“I vowed I was going to find a great automated system so I would never have to make a birthday party phone call again, and then I found Activity Messenger.” – Kelly Denti, Owner of Nex Level Ninja
Nex Level Ninja is one of the premier ninja gyms on the East Coast, based in Flemington, New Jersey. Inspired by the obstacles and athleticism of American Ninja Warrior, the gym runs classes, camps, clinics, and birthday parties, with a growing lineup of Nerf and sports events that round out its calendar.
Kelly Denti, owner of Nex Level Ninja, spent nearly three years searching for a birthday party management system before discovering Activity Messenger.
Since adopting the platform, birthday bookings have grown from 1 to 2 parties per weekend to 5 to 7 parties, with a significant impact on monthly revenue.
Before Activity Messenger, Kelly’s booking process was difficult, as she handled every birthday party booking manually. She was fielding inquiries by phone, coordinating scheduling back and forth, and trying to keep track of it all without a centralized system.
“We did everything manually. I was calling back the people who were interested in parties, then trying to book a time — it was a nightmare.”
Double bookings happened, callbacks got missed, and every new party inquiry meant more time on the phone instead of running the gym. Kelly needed a solution that could automate the entire workflow end-to-end, and was delighted to stumble upon Activity Messenger.
“Now the customers go online, they book the parties themselves, they pick their time — the workflow cannot be better.”
With Activity Messenger, Nex Level Ninja’s entire birthday party booking process is now self-serve. Using Activity Messenger’s drag-and-drop form builder, Kelly created a dedicated booking page with package options, fixed time slots, and calendar rules that prevent double bookings and last-minute reservations.
Parents complete their booking in just a few clicks, with a deposit collected automatically to lock-in the date and the remaining balance charged on a set schedule before the party.
Not only does this allow for easy self-serve bookings, but by spreading payments across a set schedule, parents can more easily budget for their child’s birthday party. This benefits both the family and Nex Level Ninja, ensuring a smooth process from start to finish that works for everyone involved.
“As soon as the child responds to the invitation, it prompts them to do the waiver, and everything’s done before that guest walks in the door. That’s amazing.”
Once a booking is confirmed, Activity Messenger generates a personalized, branded invitation pre-populated with the child’s name, date, time, and location for the party parent to forward to guests.
From there, guests confirm attendance and sign a digital waiver as part of the RSVP flow, so only guests with completed waivers appear on the live attendance list.
“Instead of focusing on ‘you gotta sign this waiver,’ our staff can focus on the kids that are walking in the door so they can get the best experience even before the party starts.”
On the day of the party, staff pull up a real-time digital attendance list and check guests in on arrival. Walk-up guests are handled just as quickly with an on-the-spot QR code.
With admin handled, staff can focus on what they do best. At a gym owned and operated by coaches who have competed on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior, that means delivering an elite experience helping kids build strength, confidence, and agility from the moment they arrive.
That’s exactly what staff can do, with more consistent bookings and a smoother workflow.
“We market to all the kids that come in as guests… Every time after every weekend, we update our marketing list to include those families.”
Every family with a child that attends a birthday party as a guest becomes a potential new client. They may book their own birthday party, or they may decide to sign up for an upcoming Nex Level Ninja class. All of this is made possible by the information captured from the original birthday party waiver; that contact information goes straight into the gym’s database, feeding a marketing list that grows every weekend.
Activity Messenger’s age-based segmentation lets Kelly send automated emails to families six to eight weeks before a child’s birthday, a reliable way to proactively fill the party calendar with families already in the system.
Plus, post-party follow-up emails go out automatically with a targeted offer to convert guests into enrolled participants. All these automations free up Kelly’s time so she can run Facebook ads in addition to her email marketing. These ads link directly to her booking page in Activity Messenger.
The result: every week, at least one to two birthday party attendees are converting into longer-term clients by signing up for their dynamic classes.
For more information on sending a post-party promotion email, here’s a deep dive from the AMPlify podcast featuring Will and Olivier:
“I went from spending far too many hours per week on birthday party admin, to now spending maybe thirty minutes. It’s great.”
Before Activity Messenger, Nex Level Ninja was hosting one or two birthday parties on a typical weekend. Today, Kelly commonly books 5 to 7 parties each weekend — and the compound effect of this is truly amazing.
New client conversions from party guests, combined with the increase in bookings, add an estimated $15,000 to $20,000 in monthly revenue. Kelly attributes all of it to a single workflow within Activity Messenger.
“We started with Activity Messenger just for birthday parties, just to see how it would work. And now it’s our only CRM system. It’s been life-changing. The customer service is second to none; I would recommend them to any facility that does any type of birthday parties or class management.”
What started as a single birthday party workflow has quietly grown into the operational backbone of the entire gym: classes, punch cards, and all client communications running on a single solution.
When the right system is in place, birthday parties stop being a scheduling headache and start being one of the most powerful growth tools a gym can have.
