going to test this out. Let's see, who wants to be the guinea pig here? And if you've got that creative, aesthetic eye, it could take a good picture. You know, who knows? Maybe somebody else will book it.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah. And I can tell real fast if someone has that, because we do. We have a really bulletproof now training program, both for the teams to try this out and then us for kind of test them out. And I can tell if someone's gonna be kind of as OCD about the attention to detail as I am. And a lot of the times it's the teenagers. So the teenagers come in and they get so excited about making things look perfectly and, like, lining up all the little garlands and the trays are perfect. And I think a lot of people just have that vis thing inside of them. And so this is a great way to do it. And the thing too, is, I don't know if it's like this where you are. It is so hard for teenagers to find jobs these days, especially just with activities and all the other things. Having a job that you can do with your mom or your dad that's super flexible, and you're spending time together in the car, driving to and from the parties, like, it's pretty Amazing. It's just such a unique kind of setup.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Well, there's definitely some money in kids birthday parties. We had a guy on last year who was doing outdoor foam party setups with these, you know, commercial grade foam cannons. And you come and blast your kids for an hour and run around in the foam. Even my son has been invited to a couple of these video game trailer parties, which is like, yeah, there's some overhead if you don't already have the truck for one. But then you bought this horse trailer, three flat screen TVs with a couch along one side, and then like three different video game consoles. It's like, there's some overhead, there's some setup costs, but I don't know, it wasn't. We weren't the ones hosting the party, but he's like, this was a blast. This is super cool. So. So I imagine it wasn't cheap.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Well, that's the other cool thing about this too. There is this whole ecosystem that did not exist 5, 10 years ago of children's events. Yeah, whatever it might be. Balloon businesses. You know, it's face painters, it's the princess trucks, the video game trucks. But then there's like the spa trucks and people that do these, like dessert carts where they'll come and like, set up a soda pop cart or a dessert cart. And we actually partner with a lot of them. So that's been really fun too, because we're all just like, like, referring business to each other. If someone wants to add on something to their party and we don't offer it, odds are good I know somebody that does that. And so I'm constantly pitching business to other people and they're doing the same back to us. And so it's like this fun little Nashville party ecosystem where we all know each other.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Party suppliers. Essential. In my wife's wedding photography business, it was kind of this strategic referral partner. Gathered the business cards for the DJs, for the florists, for the caterers, whoever's there. But those were kind of different slices of the event. But it's like here. Well, if I'm referring the video game truck person, it's like that may be a direct competitor or like people really adding that stuff on.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, I mean, it depends. Some people just go big, right?
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Sometimes we'll do a graduation party. Like we do a big outdoor backyard glamping tent too, that we set up in people's backyards. And then it has all the mattresses inside, but you could also use it as a will set up Tables and chairs in there and have grad parties. So then they'll start adding on all the other things A lot of people will add on. I don't know if you've seen those big light up letters that have. Or the numbers. The one here is called Letterbright Nashville and they're these huge wooden numbers and letters. So you'll have like the 16. So a lot of people add those onto their parties. So things like that. That is a great side hustle too, man. If there's not somebody doing those light up numbers or letters in your town, you need to do that. They're killing it. It.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Yeah. I love, I love this idea. And I'm already like, well, shoot, yeah, what would it cost to buy these? How long to break even? And then after that, everything is gravy. I love that. All right, well, Firefly slumberparties.com check it out. It sounds like there is a training program there for aspiring slumber party entrepreneurs. You mentioned licensing the training program. What else has got you excited for this year?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
I am trying to figure out what the next cool theme is. Always. That's kind of where my hat is. Always. You know, I. I've always got my ears perked up and asking the girls, like, what's coming? What's on the TikToks. So, you know, you're always just trying to stay ahead of the trends and figure out what the next new kind of party thing. Cause a year or two ago it was this preppy pink thing and Taylor Swift is kind of dying down now. Bless her heart. I don't know. The kids don't want those parties anymore.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Do you have multiple sets of each one, like in case multiple people want to book it?
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Yeah, the popular ones we had to. Like when the ERAS tour was going on, we had Taylor Swift parties going out. Literally probably two or three of them every weekend. And I had to buy, you know, multiple sets. It's really like pillow covers are kind of the big decor item that we switch out for all the themes. So it's not a huge cost.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
Okay.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
But yeah, in the most popular parties, we definitely have multiple sets.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
I believe it. How do you think about. I mean, is there. Okay, we want to break even on our cost after one event, two events, five events, like in terms of like the equipment infrastructure.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
I always tell people when they're starting out, I'm like, just mentally prepare to maybe break even even in your first year. Because a lot of people don't price themselves. Right. They price themselves too low and they're Just killing themselves for very little return. And it just takes a while to kind of get your groove on. And again, like, some people don't want to do a party every weekend. So when you're first starting out, it just depends how fast you want to go. Because if you go too fast at the beginning, you're going to mess up, and then you might get a bad review. And one bad review at the beginning will kill you. So I always tell people, like, go slow. And don't, you know, you want to book with friends and family for the first few parties or give some donated parties, but it can take a while, depending on how crazy you go with your themes off the bat. If you start small and just offer two or three, then you're probably going to break even pretty fast. I just don't want people going out there and thinking you're making six figures in a year or two. It's not going to happen. This is a long game.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
All right, I appreciate your honesty. Maybe a little reality check on that, because I'm like, where do I sign up for something like this? But that's okay. Ground it a little bit. Okay, pause. Go slow again. Firefly, slumberparties.com check Ann out over there. Let's wrap this thing up with your number one tip for side Hustle Nation.
Ann McGraw (Firefly Slumber Parties Founder)
Number one tip, Customer experience, hands down, you have to do right by these people. It is a special event for their kid or whomever it might be, and you are there to make it magical. And so everything that you can do to make it as perfect and seamless as possible, it's just about making it easy for these families. And that's what people are paying for. I mean, it's not really about the Instagram. It's about making it easy and making a special moment for their kids. And I think that's why people are just really craving ways to make special moments with their kids and their family right now, I think more than ever. And so being able to do that and make it as perfect as possible for them is really the key.
Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show Host)
I think that's really helpful if you're selling slumber parties, if you're selling whatever it is that you're selling, you know, what is the customer really buying? They're buying this magical experience they're buying not having to worry about it themselves. Like, what is that transformation that they're hopefully buying at the end of the weekend in this case? I think that's really important to keep in mind no matter what you're selling. So, yeah, this has been awesome. I took a ton of notes. I'm excited to share with everybody about Firefly slumber parties and it's got me looking at who is doing this in my area, what it looks like, what it entails. Now, how we've been chatting the slumber party setups in this episode, but this certainly isn't the only thing that you could rent out for a profit. So to get your creative juices flowing, I want to invite you to download your listener only bonus for this episode. It's my list of 25 other unconventional things that you can rent out for a profit. Just hit the episode description or follow the link in the description. It'll get you right over there. You can grab that for free. Big thanks to Ann for sharing her insight. Thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone. One side hustlenation.com deals is where you can find all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place. Thank you for supporting the advertisers that support the show. That is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're finding value in the show, the greatest compliment is to share it with a friend. Fire off that text message to that person in your life who needs to hear this story. Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen and I'll catch you in the next edition of the side Hustle Show. Hustle on.
Host: Nick Loper
Guest: Ann McGraw, Founder, FireflySlumberParties.com
Release Date: May 4, 2026
This episode explores the booming “Instagram-worthy” slumber party rental business, featuring Ann McGraw of Firefly Slumber Parties in Nashville. Ann details how she and her family turned a creative, hands-on side project into a scalable, six-figure business — all while working full-time jobs. The conversation covers idea validation, startup costs, operations, marketing, team building, challenges, and the realities and rewards of running a hyperlocal events business.
Firefly Slumber Parties is a strong example of a creative, service-based side hustle that scales smartly within a hyperlocal market. It requires hands-on attention, a sense for trends, operational discipline, and an obsession with customer experience. Ann’s journey is both a roadmap and a reality check for wannabe entrepreneurs: growth can be organic, margins strong, and satisfaction high—if you build for quality, connection, and detail.
If you have a knack for event planning, an aesthetic eye, and strong community ties, slumber party rentals (and similar event services) could be your next six-figure side hustle.
[For complete details, photos, and Ann’s startup guide: fireflyslumberparties.com]