Child's Play

It’s not rare to see hordes of people crowded outside local hotspots, trying to craftily make their way past security and velvet ropes. It is, however, rare when the crowd is made up of pint-size grade-schoolers and tweens, as it was at Saturday night’s Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice awards after-party, where countless children desperately solicited guests for party passes as they exited the postshow tented celebration on UCLA’s Intramural Field.

The 21-and-over crowd was definitely in the minority at the 4,000-person after-party, which kept youngsters entertained with crafts, a soccer goal-kick station, and the opportunity to have their hair sculpted into gravity-defying spikes or temporarily altered in a variety of bright colors. In a somewhat merciful nod to parents trailing the energized kids (high after a show that featured appearances by popular acts Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers), lounge areas abounded, and bleacher-style seating was set up next to the dance floor, where professional dancers led tiny guests in dance moves.Nickelodeon senior director of special events Laurie Blumenfeld worked with the MTV Networks' senior designer Andi Blady to create a Kids' Choice logo-heavy setting. “It’s not really about logo-slapping as much as it’s about taking [Nickelodeon’s] environmental style guide that’s full of color palettes and graphics and transforming that into a dimensional experience,” Blumenfeld said.

Blumenfeld worked with Acme Design Group to interpret the logo—which emphasized kids’ power to create their own content—in as literal a manner as possible for the Kids’ Choice awards client weekend. Nickelodeon flew in MTV executives, ad-sales sponsors, consumer product clients, affiliates, and their families to Los Angeles to see the show and participate in the three-day series of activities. The network set attendees up in Shutters on the Beach, Hotel Casa del Mar, and the Viceroy hotels, and gave young guests the opportunity to color and decorate Kids Choice T-shirts, show their personal style with rings, necklaces, and other accessories on hand, or create their own dance moves with the help of on-air talent from Nickelodeon’s new show Dance on Sunset. Nickelodeon also coordinated off-site entertainment options, including a tour of Universal Studios and the company’s animation studio.