Larrikin Puppets at Stella’s 2nd Birthday Party in North Lakes

Posted on March 14, 2019February 23, 2026 by Brett Hansen

2nd Birthday Party Puppet Show in North Lakes

This is an archived blog post.

Please note that as of 2026, Brett Hansen no longer performs birthday party shows solo.
Larrikin Puppets birthday party performances are now presented by our professional team.

For all current information, packages, pricing and availability, please visit:

Party Entertainment Brisbane – Kids Parties

In March 2019, Brett performed a puppet show for Stella’s 2nd birthday party in North Lakes.

2nd birthday parties are a beautiful milestone celebration, and puppet shows are a gentle, joyful and highly engaging way to entertain little ones and their families.

What the Birthday Party Show Included

The show featured 30 minutes of age-appropriate songs, games, jokes, sketches and lively audience interaction, inspired by the playful performance style of Sesame Street and The Muppets.

Following the show, children enjoyed:

A short demonstration explaining how the puppets work
A meet and greet with Troggg the blue monster
Photo opportunities for families

The full experience ran for approximately 45 minutes.

Event Setup

The puppeteer arrived approximately one hour prior to showtime to set up the stage, sound equipment, props and puppets. After the performance and meet and greet, pack down followed.

The show was designed to be flexible and could be performed in backyards, homes, parks, halls and community venues.

Larrikin Puppets was recognised as a Finalist in the Best Party Entertainer category at the national What’s On 4 Kids Awards 2017.

For current birthday party packages, travel areas and pricing details, please visit:

Party Entertainment Brisbane – Kids Parties

Larrikin Puppets visit Little Diggers Early Learning Centre in Morayfield

Posted on March 12, 2019December 11, 2019 by Brett Hansen

Brett Hansen from Larrikin Puppets is heading off to Little Diggers Early Learning Centre in Morayfield to perform a colourful and fun puppet show for everyone!

Brett Hansen and Elissa Jenkins, along with their troupe of friendly and funny puppet characters provide top quality entertainment and fun for childcare and early learning centres all over Brisbane, Ipswich, the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast!

You can find out more about our colourful and exciting childcare puppet shows here:

https://www.larrikinpuppets.com.au/childcare-and-kindies/

Description:

We present a colourful and exciting puppet show for childcare / early learning centres, featuring zany Muppet-style characters performing age appropriate songs, skits, jokes, games and live interaction with the audience. The puppets encourage the audience to dance, sing and play along. Creative play is very important for the 0-5 year age groups. We then present a “How the puppets work” demonstration at the end.

Total duration: 45 minutes.

Educational content – such as sharing, kindness, exercise, looking after the environment and healthy eating – can also be requested in your booking enquiry. Educational shows require the two puppeteers. In most cases we are booked to perform our regular fun and exciting early learning centre puppet show which celebrates creative play!

Children's Entertainment, Children’s Entertainers, Party Entertainment For Hire | Puppet Show, Puppetry Workshops - Childcare Centres, Story Time

We also offer Story Time with Larrikin Puppets at childcare centres / early learning centres, which is a segment where Elissa reads a children’s book by an Australian author, while Troggg, Frazzamatazz and friends play along and interact with the story. More details about our story time segment here.

Inclusions:

30 minute puppet show of songs, games, jokes and comical interaction with the audience.
5 minute “How the puppets work” demonstration.
5-10 minute puppet meet-and-greet / Photo opportunity with Troggg the blue monster.
Time allowance for travel to and from, set-up and pack-up of the puppet stage, props, puppets and sound equipment.
Rehearsal time prior to the event.
Quality characters.
Quality puppetry.

Professional Development and Formal Training:

Brett and Elissa have completed three months of professional development in the USA, which included advanced, formal training with Jim Henson puppeteers from The Muppets and Sesame Street.

Blue Card and Insurance:

Brett’s Blue Card number is 1161011/3, Elissa’s is 690261/3. We have public liability insurance through Duck For Cover Entertainers Insurance.

Puppetry Workshop: Extra-Curricular Speech and Drama

Posted on March 7, 2019February 27, 2021 by Brett Hansen

With great delight, we have been visiting Citipointe Christian College Carindale annually to run our puppetry performance workshop as part of their Extra-Curricular Speech and Drama classes.

We teach the basic techniques that bring Muppet-style puppet characters to life in an interactive workshop.
Students get a chance to practice puppetry techniques using real puppets.
Citipointe Christian College Carindale

Children's Entertainment, Children’s Entertainers, Party Entertainment For Hire | Puppet Show, Puppetry Workshops - Puppeteer Workshop, Citipointe Christian College Brisbane
This is a beginner level class. No previous puppetry experience is required. Our workshops range from 45 minutes to 1 hour.
If you would like to book a puppetry workshop as part of your Extra-Curricular Speech and Drama lessons at school, vacation care, libraries or theatres, please contact us to discuss.

Inclusions:
– Introduction / Different types of puppetry.
– 10 minute puppet show demonstration.
– Show and Tell – How the different puppets work.
– Practical Workshop, teaching; Lip sync, Eye focus, Puppets talking to each other, Walking and running the puppets, Arm movements (waving, scratching, covering mouth, high fives, etc.), Emotions/Gestures without dialogue, Emotions/Gestures with dialogue, Assistant puppetry for arms, Assistant puppetry for right hand of ‘live hands’ puppets, Dancing to rhythms while lip syncing to vocals.
– Opportunity to perform and demonstrate to the class.
– Time allowance for travel to and from, set-up and pack-down of the puppet stage, props, puppets and sound equipment.

Larrikin Puppets at Maven’s 4th Birthday Party | Yeerongpilly

Posted on March 2, 2019August 3, 2021 by Brett Hansen

Troggg and his fluffy friends are heading to Maven’s 4th Birthday Party today in Yeerongpilly!
Birthday Party puppet shows have been part of the Larrikin Puppets menu of options since the beginning.
Book a puppet show for your birthday party today! Here’s how: https://www.larrikinpuppets.com.au/party-entertainment-brisbane-kids-parties/
One of the earliest puppet shows Brett Hansen performed was for his brother Dale’s birthday party. He made a puppet stage out of an old fridge box, curtains out of streamers, and a collection of puppet characters – Duck, Hippopotamus, Pig and Little Bird performed for the crowd.

Many years later, the first puppet show performed under the Larrikin Puppets business was for the 4th birthday party of Jacob in Bardon. One of the parents at that show subsequently booked Larrikin Puppets for her children’s birthday party in Paddington. Almost every other birthday party puppet show since has been booked via the booking enquiry form here on the Larrikin Puppets website.

Here’s what a few folks around South Bank Parklands thought about puppets when Troggg interviewed them way back in 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtij7um4ChU&fbclid=IwAR3G0WZXUoykQnaGK01V23YAoxgeVj-eT9LT07mOcDj5cGF4NQkUy7HmT3U

You would be surprised how many kids named Charlie (boys and girls) have had birthday parties since this video of a Larrikin Puppets birthday show came out. Quite a few!

Whether it’s for a 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th birthday party (or even beyond that – we’ve done 40ths and 80ths!), puppet shows are great fun for birthdays.

Shoebox Theatre Company – Avenue Q | Larrikin Puppets

Posted on February 11, 2019December 11, 2019 by Brett Hansen

Flossy and Frazzamatazz had a fun night out at Shoebox Theatre Company’s excellent production of “Avenue Q” in Toowoomba.

We ran a pre-audition puppetry workshop in September 2018, and then we returned to Toowoomba in November for a revised workshop with the chosen cast, and assisting with specific scenes they might need help with.

The September workshop made it onto Seven News!

We love Avenue Q and have trained a few different casts. If you’d like some puppetry training, contact us here:

In the meantime, if you’re in or near Toowoomba, go and see Avenue Q at USQ Artsworx!
https://www.facebook.com/events/997195920458754/

Having trained a few casts of Avenue Q over the years we were delighted to teach some new people the skills required to bring this wonderful production to life with good puppetry.
I love Avenue Q. I first saw the show when an Australian and New Zealand touring production came to QPAC in 2010. I’ve seen the off-Broadway production in New York City twice (the second time we were lucky enough to be taken on a backstage tour to meet all the puppets and have a look at the sets up close).

In 2012 I auditioned for a role in the Brisbane Arts Theatre production of Avenue Q, and ended up being cast as co-puppeteer for Trekkie Monster and Nicky, as well as being the puppetry trainer for the whole puppeteer cast. My official title was ‘puppetry consultant’.
In 2014 I was asked to train a new Avenue Q cast at Brisbane Arts Theatre. New director, new cast, new production team.
In 2017 I trained the Sunnybank Theatre Group production of Avenue Q.
Now in 2019, this is Toowoomba’s first local production of Avenue Q with performances taking place in February.
Elissa and I had a great time attending the show at USQ Artsworx last Friday 8 February 2019.
– Brett.

Larrikin Puppets at Rise & Shine Kindergarten – Maroochydore / Buderim, Sunshine Coast

Posted on February 4, 2019May 27, 2025 by Brett Hansen

Larrikin Puppets performing at Rise and Shine Kindergarten in Maroochydore, Sunshine Coast — Performing at Rise & Shine Kindergarten, Maroochydore – Sunshine Coast

Engaging Puppet Shows Across the Sunshine Coast

On Monday, 18 February 2019, we brought joy to children at Rise & Shine Kindergarten in Maroochydore with our interactive puppet show. Our performances are designed to captivate young audiences, making learning fun and memorable.

Watch a 30-second highlight of our Sunshine Coast performances.

Our Sunshine Coast Journey

We cherish our time performing across the Sunshine Coast, including venues like Maroochydore State School, Noosa Tewantin Kindergarten, and the Cooroy Fusion Festival. Our shows have delighted audiences in Woombye, Buderim, Buddina, and beyond.

Children enjoying a puppet show at a Sunshine Coast kindergarten — Engaging young minds through puppetry.

Story Time puppet show during Book Week on the Sunshine Coast — Story Time sessions during Book Week.

Kindy Incursion Puppet Show - Children's Entertainment - Brisbane - Queensland — Freerange the Chicken entertaining the audience at a Sunshine Coast Childcare Centre.

Meet the Puppeteers

After completing three months of professional development in the USA, including training with Jim Henson puppeteers from The Muppets and Sesame Street, Brett Hansen and Elissa Jenkins bring world-class puppetry to the Sunshine Coast. Our performances have featured on children’s TV shows like Totally Wild, Shake Takes, The Bureau of Magical Things, and Juiced TV, as well as a feature news report WIN News Sunshine Coast.

What We Offer

Interactive 45-minute puppet shows tailored for childcare centres and kindergartens.
Educational themes covering sharing, kindness, healthy eating, and more.
“How the puppets work” demonstrations to inspire young minds.
Meet-and-greet sessions with our friendly puppet characters.

Book a Show on the Sunshine Coast

If you’re a Sunshine Coast kindergarten or childcare centre interested in our puppet shows, visit our Childcare and Kindies page for more information.

Contact Us

For bookings and inquiries: https://www.larrikinpuppets.com.au/booking-enquiry/

Larrikin Puppets at Tewantin Community Kindergarten C&K

Posted on February 4, 2019July 27, 2021 by Brett Hansen

On Friday, 15 February 2019 we’re heading up to Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast to perform a fun puppet show at Tewantin Community Kindergarten – part of C&K.

If you’d like a puppet show at your childcare centre or kindergarten, visit us at https://www.larrikinpuppets.com.au/childcare-and-kindies/

Children’s Entertainment for Childcare and Kindies

Children's Entertainment, Children’s Entertainers, Party Entertainment For Hire | Puppet Show, Puppetry Workshops - Childcare Centres, Early Learning Centres, Kindergartens

Since our formation in 2012, Larrikin Puppets has performed at many childcare and kindergarten centres including all Avenues and Guppy’s Early Learning Centres, a large number of C&K and Goodstart Early Learning Centres, and many other independent centres and kindys.

We’ve completed three months of professional development in the USA, which included performances and advanced training with Jim Henson puppeteers from The Muppets and Sesame Street.

We also perform in shopping centres, libraries, council festivals and schools all over South East Queensland and Central Queensland, and have performed puppetry on such children’s TV shows as Totally Wild, The Bureau of Magical Things and Juiced TV.

We present a colourful and exciting puppet show for childcare centres, featuring zany Muppet-style characters performing age appropriate songs, skits, jokes, games and live interaction with the audience. The puppets encourage the audience to dance, sing and play along. There’s also a “How the puppets work” demonstration at the end.

Brisbane Entertainment, Childrens Entertainer, School | Puppet Show, Story Time - Book Week

We also offer our Story Time puppet show featuring a story book by one of three Australian children’s authors – read by Elissa with puppets demonstrating active listening and engagement, plus a story sing-along. Please let us know if you’d like us to present our story time show.

Total duration: 45 minutes.

Here’s a fun 30 second YouTube video showing all the excitement of our shows.

Children's Entertainment, Children’s Entertainers, Party Entertainment For Hire | Puppet Show, Puppetry Workshops - Childcare Centres, Nurseryland Childcare Early Learning Centres

Cost Options:

All details about costs can be found here: https://www.larrikinpuppets.com.au/childcare-and-kindies/

Children's Entertainment, Children’s Entertainers, Party Entertainment For Hire | Puppet Show, Puppetry Workshops - Childcare Centres, Little Seeds Early Learning, Palm Beach

Our puppet stage is 2.5 metres wide, plus the two speakers – making our front of stage roughly 3 metres to 3.5 metres in total. We use about 1.5 to 2 metres behind the stage to set up our puppets, props, seat and ourselves for performing. We use one powerpoint.

Blue Card and Insurance:

Brett’s Blue Card number is 1161011/3, Elissa’s is 690261/3. We have public liability insurance through Duck For Cover Entertainers Insurance.

Children's Entertainment, Children’s Entertainers, Party Entertainment For Hire | Puppet Show, Puppetry Workshops - Childcare Centres, Beach Road Child Care Centre Hervey Bay

School Incursions for Design and Technologies Curriculum

Posted on February 2, 2019December 11, 2019 by Brett Hansen

Larrikin Puppets is excited to announce its 2019 School Incursions program. Our new program includes performances and workshops that are in line with the Design and Technologies strands of the Australian Curriculum. As part of this curriculum students create a simple two dimensional design then learn about working parts and how to turn their design into a three dimensional puppet character.

Many schools (both public and private) around South East Queensland and Central Queensland have booked Larrikin Puppets to either perform our puppet show – which includes a segment on how the puppets work, or run our puppetry performance workshop – which is a hands on workshop teaching students the mechanisms of Muppet-style puppetry.
Quite a few schools booked these in 2018 as part of their Design and Technologies curriculum including schools from rural and regional areas.

In 2019, in addition to our exciting puppet shows and intriguing puppetry performance workshops, we’ve also launched a new sock puppet craft and performance workshop. There are two versions of this workshop; one for ages 5-8 and a more advanced version for ages 9 and over.

We find that the puppet show performances are more enjoyed by students in Prep and Grades 1 and 2 while the workshops tend to be enjoyed by students of all ages.
While an ideal fit, our school incursions are not restricted to the early primary Design and Technologies curriculum, with many schools booking our workshops for upper primary as well, particularly as a supportive and fun medium for storytelling, drama, theatre, comedy, music and singing. We also run the same programs for Vacation Care.
Explore more info on the Sock Puppet Making Craft Workshops and the Puppetry Performance Workshops.
If you have any questions please complete the Booking Enquiry Form or contact Elissa on 0418 786 986.

Support us on Patreon: Larrikin Puppets Fuzzy Club!

Posted on January 27, 2019December 11, 2019 by Brett Hansen

Join the NEW LARRIKIN PUPPETS FUZZY CLUB from just $1/month. NOT. EVEN. KIDDING. Here you’ll enjoy access to our Patreon-only Facebook members group where everything we’re doing gets talked about in detail. You’ll also get some bonus content for kids available only to Patreons.

Become a Patreon now:

Would you love to see quality, original puppetry performance art that supports child development? Become a Larrikin Puppets patron now at www.patreon.com/larrikinpuppets

Larrikin Puppets has experienced growth and success beyond its wildest dreams and, for that, we will be forever grateful. We love the impact we’ve made so far on children of all ages all over South-East Queensland through our live puppet shows and puppetry performance workshops.
A sustainable puppetry arts business is almost unheard of in this day and age. We get that. We also get that we’re lucky to have a thriving arts business. In fact, the harder we work at the art of puppetry, the luckier we get. 😉
But the current cast of cute, colourful characters are starting to get a bit antsy. They long for something more. They desperately want to talk, dance, sing and interact with more children – children in Australia and all over the world. They also yearn for some artistic freedom!
Making quality original puppetry performance art – puppet building, scripting, songwriting and dance choreography – that supports child development is super expensive. But with plenty of public support, we know we can do it!
Why? Because learning through reading, talking, dancing and singing is where it’s at. In fact, 90% of a child’s brain development happens in the first 5 years and, in the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second.
The experts at Harvard University say:
“…providing young children with a healthy environment in which to learn and grow is not only good for their development—economists have also shown that high-quality early childhood programs bring impressive returns on investment to the public.”
This means supporting Larrikin Puppets is not only wonderful for parents or carers with children, but for anyone who wants to see children across Australia and around the world experience high learning, behaviour and health outcomes.
Your support will give Larrikin Puppets the artistic freedom to:
– create original live shows for children with themes around multiculturalism, social inclusion, the environment and kindness/anti-bullying.
– write, film and produce an original TV series for children focusing on joy, play, love, kindness, compassion and empathy.
– write a CD of original children’s music.
– build new original puppets, sets and props.
Supporting Larrikin Puppets on Patreon will bring you and your kids joy, laughter and learning PLUS you’ll receive behind the scenes inside scoops into this crazy, colourful world of fuzzy puppets.
Together let’s talk, play, sing, dance and interact with fast paced puppet fun!
For more info about what we do, visit the Larrikin Puppets website or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Become a Patreon now:

Larrikin Puppets at The Buderim Tavern | Sunshine Coast

Posted on January 18, 2019December 11, 2019 by Brett Hansen

Larrikin Puppets will be performing two school holiday puppet shows for the whole family at The Buderim Tavern – 81 Burnett Street, Buderim (Sunshine Coast, QLD). The first one is on Tuesday 22 January 2019 starting at 4:30pm. The second one is during the Easter school holidays on Tuesday 16 April 2019, also starting at 4:30pm.
These are a FREE family shows at Buderim Tavern!
Book a table for dinner after the show!
Ph: 5453 3777

Larrikin Puppets are bringing their colourful and exciting puppet show to the Buderim Tavern for a special school holiday performance!
Be delighted by Troggg the friendly blue monster and all of his furry, funny friends at 4:30pm before dinner!
Puppeteers Brett Hansen and Elissa Jenkins have performed and trained in the USA with Jim Henson puppeteers from “Sesame Street” and “The Muppets”. Larrikin Puppets has appeared at events such as the Woodford Folk Festival and the Puppetry Arts Festival of Brooklyn (NYC), and on TV shows The Bureau of Magical Things and Totally Wild!
For further details, visit the Buderim Tavern official event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2220011568240765/
This is not the first event Larrikin Puppets has performed at pubs, clubs, RSLs, restaurants, hotels, resorts or halls. Larrikin Puppets has previously performed at Kawana Waters Hotel (Buddina), Tewantin-Noosa RSL, The Belvedere Hotel (Woody Point), Blue Pacific Hotel (Woorim), The Glen Hotel (Eight Mile Plains), The Gardens Club (Brisbane City), Seagulls Leagues Club (Tweed Heads), Tabatinga Tweed Heads (also at Seagulls Leagues Club), The Greek Club (South Brisbane), Casablanca Restaurant/Bar/Club (Petrie Tce, Brisbane), Paradise Resort (Surfers Paradise), Moura Kianga Hall / Kianga Memorial Hall, Paddington Community Hall, Langley Park Hall (Camira), Kruger Hall (Kallangur), Excelsior Band Hall (Maryborough), Kilcoy Memorial Hall and Cultural Centre, Burpengary Community Hall, Murarrie Progress Association Community Hall, Injune Memorial Hall, Mowbraytown Hall (East Brisbane), Wellington Point Community Hall and Rosalie Baptist Church Hall.

Larrikin Puppets has also performed in other parts of the Sunshine Coast such as Kuluin, Sippy Downs, Maroochydore and more.
We hope you can join us at the Buderim Tavern.