A Leeds mum has made a hugely successful business providing raves for toddlers after being forced to quit her old job.

Faye Kenny needed some cash after giving birth to her son, Ziah, but had couldn't go back to her old job after discovering she had a heart condition.

The 32-year-old said: "A lot of my work was physical and it wasn’t good to have my heart rate so high whilst I was pregnant, so I had to give it up.

“As soon as Ziah was born I was figuring out what I wanted to do for work and what would fit around him."

So the enterprising mum put an ad on Facebook for baby raves, an idea her brother mentioned, combining one of her passions with a gap in the market.

“I found the mum and baby groups to be really cliquey and a bit old school, so when my brother suggested I try throwing a baby rave I thought it was a brilliant idea," she said.

“I got a friend to make some flyers and posted them on my personal Facebook page and asked my friends and family to share it."

Her first event sold out in less than a week.

“I had my whole family helping out. I used their cars to transport stuff to the venue in Leeds, my grandma helped out with sewing material for me to have on the floor," she said.

“The feedback was amazing. I thought, 'If I can sell this many tickets in a week how many will I sell in a month?'”

After being launched with a Facebook post, Faye’s company BoomChikkaBoom now hosts raves for groups of between 10 and 600 parents and babies.

She opened her own venue in April and has even hosted parties for the offspring of celebrity couples like footballer Peter Crouch and model Abbey Clancy. 

Now they have a snow machine, bubble machine and disco lights to create the ultimate party atmosphere and charge on average £6 for an adult and child, and £2 for additional children to take part.

“We’ve had a Take That versus a Spice Girls rave, and reggae, rock, old school, trap, metal, RnB themes. We’ll do a Halloween remix and in August we held a Pride rave, where everybody came dressed in rainbow colours," Fay said.

“It’s a question of working out what people want and adapting it.

“We react to the crowd and change things up if we need to, which is why it’s so good. They last between one to three hours."

And more than just fun for the parents, there's also a benefit for the children.

“The kids get a real confidence boost from it. It’s good to help bring children out of their shells," Faye said.

“Sometimes you will see a child walk in that looks a bit worried or shy and you can guarantee they will be getting involved by the end of the session. 

“One little boy was scared of the music we had, so we changed the music and he got to press the button on the snow machine, which was a huge confidence boost for him."

The benefits extend beyond small children, too.

They now host raves at care homes and respite centres for adults with learning disabilities.

“We want to teach everybody to dance or do a routine. In the care home, we get them waving their hands and dancing away," Faye said.

“It suits every age. We just try and adapt it, which is what is unique about the company."

And all that from a Facebook post.

“I never had a business plan for this, I never set out to do this and really make money from it. It was something to do while I had a baby because there was nothing else like it," Faye said.

“I started off on my own and now I employ 10 full time staff.

“As a parent, I still go to the events the company hosts when I’m not running them, because I know I will like it.

“I thought it would be for a short time while I had my son, but I’ve built it up and  now I’m so passionate about it."

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