Business face paint

So I have my first business contracting me out to do facepainting for the local Easter Egg hunt and I was hoping you could give me some advice:

1. They are hiring me for one hour, what if they get a ton of kids and I can't get through it. I don't want to leave the store or the kids waiting in line for a big dissapointment, but I don't want to be doing it for free after that...

2. How do you manage the lines in a small space...

3. Do you generally limit your designs to a few or do you offer all of them?

4. Any quick boy Easter mask ideas out there?

Thanks so much for your input!!!

1. Post a sign - "Face Painting till xxx time" - when that comes, you need to stop.....

2. Depends on how small a space - or what you normally do? I like a "welcome" mat for the next person in line to stand on......

3. If you limit your designs you can always do a request that is something you "normally" do, but it is harder to take something off mid event.

4. Several recent threads with Easter designs (including for boys) - vampire bunnies etc....

Have they said how many children they expect to attend or how many they expect you to paint? I had a recent event at a hospital I had donated an hour of face painting to, I hate to disappoint and had another engagement so I couldn't go over, I was doing seasonal faces and knew I could do 20 in an hour, they had first talked about drawing 20 names but instead decided to number off the 1st 20 at the line up. There were no more expectations than that and all of the parents and children followed the rules making it a very good experience for everyone and those who weren't part of the group of 20 didn't waste any time waiting and knew they'd get a chance another time. It is very important to be clear to customers how many you can paint in an hour if they are paying you per hour.

For large events I won't book for just one hour. I tell the client it's a disservice to the people & they end up upset. I also post a sign with:

"Free Face Painting Provided by 'XYZ COMPANY'. Face painting will end promptly at 0:00. Entertainer has another engagement to get to & must be on time. Thank you for understanding! Linda "

I usually try to book large events with nothing after them. I've never worked an event that didn't hire me for extra time if everyone wasn't painted in the time they originally agreed on. I usually prep them on the phone that it takes from 3-5 per child and that they might not be booking enough time, then when it get's to the day of the event and they see it for themselves, they just hire me for more time.

I don't do one-hour jobs. I have a two-hour minimum and post signs that say WHEN the face painting is and when it will stop. I do NOT go over. I used to... but learned that it only hurts me financially and physically to work overtime for no pay!

I have examples of the signs I post on my resources page - click on the work HERE in my signature.

Frankly, the line isn't MY problem. I'm only concerned about any encroachment into my personal space and who is next, otherwise I ignore the line. It takes time away from painting to try to control it. I just let them slug it out and may comment that I won't paint disruptive children or bloody ones.

I usually offer my whole display, but when the client asks, I have a "Fast Faces" display that we use for high volume events - all under 4 minutes, averaging 2 minutes.

Boy Easter masks? Spiderman, Batman, Dragon... same old, same old.