Line control question

Ok. First off, I do events solo. There is no other option. I don't have time or energy or money to train someone. I don't do enough events yet to warrant this anyway. One a week or so. my question is this...

I'm starting balloon twisting (mostly going to offer just flowers and swords and smaller animals. 1-2 balloon things) along with face painting. How do i handle lines? I'm not expecting like 20 person lines or anything.

Should I just go back and forth? Or should i do 2 balloon things and then 1 face since the balloons don't take as long?

Personally I'd have a difficult time switching back and forth from balloons to face painting at the same event. For the sake of fairness, I think I would just have one line for people to stand in, no matter what they want. Otherwise you might get accused of not being fair in your wait time.

I don't have any other profound advice. Sorry!

yea. i think i might be SOL. one line is a better idea. duh!! this is why i ask you guys.

I do both balloon twisting and face painting at parties. I split the time. If they want 3 hours I do 1.5 hrs painting. 1.5 hrs balloon twisting. I always do face painting first and balloons second. The reason being balloons will pop. And I notice if you do balloons first you will constantly get interrupted to fix or replace balloons while you paint and in turn will not be able to paint all the kids. So I paint first and then do the balloons. Yes, the balloons will still pop, but at least when I am asked to fix balloons I will already be at eased that everyone got painted.

If you are going to do both (I wouldn't - they book on or the other, if they want both they pay for the extra person) go with ONE LINE ONLY... next person served no matter what they want. And you'll get people wanting FP AND a balloon too which will slow you down a lot...

If it's a party, I do face painting first, then balloons, then run before all the balloons pop or you'll be there for a week

If it's an event, they all get into the same line and I work through them as they come. This past weekend I worked a festival with Glitterfly Faces and if I had a bunch of people wanting balloons, I let her take all the face painting while I worked through them... if she had a bunch of glitter tattoo people, I did all the face painting while she did that... it worked out pretty well for us. I just keep my balloon apron and pump close by and can often throw the balloon to them faster than it takes some kids to get up into my chair for face painting.

I wouldnt' worry about doing events by yourself, I have done this many times and it's no big deal. It's definitely nice to have company there if you can, but if you can't then you can't, oh well.

Perry Noia wrote:If it's a party, I do face painting first, then balloons, then run before all the balloons pop or you'll be there for a week

I was wondering if I was the only one to run before the balloons pop love how you said that! that made me laugh!
I do as some of the others, for parties I face paint first and then (if time allows) I do balloons.

Do you have a family member that can learn the balloons(spouse, kid, etc)? This works best for me. If not, definitely do the face painting 1st & then the balloon. This will rescue you from being bopped by a balloon the whole time you're painting & possibly replacing a popped balloon.

my kids are 1 and 3. and my husband is an Economist and not so creatively inclined. lol. Its all good. It'll work itself out.

OK, w/ the kids you have a few years... teach 'em young
My 17 yr old started when she was 11/12 yrs old(can't remember).

as it has already been said, use only one line. Two lines gets far too confusing. I do this a lot, and I find it refreshing to have a quick change of pace after doing a bunch of face paintings to have a balloon or two thrown in there. Even when my mom and I work together, we have one line and we each take the next person in line, it's just so much smoother. Plus, then when one of us needs a break, we just close the paints and go, we don't have to worry about finishing a line off or working people over into the other painter's line.

I do it differently at private birthdays. I face paint then give them their balloon. I always warn them that they get only one balloon. It that balloon pops then they have to wait until everyone has gotten their turn and IF there is time I will redo theirs BUT they have to show me the pieces. Most of the parties I go to have lots of late comers so I figure they are mostly paying me for face painting so they should get it.

as a clown, I do my half hour show first, then face painting, then balloons... AND I tell them to have me come half an hour after the party has started. If they are more than an hour late for the party... tough bananas!

For me its only tough bananas when times up. Otherwise thats how I work it out and I know which kids have been "served".

Yep, if I have to do balloons and faces at the same time it's one line. If I can I'll have them advertise a certain time for balloons and a certain time for faces and I'll take a quick break between. Some people who just want balloons don't want to wait through some faces and so different times works, it also means being strict about the end of the line. I also do as Perry and ask to come to the birthday half hour after it starts, usually all of the kids are there by then I do parties in character as well and do a story and some songs followed by the face painting and tell them I'll do balloons if I have time. I often do balloons while they eat their cake. It's quicker because they aren't trying to touch stuff and I have my personal space. It also makes for less action and breakage and I can make a run like Perry before they pop.

So thats how you leave a party, run! Did my first combined party a couple of weeks ago and had to re-make so many balloon swords! Was there for 15 mins over, so not too bad.

always do balloons at the END... I'll do a couple repairs sometimes, but only the birthday child gets another balloon if needed, the rest are just retwisting if they come apart.