Roller Skating Alley and face painting?

We have been asked to give a price for a new Roller Skating Rink.
They want a price for a session which is 2 - 3 hours, plus a price for a birthday party.
They want to know if we are there for a session and there is a birthday party, if we will paint for the party for an hour(?) and then open the painting to others.
We are lost as to how to price this.
If we were doing a birthday party in a home it would be one price, but do we charge the same for something like this?
Thanks for any help, I told them I would let them know by Wed.
Judy & Amber

Some people don't charge the same, but I do. My prices are pretty low so I really can't give much of a discount.

Keep it simple. I would charge a flat hourly rate regardless of who is being painted.

I agree with Shannon. Just quote them an hourly rate. If you're only going to be there 3 hours tops, it's not really necessary to give them a discounted rate for multiple hours (just my opinion).

I agree..Flat Rate..don't get complicated!

Thank you for the advice.
How much do most of you charge for an hourly rate?
We so far have done mostly pay per person type events.
For birthdays we charge $145. for two hours.
I read somewhere that a lot charge $100. for the first hour, and then a slightly lower rate or half the following hours.

Thank you

What someone charges for face painting in their area might not work for you & where you live. The best way to know what's a fair rate is to use Shannon Fennel's form. She has it on her site & it's in several posts on the forum. My rates might be to high or to low for your area.
Also, comparing prices & "fixing" rates is illegal. So, always shy away from talking prices, especially with your local entertainers & never try to encourage someone to raise or lower their rates to be closer to what you charge. I hope this is helpful as it was new news to me. I learned about it at FABAIC.

Oh, and to answer your question, I'd charge the same rate for the whole event. You might want to clarify with the rink if they want you to paint everyone or only the party guests. You won't know who's a party guest & who's just skating & the rink may need to make a way to differentiate between the two(stickers?).

Thank you and sorry if I offended anyone.
Thank you on the advice for the book and rink.
We learn something new every day and when we stop learning we are dead.

Thanks for the info Psalm. I had no idea that was illegal. When my husband and I first started doing parties and stuff last year, a clown came to us and told us how much she charges and "suggested" that we charge the same as the other entertainers in the area in order to stay on good terms with everyone! It put a lot of pressure on us, and we felt like we had to charge that much in order to keep everyone from getting mad at us. We recently decided to charge what we want to charge, even though it is a little lower than what she told us because we haven't been very busy and feel that the amount she told us is too much for our area. She had told us everyone around here charges $100/hr. We are now charging $75/hr and seem to be doing much better and have found that people will still give us a nice tip on top of what we are charging, which is much better than getting little to no business!

I agree with chuclor2, I had no idea, it was illegal.
A book I have on business said to call and ask what other businesses in our field were charging in order not to uncut any one.
It also recommending, fielding out other businesses as to what has worked for them and what hasn't.
So this is all wrong then?
I'm asking so I can learn more..

It's ok to check around & see what the competition is charging. It's not ok to do what the clown did to chucklor2. You can't get with a bunch of entertainers in your area, come up with a price that you all agree upon & charge. No offense here, just want to save ya'll from legal issues. I was surprised when I heard it too.

Still, Shannon's resource is great & it can be found in a thread under new to face painting.

Thank you and I for one will check out Shannon's info.

I agree with Linda...
My rates are set accoording to the cost of my suplies, plus all the costs that running a business can bring...Shannon's resource is awesome and VERY HELPFUL.
But in the end, you decide how much money you want to add to your rate based on the actual cost...Good Luck!

Does anybody here feel that when picking a price that how much experience one has should also be taken into consideration? A beginner face painter perhaps should not charge top prices if their painting level is not at a professional level yet, right? Or, if they aren't able to get, say, an average of 9-10 faces per hour, perhaps they should charge a little less per hour or charge per face or something? Is that something that should be taken into consideration? I'm asking because I still struggle with getting enough speed with my painting, though I am almost there, now.

Pricing is a very localized thing. What works in one area won't be anywhere near what works in another. And it also depends on what you are offering - not just skill level, but add-ons, etc.

Sure a beginner could and it can be argued, should, charge less BUT some beginners are damn good and can paint circles around someone who has been at it for years (we all seen those painters ) so I don't necessarily think that you NEED to be less if you are a newer painter, just price yourself realistically for your market.

There is nothing wrong in phoning around and asking what other people charge... you can identify yourself, or not... but it isn't hard. With so many people posting their rates it is rather easy actually!

My spreadsheet is downloadable and you can use it to figure out your costs and a decent wage - it link is in my signature.

Thank you, Shannon! I went to your site. It's so nice that you offer so much to us for free! :-)

Price fixing IS illegal, but are you sure that is what we are doing? In my business law classes we learned that you had to have some major pull in your industry in order for it to be illegal and that the commodity had to be something important (for survival, for example). For example, if your company A and the other company B controlled 95% of all bread in the area in question, then colluding on pricing would be illegal. I would be interested to know if indeed what we are talking about is "price fixing" in the legal sense of the phrase.

If it IS the case, then someone well-known is guilty of that in my area, and should *definitely* know better. This person is strong-arming other face painters, actually. Sigh..... it is rough world, this world of FP. I try to just enjoy it, and the sweet kids!