Fairy Facepainters...

I have been thinking lately of becoming more of a fairy facepainter for kids birthday parties.. I am really not sure what that means and what I would have to do.. I just want to wear a cute fairy dress
I was just wondering if anyone in here is a face painting fairy? Do you do anything more than just painting their faces? Do you have stories you like to tell the kids as you paint them about fairytopia....? Where do you find the costumes/wings?
And is it really worth the effort?

I'll probably never do anything like this because I'm way too big to be walking around in a fairy dress, however I really would get a kick out of blowing "fairy dust" on the kids' faces via my glitter poofer!

Nonsense robust, voluptuous, fairies are just as fun. Besides the new Tinkerbell show give big girls fairy president.

Daizy, you would make the perfect fairy!
I can't see myself walking around with wings either, those aren't going to lift my chubby body off the ground LOL

Any costume idea needs to always take climate into consideration. Have an option without a wig for when it's 90+ degrees outside.

You could upscale the party & have a princess crowning(maybe $5 per child ontop of your regular fee). The birthday girl gets a lovely crown, wand & jewelry(Oriental Trading Company stuff). The rest of the party goers get crowns made from tinsel wire & ribbon streamers & less fancy jewelry. Everyone gets face painted & fairy dusted. The birthday girl can get blinged out with jewels in her design.
You can also have a markup for ballerinas w/ tutus or fairy's with tutus & fairy wings. Figure the cost to buy the item & pass that onto the clients.

I made my own costumes. For the parties, I offer just regular face painting for $75 an hour(my hourly rate + costume charge) for the first hour, $50 for every hour after that. I also offer games, crafts, and activities, but those are an extra fee and are not included in the hour of fp.

When face painting, I usually talk to the kids in character, but most of the conversation is relegated to what they want to be painted as and why they want to be painted that way. I try to make them the center of attention, because let's face it, most kids love being the center of attention.

I've noticed that people really do like it when you say that you can come in costume. I haven't offered it as an extra service officially, but my last two phone inquiries (when I thought I was loosing them) I threw it in there at the end "Oh! and I also have the option of me painting in costume. I can come as..." And it swung the whole buisness back my way! Yea! I didn't charge extra. I offered princess/tea party, country clown, pirate (which made the difference for the Sponge Bob party), and fortune teller. The reason I didn't offer my fairy costume (because of course I have that too- lol there is no end to my costume closet!) is that it would be really cumbersome to paint in.

I'm generally a fat fairy!

You always need comfy costumes; I gave up on finding them ready made. They cost a bomb, or were hand wash only, or didn't fit or were basically porn costumes and completely impractical.

I now have asstd ones- pink, rainbow, christmas etc. Mainly skirts I already had and re-dyed, or got cheap. I added things to fairy them up- like butterfly and flower bits from the haberdashery stalls, and made, bought or decorated matching tops. Always worn with matching wings I made.
Mix & match is more useful, more diverse, and more original:)

I find kids identify with you more, parents/ clients love it and you get more pics taken. I decorate most of my tops with my www to match my skirts/ wings so more pics = more of my www seen...
(This is my woodland twiggle fairy variation for the place I work most of the time as its in a wood - this was their stall at a Royal Show).

A plus is it helps disguise you when you aren't at a job, kids concentrate on the costume. Otherwise, like when I 1st started and didn't dress up, you can get 'spotted' at inappropriate times - I even had a bunch of neighbourhood kids start banging on my door whenever they got bored, wanting painted. Not always safe/ ideal!

These are the old originals from my 1st few years, where I basically just adapted any fairy-ish thing I found I could work in


Mix and match is best as you can then get warmer, colder or have you logo or not etc.
is christmassy


is working with a couple of other ladies for a different painter, so we couldn't advertise our own wwws. However the client LOVED the co-ordinating look - the other 2 aren't usually fai
ries, just had wings added to stuff from their 'normal' wardrobe.

AND its fun!
Cat x

LOL. So true about the disguise part. I did a party for a family down the street dressed as a princess. The kids still haven't figured out it was me

Does anyone have any pics they want to share...
I am totally thinking of making a corset type top and a puffy tutu covered in flowers and lacy bits (or exchanging facepainting for sewing from a friend...)
I am tiny, 5ft0 so the amount of times kids just assume I am a fairy I might as well go for it. I think it something that will set me apart from the other face painters in my area now.
I used to wear wings but gave up as I kept knocking over my paint... does anyone have any ideas on getting past this problem... maybe I ned to change the shape of them?

Cat I love the idea of having your web address on it!

It works!
Personally I won't wear corset etc but I'm a 'big girl'.

Just be VERY aware of the fact you will be bending facing (and bottom facing) kids, or sitting with kids feet between your knees, etc, a lot so watch necklines/ length of skirts etc.

One you learn learn when you are a teacher too!

Cat x

I enjoyed watching that pictures of you in action, Cat. I, sort of, get to know you. I realize now that i haven't put any pictures on the forum with my face (just my kids and my arm). I will do that when I have a picture with my own painted face.

Thank you so much for sharing your photos Cat!
I love love love your wings... they look small enough and straight out the back so they are less likely to knock stuff..
At the moment I am just wearing a black t-shirt (its faded and I keep meaning to get a new one with my logo on it) and it is already quite low. We have had to delete quite a few photos that look straight down my top when I am bending over. I even had one kid asking what was that down there pointing to a ribbon on my undergarment.
I think a corset type top.. just a plain one with maybe ribbons tied over the shoulder would be a lot less revealing

I have quite a colourful skirt I already wear and would probably still wear for regular face painting jobs. I would love the option of becoming more of a fairy if I wanted too.

Love your costumes Cat, you are adorable!

Wow Cat... great photos! You really showed a great way to be a character without being in a crazy huge costume... I think even I would be comfortable in that! Do you buy your wings somewhere or make them yourself? I'm a sucker for wings, but have never bought any.

I don't do fairy but I am a living doll or sometimes I tell kids I'm half fairy (hence my long blue lashes) and half clown (hence my bright color clothing). I have tons of stories of how I'm half & half and how I use to travel with the circus but wasn't happy there because all we did was perform but never really got to talk with kids like I do now....I then tell them I'm much happier now because I got to meet them...blah, blah, blah!!! LOL! I also left the circus in search of my fairy family but I can never go over for dinner because I'm just too big so "Thanks for the cake kids"...LOL!
I do offer within my business all types of characters...it does bring in clients (people like costumes).
Here I am with 4 of my living dolls (My business partner & I designed the living doll "uniform" and had them customized to each girl that works for us). Very comfortable if weather is too hot he leave off the bloomers & wear short socks...when weather is cold we leave bloomers on with long socks and long sleeve hoodies in place of the t-shirts.

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@ Amanda: Love your face art in your avatar!!!

This was me a year aqgo before I was defeated by the wings.

Daizy, you're so cute!
Your work is amazing you need bigger, fancier wings ... hee hee hee! Actually, I don't think you need anything at all...your work speaks volumes on its own.

Anyway here are some wings (not expensive at all):
http://www.buycostumes.com/Violet-Faerie-Wings/17890/ProductDetail.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RPNY0G/ref=asc_df_B000RPNY0G1447688?smid=AF9KOJUVUYVNM&tag=pgmp-1595-95-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B000RPNY0G

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ODNO4K/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00437GT38&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=02Y185EGMZ4TDPPGPWP6

Those wings rock. I don't know if it was because I read this thread before I went to bed or what but last night I had an unpleasant dream that my sister was performing with a circus for some reason and I went to go visit her and a face painter they had there found out I face paint and started ridiculing me in front of everyone because I didn't face paint in a costume! They even made fun of my carnie heritage (I had a lot of family who worked the carnival circuit, some still do). I ran out crying and woke up. Now I've been thinking all morning...maybe I do need a little something something lol

You poor thing lol
Before I looked at Cat's pictures I could not see myself wearing wings, I feel different now

No more reading threads before bed lol

Yep I make wings from scratch. ( I make them to sell them- its bad as I keep keeping ones I like best). I even got handfasted in wings by a welsh friend of mine who is a / was a fairy.


I started when I was running a big nature reserve as an education centre - we needed costumes for some holiday events and had no budget. So, garden wire, tights, glitter:)

I make them for other painters etc but also as props for my bodyart at events - this was a wearable art show in NZ.



I was even lucky enough to have a weekend with Fairylove and was asked if I'd like to make some for them - hadn't time but they do re-do 1 design I did a lot:)


An easier way to do it is buy cheap plain wings from ebay and glitter/ flower them up....these were fr a wedding in NZ, I didn't have my wire tools etc so just re-decorated bought wings.
Yes the dog was a bridesmaid too!

There are pics on my face www (not my body one). Its fiddly and they take ages but its fun!
Cat x

Those are great takes on fairy costumes and something I would never have thought of. I guess my minds fairy has been a more ballerina-type fairy, and your examples are more sort of hippy-type fairies with the flowy skirts. Much more practicle for painting in I'm sure. I think a corset would be fine to paint in so long as you sewed it with a high neckline, or else layered it over another shirt. If you purchased one that was a little low, you could always add some lace at the nect too.