Help with St.Patrick's day Festival

Hello all

I have been asked to do a St.Patrick's day Festival for a city.
This will be the biggest event I have done. Besides the shamrock, flag, leprechaun,.
What other things can you all come up with. It will be outside I will have electricity close to me.
Help for a set up ? I will have 2 chairs small table . Verry nervous    about this event.

Thank you all, you have been a great help to all of us with your advice.
looking forwards to here from everyone.


*Mad-Man* (Joe)

Hello!

How exciting! First thing that comes to mind would be a rainbow going over the eyebrow down into maybe some loose gold, a pot of gold or a shamrock! I would also offer writing for the arm with a greeny, gold split cake, but running down from say shoulder to elbow. I had a quick look for a one stroke but I'd reckon you could make a better one with a nice metallic gold and some green shades. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e4/5f/65/e45f651a97ef9ae0bfec442ee5024b5c.jpg(I'm more than happy to explain how to do any of this but don't want to be patronising and teach you to suck eggs if you already know!     )

Using that same one stroke I would then do hearts, crowns etc!

As for set up are you able to put up a gazebo? I find it helps to give you your own space, a little oasis, especially if you can put sides up! How will you be displaying your pictures?

My best suggestion if you're nervous is to take someone with you! They can support you, manage queues and money and just help with your nerves

I've got photos of St. Patrick's Day painting on an old blog post:

https://shannonfennell.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/some-st-patricks-day-photos/

how about "irish" versions of popular designs -
green butterfly (maybe shamrock shaped wings),
green fairy, heart, or princess designs,
green and white kitty, puppy, tiger, leopard, shark,
green spiderman, batman, robot or cyborg,
as well as things that are naturally green like dinosaurs, and snakes of course, you get the idea..

paint the town green!

Seriously, when it comes to theme events like this, i take a lot of my old designs and Theme them up.

Stencils are great for this too!

Green cat, with shamrock stenciling instead of spots, green butterfly face with shamrocks and a rainbow across the forehead. Green princess with shamrock jewels, etc.

Make a fairy with clover shaped wings, or a regular puppy face only with a clover on it's cheek. Do this to all the things!

Also don't forget pots, or gold, anything celtic, like tats or knotwork, green top hats, rainbow everything, or green lip prints for 'kiss me i'm Irish!" lol

i like the shamrock spots idea, and the lips

Running out now, but will post some for you. With a little practice, quick Celtic crosses, shamrocks & teardrops &...people love spidey, batmasks & tribal tatts...all in shades of green.

You all ROCK !!! great ideas this is going to help me out. Love the rainbow on the face, and the fairy wings ideas.
Love the arm (Laura-Lou)yes you can teach me that one.
I was thinking about prices  Sm 5$  Med $10  Lg $15 is that like the going price? (Forest-Fairy) I know you have done a lot of Festival. Let us know you Wisdom

Dear *Mad-Man*:
Pricing is regional. Different rates apply for different areas.
Having said that... when my oldest daughter was 3 years old, face painting was $5. Now, that daughter is 23 years old, and people still want to pay $5 for face painting. My insurance has quadrupled. Face paint used to be $7 for Kryolan Interferenz, and now, it is $40.
Most of the time, our smallest design is $8, and I just did a three day festival, and our prices were $10 and $15 and up. We had less complaints about our prices than we did when we were charging $5 per face. And, we got to do real artistry that we were proud of!

Here's an example of an "Irish version" of a favorite.


Celtic Cross on the big brother


Various shamrocks & Swirls.


...and Fessie, you make an excellent point about pricing vs rising costs.

Agreed prices are totally location based.City vs town, poor neighborhood vs rich. Also depends on what crowd the festival draws.

My best blanket advice for festival pricing is to keep prices $5 and up. This way your line doesn't get clogged with the "toonie & loonie" crowd ($2 & $1). These cheapos inflate your line making it look longer - thus making more ppl willing to spend $5 -$10 for a face pass you by because they don't want to wait in your long line

You would rather have 3 people in line each clutching a $5 bill, instead of 10 people each clutching a $1.

Fesspenter, I am so glad you commented on the pricing. I will be doing our county fair and was feeling "guilty/greedy" for having most of my options at 8.00 & 10.00.

HAHA. No more! I feel fine with it, it's maybe even a bit low. Plus I am paying to be there after all, and it is a huge time commitment, so I will need to make some moolah to compensate.

I'm probably going to have a "Daily Special" type deal, maybe 4 designs at 5.00 and everything else will be 8.00 and 10.00.

In the US, you are allowed to have fairs that sell beer. I believe the system that made complete sense to me... was to price the lowest price as the same price as a medium sized beer. The face painting job you will do will last longer than the beer!
xoxo

Actually, I don't believe they allow anyone to sell beer at the little county fair here. I wonder if pricing it close to the cost of a corn-dog would suffice.

Just kidding of course.

Sorry to come back late! Sponge with your split cake/rainbow cake along the length of the arm (however long your word will be) and then with a very small brush loaded with white trace out your letters, making sure they overlap and are purposefully different sizes.
Then take a makeup wipe (folded over your pinky) to remove the rainbow paint that you don't need and a q-tip with some make up remover on it for little bits (like the hole in the A). This is surprisingly quick and easy!
Then take a black and outline the letters making sure to vary the thickness, add some dots over any wonky bits and white highlights so they look more bubbly and you're done!
It's genuinely so quick and people always wonder how you did it! Good luck at your event!

Laura-Lou
That is cool. I will use that for the St.Patrick's day Festival.
Thanks
*Mad-Man*

Hi Everyone

I 'm also going to paint at a city St Pattys Parade with over a thousand people attending. I 've never painted at such a big gig and I m getting so nervous I m having a lot of trouble sleeping. The event is Sunday. I m really worried because I' m not that fast yet and I m afraid people may become frustrated waiting and leave or complain. I am thinking of ordering stencils to help reduce the time it takes me but I also don't know if people will like that or not. I appreciate any suggestions, advice or opinions you have.

Snazzy12

Dear Snazzy12:
I feel it is absolutely normal to be nervous before a big event. I am nervous because I want to do a good job.

Stencils do not make me faster...they simply enhance my designs. Having said that... I am sure a hand-cut 'clover' stencil will make your life easier.

Offer the faces you do best already, with a twist!...Green Fairy, Green Butterfly, Green Tiger, etc.

Offer a limited design choices board, or word board, that you feel confident providing. Practice every day until your event. I always feel nervous with my first little client, and then I am fine. I wish I could do my second client first!!! I always warm up with a few teardrops on my arm, and I try to paint my face in a simple quick design I feel confident offering to the public. Don't forget to drink water while painting, and don't forget to play and have fun!
Happy Painting!

what fesspenter said..don't try to come up with new designs just for this event, adapt what you already do well.  

offer designs you can do quickly, with bright colors and strong linework, but not a lot of fussy details. a few well placed dots, teardrops, swirls, or stars can do wonders.

hope you have fun!

Thank You

Hello All, update on my St.Patrick's Day Festival

WOW!!!!!!!  Festival was Saturday the 12 for 12pm-6pm.
Got there at 11am found my tent set up everything.The weather was awesome 74 deg. Started to paint people about 11:30am and did not stop till 6:30PM when they reopened the streets.
(Forest-Fairy) I painted the town green! and white, blue ,red, all the colors of the rainbow. Did not do as much on shamrock as I thought I would do. Lot of flowers and animals.  
(Laura-Lou) I did a couple of names with my airbrush and it came out good. I used Q-tip it outline the letters Thank you for the tips You Rock!
(Snazzy) I hope you had a great day on Sunday. I was nervous about my event too. But when I got going it was the best thing.
I used stencils to it did help.

Thank you to all for your help I could not have done as well as I did with out you all. This is way I love this Forum we all help each other.
   

Hi Mad Man,
That's great your gig went so well. Do you have any pictures you can post. Unfortunately, my gig wash a total wash out. It poured rain and people were mor
e concerned about keeping dry and attendance was really low.

Snazzy