Sleepin’ in Teepees: Junior twins learn entrepreneurial skills through business

For their younger sister’s ninth birthday, juniors Hope and Hanna Robinett, along with their mom, searched for hours on Pinterest for an out-of-the-box idea. They passed up the typical Skyzone or mall trips — and ended up with a rainbow and unicorn themed teepee party.

The twins went to Amazon and with a few clicks ordered tent poles, fairy lights and an assortment of pink and purple decorations, which eventually turned their idea into their now developing business — “Sleepin’ in Teepees.”

“Our sister loved everything about the party and after we took everything down we thought that it could be a different party idea to bring to other people,” Hanna Robinett said.

Through Sleepin’ in Teepees, customers rent out up to five tents with any style choice, from race car to fantasy land — but every one of their  customers from their six parties have chosen the ever so popular, unicorn theme. 

For each party, the Robinetts have to plan their day around setting up to make the party as special as they can for their audience — mainly local elementary school girls. This includes five hours of goody bag wrapping, baking cupcakes, brainstorming craft ideas and building their tents. 

For customer Leigh Adams, it was one of the most unique birthday parties she had ever thrown her daughter Alex.

“The party was unlike anything I’ve ever done for my girls because it’s so organized,” Adams said. “It was much better than what we usually do, which is renting Cinderella and eating pizza.” 

At Adam’s household, the Robinetts used the three hours allotted to them to reconstruct their basement into a fantasy wonderland. With unicorn LED lights, tasteful target sheets and their trusty tent poles, the twins transformed their base floor into Alex’s dream party.

Their marketing strategies include instagram and encouraging their previous customers to recommend their services from previous costumers. They hope the word will travel around the playground and mom group chats.

According to Hope, they have also expanded their knowledge on divvying out their income and learning to predict costs and materials for their future parties.

Being able to fully run their own business — including budgeting their costs and marketing their services — has made the twin sister duo aware of being better business women in the future.

“I think we are so lucky that we get to have our business that specializes in something we love: working with kids,” Hope said . “It’s a great learning experience for the future because if I want to start my own business later in life, I can use my knowledge from doing this.”