300 kids in 4 hours!

I accepted a gig for a company picnic and then was informed that there will be 300 kids to paint in 4 hours! Eek! I told the company that I would have to bring in 2 additional "apprentice" face painters (not professional...though they have some experience). Does anyone have any advice? Should my helpers sponge on paint then send the kids to me for linework? Or should we all just do super simple, quick designs? I can paint about 20 of my usual quick designs per hour, but I can't expect my helpers to paint that many. And what about insurance coverage for my helpers?... Stressed already...

Dear Painted Lady:
I do an annual school year end BBQ every June.
I have to paint approximately 200 children in 2 hours.

I post a board with five designs on it:
Rainbow Butterfly
One-Eyed Spidey Guy
Bat Guy (does not extend below the eyes)
Tiger
Rainbow Princess

I have a two hour boot camp for my apprentices to practice the designs. I use three apprentices. I tell them that I am not interested in speed, only in quality face paint. (The first couple of faces will be slow, and then they begin to pick up speed as their confidence steps up). I request a Volunteer Line Manager who takes the money for the face painting, and gets the children to choose something before they ever sit down in our chairs.

I am from Detroit.
I understand Assembly Lines.
Perhaps your idea of one person doing the sponging and sending the children to you to finish off the linework is the way to approach your event.

We were all nervous before the event. One apprentices' hands were shaking. Once we began to paint, we were all just fine. We fell into the groove. We finished on time, and we were all totally exhausted. It was actually the best training for a very large event we landed in the summer for 18 days, six hours a day.

I prepped two TAG Neon Carnival cakes for each painter and we each went through one whole cake. Since then, we have realized that we only need to run the edge of the sponge through the cake, not the whole face of the sponge. The apprentices were wetting the cake, instead of the sponge for the first hour (which wastes a lot of paint, so now, we only wet the sponge). We do use only one sponge per child, and it gets thrown into a bucket to be washed later at home.

My insurance covers every apprentice for an extra fee. I am in Canada, so I would suggest you ask your closest face painters for insurance advice.

I will go over this again with my apprentices again before the event and ask them if they want to add some one stroke rose and double dipped flower eye designs, as they are proficient in those now. One stroke snakes may be an addition. I will ask them what they want to do.

Happy, Happy Painting!

Great advice! Thank you, fesspenter! I feel better already. Love the boot camp idea! Also five quick designs to choose from and a limited palette - brilliant. I was thinking that I'd have to purchase a whole new full palette. And, wow, I better stock up on sponges!

Dear Painted Lady:
I bought sponges from Dollarama, Canadian Tire, and a restaurant supply store called Tap Fong here in Toronto. The sponges were $1 for eight sponges from Dollarama and Tap Fong. The sponges from Canadian Tire were $3 for $12 (and the ones I prefer, although I am not as choosy as I once was)
For $1, I can cut each sponge into 16 pieces, which makes 128 sponges. I use an electric carving knife to cut the sponges.
Last summer, I washed sponges in my washing machine every night during the big event. Every time I go into Tap Fong (there are no more sponges without the scrubby side that I like as I bought them all from Dollarama) or Canadian Tire, I buy a few more.
I have over 1,000 sponges now, and I am aiming for 2,000, so I do not have to do laundry every day of the event.
My all time favorite sponges are the Fantasy World Wide green sponges from the Face Paint Forum store. I try to order another 10 every time I place an order. I could not afford to stock that many of the FWW sponges for our event, so I am doing it a little at a time.
You do not need more different colors, just lots of black and white, and a few TAG Neon Carnival cakes. I now make my own, as it save money. I order one each of the 50g TAG Neon Magenta, TAG Neon Yellow, and TAG Neon Blue, cut them apart and then I have three TAG Neon Carnivals. I now make my band of yellow in the center of the cake slightly wider than the magenta and the blue.
xoxox

You are a wealth of information!!! Thank you soooo much! So you're using regular, large, cleaning type sponges and cutting them? I love the Face Paint Forum Shop sponges, but I don't want to spend a small fortune on them for this event...

Yes, a package of 8 rectangular sponges. I have also used the big, peanut-shaped car wash sponges. I prefer the sponges that have small cells, although I do have some sponges that have big, blobby holes and they work just fine.

Everytime I order from the Face Paint Forum store, I try to order another Wolfe White, and 10 more sponges, to hoard it for future use. It never goes bad.

I use an electric carving knife to cut the sponges on a flexible cutting mat that I only use for face painting stuff. I do not watch TV, or pay attention to anything else when I am carving with the knife. I want to have as many fingers as I started with when I finish.

xoxo

Don't abandon the idea on buying supplies for helpers, is better if they have their own paint and brushes.

I'll definitely buy supplies for my helpers, but I'll stick to a limited palette per my design offerings. I have abandoned the idea of my helpers sponging on paint and me doing the line work though-I think that would end up taking more time per face, not to mention being confusing cluster within my area.

i would limit my designs to maybe 3 boys and 3 girls...and the color choices like the other people here said. make the same rainbow cakes for all of your helpers and your self...if you look thru this forum you will find so much helpful info. good luck..and you know...some times every kid will not want to be painted, but most of them will..you will do just fine.