Keeping track of the line

Soooo, what do you guys use for keeping track of whose turn it is next at a party? I don't like to have them line up when they could be playing, and neither do the mums. I've thought of using cards/tickets etc with numbers, but not sure how they'd go holding on to them. Then I thought of stickers, which is my fav idea so far, or even painting a little number on their hand. But I thought if ask on here, seeing as you all always seem to have brilliant tried and tested ideas.

On another note, I had a funny 'you know your a facepainter when..' incident today. So we're driving along, when I rubbed my leg and felt a lump. Being me, I freaked out thinking there was a bug, my partner then laughed and said 'well it hasn't bitten you yet, you'll be right' (feelin the love haha). So I'm freaking out, trying to roll my leggings up enough to get the 'bug' out, and considering just taking them off. My kids are laughing hysterically, and then bam, I get the 'bug' out.... And yeah, it was actually a gem. Damn sparkly things get everywhere!

At birthday parties, it is usually small enough to have a mom wrangle the children.
I did a large event at SickKids hospital on May 2, and the volunteers handed out pieces of paper that they had numbered. And if someone's number was missed, that child was next in line.

I carry event wristbands in my kit. The last time I used them was at a party where I had been hired to paint 16 children in an hour. When I arrived, I noticed that there were clearly more than 16 children...more like 30 children. The mom told me she could not hire me for more than one hour as she had spent $300 on the birthday cake. I counted out 16 wrist bands and numbered them with a permanent black marker. I gave them to the mom and asked her to pick out her 16 favorite children. She looked at me in horror. Three children came to me with no wristband and told me they had "lost" their wristband. I sent them back to the hostess. When I was on the second to last of my 16 children, the mom came to me and asked if I could paint the rest of the children for $20. I told her that $20 would last about 11-12 minutes and I may be able to paint another 3-4 children. She left and came back and slammed $100 down on my FatMax table.
I know that my story is NOT what you wanted to hear. I carry those event wristbands in my kit just for those occasions. You can have your name and logo printed on them. I bought a stamp with my website on it and I stamped the wristbands myself.

Happy painting!

I have to say, I really do like the wrist band idea.... Particularly since I would say NONE of us is overpriced, that's a great way around the people who try to trap/guild/trick us into giving more than is reasonable.

Dear leapinglizards:
I have allowed myself to be trapped/guilted/tricked a few times over the years. The unscrupulous clients have forced me to come up with ways to defend the items laid out in my contract with them. First off, contracts and deposits were the first step. Event wristbands to end the line were used to count out the number of children I was contracted to paint.

I walk away from events feeling happy and tired, instead of feeling bad, taken advantage of, and tired and cranky.

xoxo

I punched out circles on craft paper and numbered them and at Fazoli's restaurant, a kid comes up gets a number...and after each kid painted ...i call out the next number... so they don't have to wait in line, and the can eat ...as i am painting someone else...has work so far. Also, when painting at a festival... when i get to the last hour. i count out to each person in line... (about 5 minutes a person).. and give them a number ...and tell everyone.. they can only get painted now if they have my punched number.... and to tell anyone who gets in line after them.. i am not painting anyone else. ... I have had someone come up and ask for a ticket...but i tell them i will not be painting anymore after the last ticket passed out... otherwise i never know who is last... and i don't want anyoe waiting in line for a while and then get up there and i say...sorry ...not painting anymore. lol... it is usually getting dark by then... and i don't have lights up (for that reason...i am usually ready to go by then!!!! )...

Most of the birthday parties I do have up to 15 kids and I'm booked for 1 hour. I usually paint numbers on the backs of their hands. This way I know if the Mum has sneaked in a couple of extra kids... I charge Euro 5 per child for each extra child... I keep child 1 and 2 to paint and send the rest off to play. After I've painted the first child I get them to go and find child 3, then child no. 2 is sent to find child no. 4 and so on ...

If there are extra kids I let them know it will cost more before I start painting. If extra kids turn up late I try and sort it there and then. Waiting til the end means you have less leverage. I learned from a bad experience. I got paid Euro 5 after painting 5 extra kids.

Last Fri I hooked up with a local kids ballet teacher and we did a dance/fairy party and she wrote each child's name on a piece of paper with a number. This seemed to work better. Especially for late arrivals. I was booked to paint 15 and ended up painting 22! No problem with payment though.

Hope this helps.

I buy cheap poker chips, you can get tons for a dollar on a flea market or a box of 100 for $1.50 in wall mart, I prefer the flea market ones as you can get them in a real plastic box. I use the chips a lot for corporate events when the client wants for the patrons to circulate around and not to stand in one place, It wont work for a pay per face event like a fair because the costumer can leave and don't come back.

I number them with a sharpie and rarely I miss one, I think the option is cheaper than the wrist bands, also I have had the experience of the kids coming back to get the face painted again after wash off if you don't cut the band away.
Another option if you have a laminator is to make a page with numbers on one side and your logo on the other and laminate them, I use them for birthday parties where I don't want to take the chips.

At larger events where I'm paid by the hour, I hand out numbered tickets. I know generally how many I can paint in an hour and don't hand out more than that. Then I keep the first few and paint them. The kids check back in with me periodically to see what number I'm on. If I've passed their number, they are automatically next in line.
At parties where they have purchased a package based on head count, I give the hostess that number of jelly bracelets. (purchased on clearance at Walgreens.)
It's the hostess' job to hand them out to whomever wants painted. If there are more guests than bracelets, more bracelets may be bought for $5 each. As the child comes to get painted, I take the bracelet back. When I have collected them all, I know I'm done.

the wristband idea is brilliant. where can you get them, fess?

I got them at
eventwristbands.com

There is free shipping over a certain dollar amount. It was more inexpensive to order 2,000 wristbands than to order less because of the shipping. Now, I have to organize bigger jobs so that I can use these Tyvek wristbands!

I love rthlng's jelly bracelets idea for small parties.
You can have the eventwristband people print out your logo on the wrist band.
I went to a scrapbooking store and had them create a stamp with my website on it, and then I bought some permanent ink and separately stamped each wrtistband.

Happy Painting!

thanks!

I love the wrist band idea, ill have to look into that! (I have to wait til after my next gig to buy any more stuff - I spent $100 on supplies yesterday, when I only had $50 budgeted, oops). Until then I might raid the games cupboard for some poker chips and number them. I've only had trouble a couple of times, but I want to be prepared in those situations (when the parents have no idea about line control, and the kids are fibbers about who goes next, so I have to break up arguments... lucky I have good mediation skills lol)

With the poker chips, don't the kids drop them and lose them? I can't see kids hanging on to poker chips, especially if they're in the last group. Any experience with this?

Also, I'm a bit super-cautious, but I don't like giving small things to small children, even if three-year-olds are supposed to know not to mouth them.

Yeah thats a good point about them eating them - surprised I didnt think of that, given one of my kids eats everything. She ate half an envelope her brother gave her yesterday... I figure paper will just go through her eventually lol. Actually her brother ate some nappy cream this morning. Seems fine though so Im not panicking. Its a mad house around here sometimes lol!
Thats why I was thinking of stickers, so they dont drop them. So maybe Ill do that instead of poker chips until I can get some wrist bands.

I think Im over thinking this

So this is what I do (or don't do to be more specific! )

Birthday parties or other small groups: I tell the client to figure it out - I suggest they make a list of names to give me to call, draw names, etc. I leave it up to them to figure out the order.

For anything else: They line up. Period. I call "next"... I don't watch the line, I don't count, I don't hand out tokens... I have signs up saying the time for painting "2-4 p.m. Last face painted will be in the chair at 3:55 p.m." (I have examples of my signs on my resources page.) I make an announcement about 30 minutes before I'm done and people can figure it out themselves.

I'm there to paint not organize people.

A list! Brilliant! Feeling a bit daft that I didnt think of that in the first place

Just as I thought, I was over thinking it and missing the simple solution. It seems to be a habit of mine lol

I have never had a problem with the chips they are big enough so no problem with little kids and most of the time I get them back even when they don't want to wait they gave my chip back, one time I got one broke.

I feel the same as you, Shannon...I am not there to be on crowd control! But I have experienced the stress of cutting off a line, too! For super huge, crazy busy events when I'm there by the hour, I put a little sign right in the center of my design board with a picture of a clock, mark the time I'm done, and it says "Open until X:00." Once the last child sits in my chair, I immediately turn my design board around, where I have a large "closed" sign taped to the back.

I like the sign idea Gretchen...and have been going to make one. i did find a very cute "caution children at play" sign... that i am gong to convert into a sign to sit out as well... but i still like knowing for myself who is about last in line. so i do the 5 minute per person in line...give them a cheap token i have made ..with a number and when those token are gone and given back it is OVER i am DONE!!! lol... and NO i can not do ONE MORE... i am POOPED...ready to pack it up and go get these old feet up!!!!!! LOL
Here is the sign i am going to fix up. and put time and a face on! I found it a Big Lots store in our area. I like Shannon's info...so i might put that on there...not sure yet!

...[img][url=https://servimg.com/image_preview.php? i=53&u=17848476][/url][/img]

I have a few strategies for closing the line off for corporate events.

I bought a bright orange mesh safety vest. I used puff paint to print "LAST IN LINE" on it.

My Line Manager or myself number the back of the hands, beginning with the last person in line. Last person gets the #1. I number up the line to the front. The last person in line gets the most blinged-out, face painting with matching arm or hand art.

I got my Tyvek event wristbands this fall. I have only used them to give to two hostesses who greatly underestimated the amount of children. I may use them to cut off the line in the future. I have some big events coming up soon.

I have signage that states how long I will be painting until. People do not read the signs.

xoxo

I like the vest idea too... thought of making a sign for someone to where.... soem great ideas here!!!

fesspenter wrote:

I have signage that states how long I will be painting until. People do not read the signs.

xoxo

I agree... but, I have got them trained around here. I have the occasional twit argue, but for the most part they see it, and if they've not bothered to read it they do when I make my announcement that I only have 30 minutes left.

I set alarms on my phone to alert me every 15 minutes for the last hour, then 5 minutes before, then 2 minutes before the end of a corporate event. Maybe I will look fiercer this year now that I have two eyebrows to make a stern face at the crowd.
xoxoxo

I have never found a list to be effective. Hate them, really. They slow me down, you have to find that kid, often, could have painted another child while the next one on the list is located.

I have gotten really tired of parents getting weird at the end of the line thing, I have gotten much more strict about making sure that event coordinators have someone to keep track of the line and come over 30 minutes early to count back and make sure no one else gets in line. I do think I am going to look for a last in line vest though. I meant to do that last year.

Side note, I had a crazy, think she was high, mother over the weekend, I had already painted all day 7hrs and was not going to take any crap. She actually got furious because her son only got a $5 spider man design and not a whole face spidey. It was a school event and that is what every Spidey was. The child was barely 2. I won't go into the scene she made but I was really getting ticked. But I handled it the best I could. So, it all ended well, everyone knew she was nuts but all the more reason for me to be sure that at the end of the day things like end of the line cut off go smoothly. I tend to get cranky after a day of nonstop painting when people get nasty with me.