Face Painting $35 an hour????

Sometimes parents complain about prices......if they think its too much the kid wanders off sad...don't let that kid walk away without a sticker at the VERY LEAST...or a puff of sparkles.

...let me remind everyone.....it's not always about the money.
Have a heart <3

I wouldn't assume everyone who says they don't have any money actually don't.
The amount of parents that have moeny for beer but not for face painting is discusting.
That said.... my daughters asks for things constantly.....
I don't always have the time to explain why we don't have time to stop or that I told her she could have only three things 5 rides ago....
Sometimes it's just easier to say _" I don't have any money for that"... meaning I need to get at an ATM.
There was a story I read here about a spanish family who thought they could get out of paying if they didn't speak English.... as it turns out one of the painters spoke spanish... but the point still stands.
I do agree if they are a poor family to off the kid something - maybe bubbles or something - but I did this once and then the kid went and got his friends and brothers and cousins to come get the free bubbles.
I do have a heart but unfortunately it has been taken advantage of too much to be offering freebies.

I hear ya on that one...but I'll ALWAYS give them something, cuz I don't know which kids are poor, or not poor. SO everyone gets something. ....but they only get ONE! That's why I carry lots.
...and if the parents dont have time...they will have time for a free sticker that will shut up the kid for the ride home hahaha.

Hahahaha - ahhhh so true!

So I started at $60/2 hrs for kid's bday parties...since my last one I've purchased new product and expanded my other supplies to include more FX and fun stuff...... so when someone email, I told them it was $75 for the 1st hour and $5/face after that,....seems reasonable to me...i dunno.

I am a new face painter, and I started for my first month at $25 an hour for bday parties, and then went to $35 an hour after that. My bigger gigs(corporate or large events) I do $50 an hour. So far I have been very successful in both bday parties and corporate events. I fear raising my prices may make it more unreachable for the lower-middleclass families to hire me, although it would be nice to get paid more. But then again I am only in my 4th month of business, so things will probably change eventually. God has really blessed my business and I am a busy busy girl! YaY!!

Well... I don`t worry about whether I`m affordable... I worry about paying my bills, covering my costs, groceries, things like that. As long as I book most of the corporate inquiries and about 30% of the private parties that inquire I`m happy.

I`m a business not a charity.

Well, again I am new and don't want to charge top dollar for newbie work either, maybe when my work is better I will charge more. But also my job is just extra cash for my family as we rely for everything else on my husbands salary, so there is a big difference for the face painters that rely solely on their own income. Don't feel like I am charity either, we have made really good money this summer, pretty happy right now!

scgilland, just make sure you aren't painting less then $5 a face

My rates are low if you base them on hours, but I paint 10 faces for $50. That's for two hours, if they want more kids it's more, if they want more time, that's more Most parties, I don't leave with less then $100.

October will be a yr since I've been getting paid to paint so I'll be going up on my rates then

While I can understand setting your rates low to reflect your perceived skillset, I can't understand setting them so low that it effects the perceived value of face painting within your demographic. As Shannon said, I'm not interested in being a charity painter. As a wise painter once told me, if you're undercutting established professionals expect to be very busy...and alone. Everyone looking to save a buck will flock to the cheapest painter, certainly...but then when that painter attempts to raise rates those same customers will just try to find a cheaper painter elsewhere...why not...they've been trained to expect it.

Sorry, that's just not my bag. I'd rather work a couple of 2-hour birthday party and make as much (and often more) than the gals here who have the lowball rates make working the whole weekend...but that's just me and my area will support those rates. I suppose that the glass-half-full approach would be to say that there is something for everyone...

I don't think there is another professional face painter within 1 1/2 to 2 hrs from me. I don't think I'm under cutting anyone LOL Now, I've seen several painters at festivals in my area that use the Walmart paint and charge a $1. I charge $5 a face.

So there you go

If I lived in a big city with other painters, I'd charge what the going rate is.

It doesn't seam ethical to undercut the market, but the big "Wally" in the U.S. did it to local business by pricing $0.10 overhead and most of us don't think twice about shopping there. I don't worry about what others are charging but prefer to build my business by marketing and pricing to the type of clients I want to attract. Also, I believe that in most states of the U.S. "price fixing" is considered illegal and telling a person what to charge to keep the market price higher may be considered a form of this. Don't quote me please but check into it before doing that.

I don't think that's what is going on here. The point that is trying to be made is that we cannot undercut our work value. It takes our time, fuel, energy, materials, creativity, marketing tools, and much more to make our business thrive. In todays economy, and the way fuel prices are these days, it costs to get around! If you're charging $35 an hour, not only is the face painting business around you being hurt, but you are losing in the long run. There's no way to justify the $35 in my opinion. Ok, let's say I have a job 20 miles from my home. I load up my clean supplies that I purchased with my hard earned money, cleaned and sanitized with water and soap purchased with my hard earned money. I drive my car to the event and use up my expensive fuel, get out of the car and make sure my costume that was purchased with hard earned money is nice and tidy, and entertain kids for 2 hours and hopefully avoid the need to use my Liability insurance which again, was purchased with my hard earned cash.... you see? All that is worth way more than $35 an hour if you ask me. And after the event???? Tear down, drive away, unload, clean & sanitize... If you think about it, we do so much more than paint! That to me is worth far more than $35 an hour. IMO. I am in no way intending to put anyone down. I am just another painter wanting to see us succeed in our business that in most cases pays our bills (well, mine anyway!).

Happy Painting!

Like many of the other painters on this forum, there are no other painters for many hours away from me. Well, not ones that use professional paints, anyway. I am not undercutting anyone, and if I want to paint at all, I know I have to price myself much lower than those of you who live in cities with competition. I know that I am perceived (and it is fine) as a "hobby" painter. I want one day to do this as a business, even if it is just supplemental income.

I work in a grocery store in northern Michigan. Everyone knows that Michigan is one of the hardest hit states as far as the economy goes. I see parents just trying to put together a cake and ice cream for their children's birthdays. I would love these kdis to be able to have cake, ice cream, some friends over, AND face paintng if it is possible. I have never even set a specific price and I try to talk to the parents about what they can afford, as the parties I've done so far have been for friends and I know the situations. I do let them know what painters charge in the city, so they know what the service is worth. There would be absolutely no sense in me having my supplies and never painting because I could not make it affordable where I live. This is something that I LOVE to do and I have invested MY money into it so that I can do it. I realize if there was competition here, I would have to raise my rates comparatively and I would not undercut, but I would also make sure that kids who were in lower income brackets could have fun too.