Not many birthday parties this summer???

I guess I got what I prayed for ! I started this summer praying for more corporate functions and that is what the good Lord blessed me with. But now that summer is wrapping up I think I need to get back in the birthday circut. Any ideas for reaching new customers? Although, I do want to take it easy during September to transistion my family back to school. Although I make more money at corporate gigs I don't like the designs I offer (quick, ususally not my best). I prefer b-days because I have more time per person and i get to do more details and more fabulous designs, but I get less money.

I know someone is going to ask why I get less/more. My corporate events are charged at a higher rate because of the additional items I bring along: line manager, additional signage, helpers, etc.

New birthday customers? Not sure.. most of my clients find my website online, saw me at a restaurant, or saw me at another birthday party... so I suppose you could leave some of your cards in Mommy-centered areas, day cares, grocery stores, starbucks, parks.. that sorta thing.

What do you charge for a line manager? I was thinking to build one into corporate contracts, that do not want to provide someone on site.

Have you researched local playgroups? I used to help manage one when my son was younger, we used meetup.com to organize and had about 60 members throughout the duration we did it. Usually the person running the playgroup has their contact info posted. Perfect target demographic! There are a bunch of them in Milwaukee listed on meetup.

I haven't had a children's birthday party in a year now...I think people keep their money in their purses! I've had some other gigs..but it's slow..

I find that I book birthdays from other birthdays. So I guess just have lots of cards on hand to send out with each guest as they go home to be more likely to get back to the next party etc. I also put a sign up saying if you would like to book your next event please email.... on the table so that the parents at the festival etc can see that you also do birthdays etc. They usually ask about prices at least that way which can be time consuming when painting a long line but if you take the time to talk to them they are more likely to book I am guessing.

I book the birthday parties at the corporate jobs. Whenever a kid wants something more elaborate than what I am offering, or if they are super excited, I always mention a bit loudly that I love doing birthday parties and will do whatever they want, add lots of bling and even match a fun theme like rockstar or fairies or super heros! Every time I do that, business cards start flying!

I hand out quite a few cards at events.

kijiji, google adwords.... most of my parties come from there. I do mostly parties... corporate is only around xmas time.