By Fatesta Bateman
There are 940 Saturdays between the day your child is born, and the time he or she turns 18, and 260 of them are gone by their fifth birthday. Black-Tie Babysitting helps parents reclaim these Saturdays that would otherwise be spent separated, by providing onsite childcare at special occasions and events. Children are no longer left at home but have an event uniquely created for them, and families can attend events together. One of the principals Black-Tie Babysitting is built on is people should never have to choose between being parents and having a social life.
Black-Tie Babysitting started as a solution to a problem and evolved into a business serving the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex in a niche it carved out by Hope Oriabure-King, the owner & proprietor of Black-Tie Babysitting.
The business started when Hope’s sister was getting married and wanted a child-free wedding. Hope was challenged to find a solution for childcare. She decided to pay her then nanny and a few of her friends to watch the kids in a separate room. At the end of the evening, parents were clamoring to find out the name of the company. Hope confidently claimed the company with no name and said she would email the information later. So, with a need and not much of anything else Black-Tie Babysitting began.
“I fell in love with this problem of what to do with children at special occasions and events and have never looked back,” Hope shared. “Everywhere I turned I saw a need for childcare at non-conventional times and places never imagined for children guest.”
How kids are handled at an event makes a big difference is something Black-Tie Babysitting understands. Whether it is a wedding reception, convention, or family reunion, they bring their staff to the location to entertain and supervise the children while the guests relax and enjoy a bit of grown-up time.
Black-Tie Babysitting is actively seeking to provide on-site childcare at co-working spaces to entrepreneurial parents. The company has already expanded to offer “Sunday Sitter” a service to churches who do not have the membership and or volunteers to staff their nurseries.
Becky Stillwell, Children’s Pastor at White Rock UMC explained Black-Tie Babysitting was a perfect solution for the challenges they were having staffing their nursery. The church has been around since the 70’s and has both an aging membership while attracting young families with young children. Essentially the members had grown too mature to watch the children in the nursery as it grew. So, they hired Black-Tie Babysitting to supplement their existing nursery staff.
“It was a struggle every year especially at Easter to find qualified people to work! We were very well qualified in the nursery this year,” said Stillwell said.
To date, Black-Tie Babysitting has provided care at more than 52 venues between Dallas and Houston while they entertained and cared for over 2,400 young guests. They have been able to be a significant part of conferences and galas, including the Jack and Jill Northeast Chapter annual Mardi Gras Gala for example.
With Black-Tie Babysitting always looking to align its services with what the marketplace requires they have now partnered with VisitDallas to provide childcare to family travelers who come to Dallas for special occasions and events. They are excited to continue to advocate for work-life-balance for families.
