‘They’ll spend tens of thousands of dollars’: Children’s parties boom

The Sydney Morning Herald

November 12, 2018
By Cara Waters

Competitive parents

Josh Cox has also tapped into the demand for increasingly elaborate parties with his mobile zoo Reptile Encounters, which starts out at a fee of $495 for a birthday party.

Party attendees get to experience stick insects, frogs, a freshwater turtle, a lizard, two pythons and then a freshwater crocodile to finish off the show.

“The kids love it,” Cox says. “They are sitting there and sometimes they are a bit nervous but they are learning without even realising it.”

Cox says demand is often driven by parents.

“They’ll spend tens of thousands of dollars,” he says. “I’ve done hundreds of birthday parties myself and parents can be quite competitive. They like to go all out on the cake and decoration and the little gift bags. There is definitely some that go to a huge amount of effort.”

Cox started Reptile Encounters on the side while working as a pharmaceutical representative.

“I used to get the drugs out of the boot of the car and put the snakes in,” he laughs.

However sales are now strong enough that Cox runs Reptile Encounters full-time, turning over more than $600,000 a year.

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