When Juan and Julio Colis were young, their father had a stroke. His left side was paralyzed and he would get tremors that would only calm down when he heard the sound of a cricket chirping. The name “Cricket Party Services” is their way of paying homage to their dad, who still had the heart to get up and help them start this small business while he was recovering.
Cricket Party Services started in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. Julio, the younger brother who was let go from his job at Planet Fitness when the pandemic shut it down, saw a new opportunity in renting out waterslides.
“He noticed everything was closed for kids, there was no playgrounds in McDonalds, there was no Disneyland,” Juan explained. In this vacuum of children’s activities, with everyone cooped up together indoors, there was a new demand for engaging, quarantine-friendly entertainment. As everyone else was baking sourdough or watching “Tiger King,” Julio got to work.
“We bought the water slide, one turned into two, turned into three,” Julio said. Then, they brought in other rentals. Chairs, tents, decor. It got to the point where they could do this full-time.
Juan left his job as a general manager for McDonalds after two decades with the corporation, having worked his way up since he was 16 years old, when Cricket Party Services started picking up. His operations experience was the perfect combination with Julio’s marketing experience at Planet Fitness, and the two were a great team.
“When we started, I told him, ‘You do what you do good, let me do what I do good, and the company will work perfectly fine.’ That’s how we work really well,” Juan said.
The brothers grew up in Alhambra and decided to buy a warehouse for Cricket Party Services in the area half from practicality and half from sentimentality. Juan, who manages the operations, said, “In Alhambra, we’re in the middle of a really good area. Alhambra, we don’t have a lot of events, but we’re in the middle of the San Gabriel Valley, close to Downtown LA, we can go anywhere. Wherever the customers are.”
For Julio, it’s more about the community here. “I was born and raised in Alhambra, so it’s always been sentimental to us. We like doing the big parties, but we also love giving back to the community. We do events, like the other day we were at the Ronald McDonald House of Charity and we’re doing the National Night Out for Alhambra. It’s a give and take, both sides of the coin.”
Recently, Cricket Party Services has been gaining traction on social media, which has made people view the company as a bigger corporation. It’s still the same small, family-owned business, but Juan and Julio are always looking ahead to the future.
“Our goals are bigger than just rentals,” Juan shared. “We’re a family-owned business. Since Instagram took off, people are looking at Cricket as a bigger company, and think you’re a corporation, but we would not treat our customers like we’re a corporation. I don’t want to move into the corporate world.”
Still, they’ve got big ideas they’re already getting started on. First up is to open a venue that can hold at least 150 people for bigger events like weddings. Whether you’re planning a party or want to splash around on some waterslides in the Southern California heat, visit cricketpartyservices.com for more information.
