Selling products along with facepainting at a festival?

I am really new to facepainting in general. I want to paint at more festivals. I did one last week and made $260, but I was hoping to make around $500 for the day. I know that until I get faster that probably won't happen, but I did do around 60 faces in about 7 hours. My daughter suggested we add something like glitter tattoos that she could do while I'm doing the freehand facepainting. Has anyone also tried selling some type of product out of their facepainting booth- something that we could make up ahead of time and sell along with the facepainting and tattoos? My friend suggested making smaller versions of the glitter tattoos kits to sell individually... maybe 3 colors of glitter, 5 or 6 stencils and the glue in small containers, and sell them for $10. That way people could also do some glitter tattoos at home if they wanted to.

I don't know... I guess I'm just wondering how I can get more value out of my time. I can definitely practice to get faster, but there's probably a limit to how fast you can go, even when you've had tons of practice, which essentially limits you to how much money you can make.

sounds like a pretty good gig to me... but then pay per face isn't the most profitable way to go. Only once, at an ENORMOUS weekend event where I was killing myself with painting did I make $500 in profit.

I have thought of adding little headbands with bunny or tiger ears as an add on (since I don't like the designs that put the ears painted on their foreheads). Someone on the clown forum who does almost nothing but pay per face and festivals sells jewelry alongside his booth and I think he said they started with little princess crowns and stuff?

I had that same thought for my halloween festival! I went to a beauty supply shop and bought brightly colored hair used for braiding. It's only 99 cents a package, and there's a ton of hair. I got a package each of pink, red, orange, yellow, and so on. I also bought some hair clips and barrettes. I used tiny rubber bands and hot glue to attach sections of hair to the clips. I only spent 16 bucks on the supplies, made 50 clips, and have tons of hair left. I only sold a few, but I think its because I lacked signage (it was a last minute idea). I still feel good about the investment and potential return.

I also do tattoos but only if I have a second person helping me (normally one of my kids). If it is just me, it is just painting. I get too busy to do both at the same time.

Personally... I don't think it is feasible unless you have someone assisting you. They would handle all the cash/transactions and selling of any products.

If you are working on your own, it just takes away from your time painting and you can't watch the merchandise while painting!!

If you have an assistant... sure. You can sell related supplies and mini-kits.

Keep in mind that it may change your status and licensing requirements.

Yes, my youngest daughter will always be with me and my older daughter will be with me when she's not busy with school and work (she's 18). They both want to swap out doing glitter tattoos and running the line and selling merchandise (if we have any). If my older daughter isn't with me, my hubby or my son says they can come with me, too, if they don't have work/school (son is 20). We can just make this a family affair!

Thanks for all your suggestions! I think I'm definitely going to make up some of the mini glitter kits and see how they sell at the next festival before I go all out and do something more extravagant, time-wise and money-wise.

You could sell the mini face painting kits from Snaz. I bought some when I invested and have sold some at large ppf gigs. Garland head bands also. Check out oriental trading. They have lots of stuff that I think could be resold very easily at face painting gigs, but you do need someone to manage all that while you are painting.

-Metina

Oriental Trading is fantastic! I just checked them out and they have all kinds of headbands- puppy dog ears, mouse ears, cat ears, tiaras, etc at very reasonable prices for resale! Thanks so much for that suggestion! I could see how these would sell really well if you could price them at $1 or $2 to go with the facepainting! I can take pictures with the facepainting and the child wearing the headbands to show how fabulous they would look with it!

I was thinking one could have DVDs. Introduction to face painting, 100 nearly free activities for kids and parents, Simple Magic Tricks you can do- etc.

A dvd costs about 80 cents to produce. Could easily sell for $10. Would give moms and dads something to look at while their kids get their face paitning, and at the end would be a "Hey, can I get one of these too." extra $10 sale.

At a major theme park near by, they have turned a $10 face painting into a $99 experience. Your pirate boy or girl leaves with costume, picture, new pirate name etc.... but basically, it's a way to sell face painting for a hundred bucks a shot. Smart these theme park people.

Just keep in mind that when you are face painting and doing glitter tats at an event, you do not have to collect sales tax because it is a service. If you start selling products at your booth, you are going to be responsibe for collecting and turning in the appropriate sales tax to the event coordinators.

Yes. Just be careful. You do not want a fine. I almost got in trouble for selling a little leather baseball bracelet in my booth - none or one sold - but it kinda scared me. So I'm not chancing it at this time.

I wonder if you could get by on the technicality of instead of selling the actual ears or hair pieces separately (i.e. as retail product) just saying the regular face painting full face is $10 but the premium face design includes glitter, custom hair bling and accompanying headband ears for $15 or 20 - this way it is considered just an upgraded service! You can even up it a notch --- for an additional $3 for emailing the edited photo of their creation. (This way you have the email address of future customers if you want to run promotions for birthdays/events in your slow time - maybe get the photo release and use the photo on your website or portfolio too!)

This can be a big no-no depending on the event and booth arrangement. Some festivals may have you slated as a service and require a different contract or rate structure if you are selling products. Some may even prohibit it if you are in the children's entertainment section of the fair/festival/event.

If you are a service provider there is no sales tax, but if you are a retailer/reseller you legally may be responsible to have a tax id # and for reporting and repaying tax to the state for whatever product sales are made.

I think I have decided to do what you've suggested, with a premium package. I think I could easily ask $20 for the full face, headbands, and all the bling and just have the extra items as part of the facepainting. Would those items be considered selling "merchandise" that way?

If it is considered a "free gift" with the purchase of the face painting, then no.....but if you advertise them as an add-on, then yes.
If someone is paying you for a tangible item, then it is taxable.

you could make fairy crowns VERY cheaply or butterfly wings and things of that nature. I would just price accordingly to cover any taxes.

Wyndyo: I really like your ideas! Especially the picture sent by email service. It's easy to do and a nice thing to offer for parents who forgot to bring their camera.

I've stopped doing thoses kinds of festivals because there isn't a huge market here for this. (Yet!)
But while I was doing it, I found tattoos was an interesting service. You can even add some glitters on them. But you DO need to have someone helping you with this as you won't have the time to do both. It's so great your family is very supportive of your business.

Having a great deal of experience with this here's my 2¢

Be careful to balance your investment of sellables with your profit - it is very easy to get stuck with stuff with what you wanted to sell!

I would not sell face painting products (unless you are at a multi day music type festival where folks are painting themselves anyway). Your goal is to advertise and have people hire you as the professional painter. Sell things to enhance your painting like girly halos. Or sell fun kid items.

As for getting in trouble most festivals and events want you to list what you wills sell - so then you might have to show your resellers permit - as you must legally collect/pay taxes on anything you sell, and you the event may require you show your vendors insurance.

I would just call it "Crazy Hair" as a service, and charge for that separately. They get to keep the parts of the crazy hair for free. It's the do itself that would cost. And if you do it that way, you might get people coming just for the hair that aren't so interested in face painting.

There is a group that just does hair. Fun video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trH5ep1HPgM

I've decided to do 2 "premium" faces- one boy and one girl- and see how that goes before adding anything else. I've ordered princess tiaras and boas for the girls and bandanas and pirate hooks for the boys. Not too big an investment. As soon as I have the supplies in and I can get my daughter made up so I can take pictures, I'll post them so you can see. I don't have any festivals scheduled at the moment, though.

I've also ordered all the supplies for glitter tattoos and my 2 daughters will be swapping off doing line managing duties and glitter tattoos.

I'm also going to check into the hair things... but I'm broke now so I'll see how this much goes for now! LOL

Check your state or county if "doing" hair. Some states require you to be licensed - apparently hygiene is HUGE issue with doing hair. And sorry , I don't mean to be a wet blanket - it just isn't worth it to get into legal fines or personal loss - just check it out beforehand.

Would spraying glitter hairspray into hair be considered "doing" hair? Just wondering- my daughter suggested we do that with the girls...

I think simply spraying glitter or color is okay - it's when you style, comb, tease, part, put it up, heat, curl or cut etc.....

That's good to know! I couldn't do any of the other stuff anyway... I can barely do my own hair! LOL

Actually... in some places even TOUCHING the hair requires a license. Best to check in the jurisdictions where you plan to offer this service.

If I need to get hair out of the face, I can only use disposable hair bobby pins - one time use. Check with your local city/county. It might be under the department of cosmetology.

Another thing my daughter suggested we do for the "premium" princess faces, is to make our own glitter lotion and give it to the "princess" in a tiny lip gloss jar. I've priced everything and it's fairly inexpensive to do.... aloe vera gel, a tiny amount of glycerin, the ultra-fine glitter and a tiny little lip glass jar from some of the wholesalers on ebay.