Profit at festivals

Marcela charges $25 per face in Alaska for her SUPER Bling Masks.

I posted a few samples in another thread today. She always has a line, and there are about 3 painters in her booth.

Crazy!

- Lilly Walters, 909-398-1228
Bling!! Face and Body Painting http://www.funfacepainting.com

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That's all great advice - thanks ladies.

Depends on the weather as well. We did an event that last year we made a lot and this year we were rained out. It started slow, pending weather I think scared some off, then picked up and then all of a sudden a down pour about 4 pm. We were standing in 8 inches of water in a matter of minutes, and it was still coming. Thunder, lightening, scary. We ended up making half of what we did last year. Till then we had fun and painted some great designs.
Oh, we were asked to come back for the River of Fire in Oct. as well, they searched us out. Yea!

I live in Strathroy Ontario and just started face painting as a business this year. I set up a booth at our towns yearly festival, Turkeyfest and charged $3, 5, 8 and 10 for faces. Five dollars being 1/4 face, eight 1/2 or full butterfly, and ten being full face. Strathroy is a small town and known to be difficult to make money in. My chair was rarely empty and I did the majority of $8 and $10 faces and averaged $50/hr. After paying for my spot and my assistants I still made $450 and worked 17 hours. I feel that our service is in high demand and not everyone can do it professionally so I don't under charge. Also at festivals patrons think nothing of paying $5-7 a bag for cotton candy, $4 for a candy apple or $10-20 for cheap gaudy jewelry! People expect to pay out at fairs and festivals!

lalalandentertainment wrote: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.

So how much did you charge? Wouldn't 80 full faces be about $800 dollars at the most? I had non-stop 10 hour traffic and probably about 100 people and only made $600. I want to move to your area.

D.

Ditto what Denise said!

We charge $5, $10, $15 and $20 and you'd be amazed how many people get the $15 and $20 designs!

Dawnie, can you post some pix of your $15 and $20 designs? Would love to see them compared to one of your $5 ones!!

The other question I have for those of you that get $15 and $20 for faces...are you selling these in a touristy area? Or are they your annual festivals? Just curious.

Bump! I am really curious about the answer to my and others questions.

Hi! Sorry- hubby's been out of town for 2 weeks looking for a job and I've been swamped....

Here are some examples. I don't have good pics of my bling masks yet... at the last festival we did we painted them on our selves and told them they could have something similar but they could pick the colors, etc. for $20 and it worked! I'm going to try to get some better pics if I can talk my daughters into being models for me... they're kinda over the whole face painting thing...

Example of a $5 design:


Example of a $10 design:



Example of a $15 design: My avatar

Example of a $20 design (all bling masks due to the cost of the gems):


These festivals are our regular hometown festivals. We don't really do any others at the moment due to transportation problems. We transport our castle set up with towers and everything so we have to have a van to transport everything and our van is not very reliable at the moment. Hubby is out of work so funds are extremely limited. Anyway, the people buying these are not tourists in any way... just parents, teens and kids

Let me know if you have any other questions. We used to price everything $5 and $10 (helps with making change). Then I was going to have to do a festival by myself and I didn't want to get overwhelmed with the stuff that takes longer, so I priced all of those $15, thinking nobody would want them, and they still paid for them! So when we added the bling masks we wanted to try it out so we didn't put up pictures, just wore them, and then everyone wanted them, even when we told them they were $20! So give it a try- can't hurt to ask and if you get no takers then you can go back to your regular pricing

Thank you Dawnie for your answer.

I am sorry to hear that things are a little "rough" right now. We've been there. My husband was laid off 3 years ago. Back to work now. But when it rains it pours huh... Out of work and car problems seem to go hand in hand.

Hang in there. Things will be okay and a light will be shining soon at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks, Annette! I am praying and I have faith that God will see us through. He's been providing for us for 3 months so I know He's not going to stop any time soon!

I think putting on a bling mask is brilliant! You look great. Hope for the best for you and yours...especially hubby as he looks for work.

D.

Well the street Fair for me are so expensive, $50 the inscription, $150 the space per day , $10 per each month you whant your temporary street vendor permition, $75 for the agent whio make the taxes when your temporary permition expires, it's a lot!!! I preffer to do deferent events, church fairs work good for me non subscription, and $30 the space

Wow..$20 for a bling mask!!!

Not here. The highest we can go is $12-15 and that's for a graffiti arm piece that's locked with hairspray so it'll stay for a day or more, not anything resembling a mask. It's entirely too depressed of an area. I even had one event where people balked at $5, even as they admitted the work was worth more.

Good for those that can do it!

I am not sure they would pay that here either...I live in a high unemployment county and a small town at that...but I don't mind the $5...I get or event price...BUT.....I just want to say...YOUR avatar looks like a $20 price to me...it is gorgeous!!!!

I usually have a board with $5, $10 & $15 selections.

If it is a large event, I bring help which could include a "line control" person or additional painters.

The smallest amount I have made was at a 1-day with $300 - the largest was $2800 (after all costs) for a 4-day (where I had other people helping).

There are so many variables to consider...your speed, ability, the event and its patrons, weather...wish there was a full proof profit calculator!

I was thinking of adding $20 selections as well....

Hint: It's almost always the Daddy's that will spend that much for their princesses.... lol!

We live in a pretty hard hit area of unemployment as well, but I usually offer way more $5 selections (say about 20), then maybe 10 - $10 & 10 -$15 selections. I would probably offer only 5 of the $20 selections which would be full face with extra detail, bling, etc.

I've had the Price Balkers and it's hard not to take it personally, but I think that's the nature of the beast and while sometimes it infuriates me because I'm actually WORKING for my money, not forcing you to spend yours or begging for a hand out....Grrr...sorry had to vent

Dawnie, your $5 dragon is fantastic! I need some simple ideas like that one that still looks dramatic. Good job!

I did one in July and made almost 1,000.- from 10 am till 5:30 pm by myself but I worked my butt off .I found if I keep my choices limited and do the stuff I'm really good at and if I had to I can do with my eyes closed ...... My line moves fast and it's a win win thing mom , dad and the kid is happy and you make lots of $$$$$
Oh try not to take your book with all the amazing stuff that you do it only makes ppl think and you want to do the thinking for them .lol

summers4seasons wrote:Dawnie, your $5 dragon is fantastic! I need some simple ideas like that one that still looks dramatic. Good job!

Thanks a bunch! It's super quick and easy. I can do that one in 2 minutes or less. If the line isn't long I'll add some flames and liquid bling to fancy it up but most boys don't care about the extra stuff anyway LOL

I was able to get a better pic of a $20 bling mask... I'll have some more as soon as the corn maze starts. Looks like I'll only be able to do a weekend or two of the corn maze this year since we're moving

This is done with Ben Nye powders, white and black wolfe, bling that I made myself, and liquid bling I made myself.

Very pretty Dawnie.