Profit at festivals

Hey everyone,

I hope this isn't too personal; however, I am wondering about how much do you guys make at large festivals. The festival I am doing is projecting 40,000 attendees over a two day period and I have estimated that atleast 1,000 kids will get their faces painted and if my estimations are correct, that's pretty good to me with a great profit. However, since this is my first large festival I don't know if I have under/over estimated. Please give me some feedback on your experiences.

Thanks

Only if you can paint that many - you can only paint as fast as you can paint, and you can only charge what people will pay - so multiplying those two out will give you the maximum gross sales you can attempt. If you have more people helping that's great - but that also changes the dynamic and may provide other issues (such as if the line isn't busy enough and you are sitting there looking at each other).

I can roughly paint 10 decent faces in an hour (which includes swap over time etc.) More if I am doing really quick faces (I have once done 150 in 1 and a half hours.... crazy!)
When painting quick faces I charge less so in the long run end up making about the same amount of money.
Lets say you are working 8 hours a day (??) for 2 days. Thats approximately 160 faces that you can paint alone.

It all really depends what you charge and how many people are willing to pay that. I guess if you can find the perfect balance, charging a fair amount so you aren't putting off too many people and still have a steady line, but not charging too little and having a line for Africa therefore still painting the same amount of people and not making as much money. What that price is, I am still not sure. Here in NZ it is fairly standard to charge $5 a face although that seems a lot lower than most other people.

I have only ever done one full weekend (8 hours a day for 2 days) and we were totally rained out (not good when paint is of course not water proof) over the 2 days we only made $200 profit. So far every PPF event I have been painting at has either had bad weather, had other issues or just been a short event, I am yet to have the perfect event.

I did a few fairly large events last year in upper NH. My dd and I started as soon as we set up about 9am and went till 5pm or so. We were so busy we had hardly time for a bathroom break. In fact it was about 2pm and the the food was mostly gone and then only one of us at a time ate. We made probably about $500. in a town that I thought we would make little. My booth fee was just $25. It is about 2 hours away, but my sister lives 20 minutes from there, so we got to visit as well. I thought it was good for a economy down city.
We also did a couple of Old Home Day's and made about the same. The people were great and some even ran for drinks for us. We were asked back in all the places. Not easy work, because of no breaks, but good money. I am scheduling breaks this year, every couple of hours, taking turns.
I will post it that way as well. So everyone knows to expect it.

there are a lot of factors involved.... the very idea of having a line here more than 3 deep and more than once in a while, is just out of the question. So, for a 3 day festival last year with two painters in the booth, while it rained most of the weekend and we each went home with $500 after paying for the booth fees, we were very happy. I won't book that many parties in one weekend and when you consider that a "regular" job at "regular" wages probably wouldn't make that for you in a week, I'm happy making that kind of money in one weekend.

I've heard a very small % of attendees get painted... like 1-3%. Don't remember where I heard this... probably here somewhere.

Its hard to say for just face painting as I do henna as well but a big festival I expect to make between 350-550AUD for the day. Depends on what the stall fee is too as to how much of that I take home.

There is no formula for estimating the percentage of festival goers who will indulge in face art. As it indeed varies based of the festival audience and what the market can bear. Some events are kid friendly and may even have a kids area, some events are geared at adults, some events people spend money, some events they just don't .... know the audience. And how much an event cost will tell you what the profit margin for face art might be. A booth fee of $25 is not going to have the potential as one with a booth fee of $350 or $1000. And how much you charge, and how much can you paint determine how much you can make.

Festivals always project more than last years event - so what are the real numbers. I have done events projected at 100,000 and the crowd was 1/4 that. In turn I have doen some where the crowd was 20,000 more than expected.

I can't even image doing a festival and not having a line way more than 3 people deep!

For us we easy make more than $500 in a weekend, so the festival must be worth our time or offer us something in return. We have a fully packed festival step up and still the prep time is many hours of work - we could have stayed home and made as much money sometimes.............so more factors to consider.

Bottom line here lalaland is you do not provide enough information to give you a good answer. I'd say get more information, do more homework and run more numbers.

i guess it just depends on the area...I usually have no less than 10 people in line at all times and sometimes waiting up to 2 hours for a face painting (on a nice sunny day) at 5 (butterfly cheek art that isnt advertised), 8, 10 faces amd now i will have up to a 12 and 15 tier (major blinged out crowns and faces). I know I can do up to 12 or 15 when my adrenaline kicks in. so I multiply that by say $8 = $120/hr X 5 hours =$600 - $100 booth fee= $500. This is my estimate for my festival this sunday. Everyone please pray for Sunshine and light breeze. xoxo

wow Perry only 3 deep only sometimes?
Far out I'm going to start charging more. My line is always 5- 10 kids long or more!!! They regularly wait an hour or longer to be painted. That's what I get for charging $5 for everything!
The last festival I did was 9 hours - 15,000 expected, it was a food and wine festival so there was no projected amount of families or kids as this was the first year they actually had anything for kids there..... my husband did airbrush/glitter tats and I painted ( for for three hours I painted for the sponsor for free and they paid me $150... long story)... so basically I only made money for 5 hours out of 8..... and we took home $800 minus booth fee which if I remember was $130. I was slaughtered.... no toilet or food break.... the line followed me from my tent to the sponsors tent and back, and it took me three days to recover physically.
This weekend I have a 7 hour gig on my own for Porsche.... on 200 people so maybe 50 kids, very cruisey, great promotion for my business, not set up fees and they pay me $560!
It can be worth doing festivals... can be fun.... but very very hard work.... can be a disaster (I've been rained out twice before too, had free face painters show up etc etc)..... it can majorly boost the speed of your painting..... can build you a local presence.... can get you more work.... oh did I mention it's very very hard work??
I limit myself to about 5 festivals every year, and put all my efforts into acquiring corporate clients that hire you for multiple events for long hours.

it's just the way it is around here... no matter how good the festival is, if they have to pay for it, they don't want to wait. And they don't even wait long because I work really fast. I don't think Glitterfly would disagree.

Wow. I have painted nonstop to, but I usually vlunteer or work off tips. I got $200 from a book festival that I was charging $3 for cheek/hand and $5 for full face. we made 400 but I gave half to the group I volunteered for. They insisted I take the other half since I did all 6hours with no break. I wasnt going to fight them.
I have done one or two festivals since then but onyl worked off tips so it varies greatly. My last one, A princess event, I forgot the tip jar completely, so it was 4 hrs of glittering and nothing but a bunch of smiles. the girls were soo happy! but my line can get up to 2hrs, the longest Ive had was 2.5 I personally think its ridiculous, but I wont turn anyone away if they are in line. I mean, if they want to wait Ill let them. I go as fast as I can and still make pretty designs.
I have a feeling once I get splitz Ill get much fast, I spend a lot of time doing 2 or 3 colors to blend. PLUS they will turn out better! yahoo! win win

Oh if it's terribly UNDER priced, sure... I did a school fun day a few weeks ago where they were paying me hourly and charged for tickets that I collected. The line was insane and I couldn't figure it out until I found out how much they were charging... $2 for anything! No wonder at the 2 hour event they were waiting 45 minutes to get painted! Safe to say that the school didn't make back the hourly they were paying me because I couldn't paint any faster.... there's a reason why I told them that it should be at least $5 a face.

....so I should have charged more? I mean I know I paint cute, but defintly not masterpieces of shading and artwork, but I dont think I would personally pay much more than $5-6 bucks for a full face. How could I ask them to pay more?
Its my most troubled spot, figuring out what to pay. Its why I just volunteer and take whatever for the most part.
If my next event has long lines Ill try raising the pirce a buck or two and see what happens. I didnt realise the price had that much effect on lines.
I dont try to be stupid and Im learning from advice to get better.

Maybe 5 for cheek and 8 for full face? that sounds decent. I know the parks can charge 12-15 bucks or more. *Disney and Universal, Six Flags and such

I guess the hardest part is believeing Im worth it. Thats what it comes down to, I get intimated when I see your arts, so I am buckling down and just doing the best I can be. Tah Dah!
Ok, enough from me. the sentimental newbie sap of the group.

Tara,
Search through the threads. I wasn't sure what to charge. Ended up doing $2-3 for cheek (depending on design) and $5 for mask/more intricate whole cheeks. I charge $8 for full face, but recently at many of my events I've been avoiding displaying the full face b/c I find I get through the lines faster with a spidey mask than I do with a spidey full face.

There is no rhyme nor reason, it is all dependant on location both geographic and of your both at the event, demographics of the attendees, weather, what kind of painting they are used to, what you are charging, your speed, your health that day...and what other things are being offered around you. I've done huge events with close to 100000 people/day, and small fairs with 1000/day. I've seen it all...huge events with TONNES of children and no takers, small fests with not many kids and I have been busy all day...depends on the way the clouds roll LOL

Things to know about festivals:

-If you have a line that is 1+ hours long, you need to raise your prices. (If they are willing to wait that long, then YES you are worth it!) Higher prices + a shorter line = less stress and more money. This can effect your profit by several hundred dollars per day.

-If no one is in your chair, people will be reluctant to come over for painting. If you have someone in your chair, they will line up for their turn. It is amazing how true this is. Also, if people see you sitting alone on your cell phone, etc, they won't come over. When you don't have customers, go stand near the entrance of your tent and smile at people. Or clean your kit. Don't get caught playing games on your cell phone. :-p

-Speed is HUGE. It's the difference between making $500 and making $1000. Offer designs that you know how to paint FAST and well. Don't put designs on your board that you haven't practiced much and aren't sure about. It takes too much time to consult a photo over and over, or think too much on where each stroke goes. You need to have them all memorized.

I usually charge either $5 and $8 or $5 and $10 ... those are pretty much the going rates around here that everyone charges at the festivals. As long as we are all charging the same thing, nobody is getting mad at anyone else for undercutting and we set the standard for our area. I wouldn't say that our booth is dead... I've just never seen lines like some of you mention.

wow. thanks all.

Thanks everyone for your input. This festival is pretty popular in Palos Verde, Ca. Its an upperscale area and face painting seems to be a hit with children. The festival is geared towards family and friends so there will be tons of children (they have a children area). The only thing that worries me is that I am the only face painter there and I don't want to be overwhelmed. I think the exposure will be excellent and as long as I make my booth rent back with atleast the amount of money I would have made at a party I will be fine. Any suggestions on how many designs to offer? Sorry so many questions this is my first really big event? Should I hire a second painter?

I offer 12-20 designs per price, and have three price tiers. The main thing is to see how many designs you really know well and can paint quickly. Good luck!

This thread has given me alot to think about, espcially what ANGIE said about memorizing designs....I am still learning so many...dragons, unicorns. T rex...that they are not a quick as others...
Did a small festival last weekend, booth fee $25, never had more than 3 in line, took home $60 for a 5-6 hour day! Oh,.....not a $$ maker! But I did have time to work on those newer designs.

The only PPF prices I have ever seen up here were $5, 7 and 10. Mostly painters here are by the hour.

AngieAnders wrote:Things to know about festivals:
...
-If no one is in your chair, people will be reluctant to come over for painting. If you have someone in your chair, they will line up for their turn. It is amazing how true this is. Also, if people see you sitting alone on your cell phone, etc, they won't come over. When you don't have customers, go stand near the entrance of your tent and smile at people. Or clean your kit. Don't get caught playing games on your cell phone. :-p

I just had to comment on this one....even though everything you said was so true for us but it was so funny, if we had a lag I had Emma paint me or vise versa and literally couldn't even get a dolphin done before someone walked in the tent. It was weird. I painted with half a dolphin on my face for hours until the parade slowed the crowd down.

You should read my run-down of our first fair. It sounds similar to what you are doing. We did 10 hours the first day, 12 hours the second (but there were about 2 hours that were slow at the beginning) and the second day doubled our money....but it was still under $600 gross. I was happy because it mostly paid for supplies but it depends completely on your line management and speed and upselling. I have to agree that $5.00 is the best (mid range designs) because full-faces are hard to get to under the 8 minute mark but I had a lot of $5.00 faces that were about 3 minutes. When I was trying to figure out what we would make I figured $1.00 per minute...and that's about what we made. (We just averaged breaks...the few we had...in) And honestly, even the adults had a hard time sitting patiently for 8 minutes. They want it quick.

Good luck! I'm excited to hear a report afterwards.

D.

Thank you everyone for your input and advice the festival was this past weekend and overall I can't complain for my first time. Here's how it went:

First off the very first day was not a hit at all. The weather was terrible (we were in the hills) and our location was in the back with the kiddie area which was free... THey offered us a free booth, but next time I'd rather pay for a booth near the center of the festival. Also, there was a income tax booth offering free facepainting for kids if their parents stopped in a listened to their presentation. (the face painting was little cheek art that looked so terrible) The booth was located in a prime area and when people when people visited the help booth to ask where face painting was they geared them toward the free booth that was right in front of them. Later on in the day people would say "We found you, they told us you were gone for the day"... the free painters packed up at about two. The good thing was people would say I was looking for the good face painter I've seen kids running around with great designs and when I went to the booth up front they said they weren't doing full designs so they would come and hunt for me. I don't like that they had to hunt for me though.

On day two after working out the kinks and making sure the help booth knew we were the facepainters they accepted not the free booth, they made signs directing people to us. The weather was superb and I sat down for all of one hour the whole event. Compared to the first day that's amazing. The first day I probably painted 35 faces all day and the second day I couldn't even count but I had a profit of close to $1200 so I'm guessing I did close to 80 faces that day and I closed early because of another event.

This was my first festival and overall I'm very happy, I learned alot and have another festival this weekend and I will be sure to make sure people know where I'm located and I need much better picutres. Does anyone have any suggestions on a really great display and also how to make the line move faster I thought of having small pictures of the different designs outside my booth so when the kid decided they could grab it and hand it to me that way once they got in the chair they didn't have to point to the design they choose or take another three minutes deciding three minutes could have been another half face design.

I'll try to post a pic of my set up and let me know what you think and ways of improving.
Sorry so long