PRICES: FP vs BT vs GT

Am about to jump into Glitter Tats with both feet - Glimmer palette on it's way, and am making my final list up for Stencil Order #1!

I'm wondering about pricing. I've seen tons of posts on festival/PPP pricing, but I haven't found anything on parties. (Maybe it's there somewhere - I've been reading up on Glitter Tats for about 4 days now and my eyes are starting to cross.)

Cost-wise, it looks like balloons cost more than face painting, but glitter tats cost more than either of those.

Right now for birthdays, my rate is the same whether you get fp, bt, or both (depends on # of kids). Corporate is one service, but the same price regardless.

My non-profit stuff is staggered so balloons are $10 more/hour than fp.

Very long winded (As usual) but my question to you is:

For hourly events, do you price GTs differently than FP? What is the difference? For those who do all 3 services, how do you price all of those?

Do you do only one service at an event? Two of them? All 3?

I'm ready to do this for PPP gigs, but need some help with hourly gigs...

Thanks in advance!

I just do a flat hourly rate, and add on whatever they want...cause if they want more, I am there longer, but I do a 2 hour minimum. I start w/whatever the birthday kiddo wants & then move onto their next choice event. I HAVE everything with me, but if they have a large/unexpected number of kids, they MAY have to extend to get all three, I tell them this upfront.
Often I may not get past 1 or 2 activities if there are a lot of dribbler-ins, but they say, oh, that's all right...we can do the others next year....

Do you not ask how many kids they're expecting? I ask for #'s then tell them what I can do in the time they want (I have a 2.0 hr min as well), and I'd rather not lug 3 kits with me if I don't have to, lol.

I just like them to know what to expect, kwim? I can paint and twist for 15 in 2.0 hours, so if they have 25 kids I say they have to pick one or the other, or extend, or hire another artist. I know the time booked is up to them, but I hate the idea of leaving when I know I won't be finished everyone - I will, because it's work, but I'd rather take my time with 25 face paintings than try to smash in as many face paintings and balloons as possible in the same amount of time...

I'm rambling

I'm pretty sure Whitney mentioned doing the same thing as you - bringing everything and doing whatever can be done in that time.

Guess I don't actually have to worry until I get my GT stuff in front of me...

It's no problem switching from FP to Glitter for me- So I just do them both at the same time according to what that child wants. First kid wants a rainbow tiger... paint that... next kid wants a dragon glitter tat... BAM. Done. I don't book additional time for it. I can service 10-12 kids an hour face painting, so that is the number I give (I can nearly double that if they only want glitter tats, but if it's combined you can't say that all the kids won't want paint so you have to stick with the lower #) Instead of having a different price for one or the other I have my first service (whatever that is FacePainting or glitter tats) at $75 per hour, and then to include the second service is an additional charge per hour. Now I realize that means I would make WAy less profit on a Glitter tat only party (because the cost to me is higher and I do more) But to be honest that hasn't come up yet. Usually people want it as an add-on service, so it has been working out well to charge it like that. Now, When You throw balloons in there you loose me. NO idea how they fit in.

My glitter tats are priced the same as face painting...
If I get a booking for a party for 10 kids and they have to have he two hour min booking then I let them know I will bring the glitter tats with me and offer those after eveyone is painted.

I have to say - my man does balloons and his set up is waaaaaaaay cheaper then mine... his skill set is basic compared to my painting skill set and his kit is smaller lighter and his job is easier - so please some one tell me WHY are balloon twisters more expensive then face painters?
I personally think they should be half as much as the balloons won't last as long as the face paint.... I also think face painting SHOULD cost more then airbrush tattoos or glitter tattoos as no artistic skill is required.... but the cost of the stencils blows all that out of proportion.

I reuse all my stencils so I don't feel the cost is so high for glitter and airbrush tattoos.... if I only used them once I probably wouldn't do it at all... I mean just for the whole bad for the enviroment thing - throwing all the stencils covers and backing away.. plus alcohol wipes etc...

I have been offering them ( glitter tats) for a year and have only done 1 pool party in that whole time.... they sell really well at ppf festivals and such - but don't get many bookings for glitter tats alone.
Whenever my man is doing airbrush tats - he will do glitter tats too.

I do one or the other, not both. Unless they book two of us... one for each. They are two different kits and I won't set-up both at the same time. By myself, I don't do both.

Same price for private parties. For public it is more expensive and I will go through WAY more in supplies.

@ Tash: How do you get the GTs to stay sticky enough to adhere to the skin after reuse? Or do you only reuse them twice or so?
Thanks.

I will offer whatever the client wants for their party -- glitter tats, FP, or balloons. I've only ever done two at a time though. It's a good way to structure my services, as some parties have fewer kids. It would be silly to say they have to book 1 hour of glitter tats, and 1 hour of balloons if there aren't enough kids there to warrant that time. I just do what I can in the amount of time I'm there. And I always get a head count before the event so I know how elaborate I can get. If there are fewer kids I just do fancier stuff, or they get multiples. I charge the same price for all 3 services.

Tash wrote:
I have to say - my man does balloons and his set up is waaaaaaaay cheaper then mine... his skill set is basic compared to my painting skill set and his kit is smaller lighter and his job is easier - so please some one tell me WHY are balloon twisters more expensive then face painters?
I personally think they should be half as much as the balloons won't last as long as the face paint.... I also think face painting SHOULD cost more then airbrush tattoos or glitter tattoos as no artistic skill is required.... but the cost of the stencils blows all that out of proportion.

No way is twisting easier!! I can seriously work up a sweat when I twist, haha.

I'll have to take a pic of my balloon set up for you...ooh, maybe I have one somewhere:

Ok, I don't have a photo of the balloons themselves, but I have a 20" electricians bag FILLED to the brim. 160's and 260s in ROYGBV Pink Black White Clear Silver Gold Brown Grey Blush. 5" rounds. 6" hearts. 321 bee bodies. Printed eyeballs, printed Spiderman heads, spider eyes, Alien heads. Link-o-loons. A few colours of 350s. A tin of scraps, a mesh bag of headbands, 2 sets of pumps, a bag of straws, A jewelry holder full of specialty balloons, design flash cards. This thing weighs a TON! Not to mention my floor pump, if needed.

I like to make sure that if every girl wants a pink balloon, that I have one for her - so I do overpack. My balloon kit - balloons only, not the kit or markers etc - probably holds $500 in balloons on average? Add everything else in and my fp and bt kits are probably pretty comparable, price-wise.



That's the display board I use for PPP (It's changed a bit now). I've had clients tell me that their balloons have lasted 2 weeks before!

And thanks for your comments, ladies. I still haven't figured out what to charge for large/public events, but I think I'll keep it the same for small private ones. Only problem is, the glitter palette won't fit in my fp kit, in case I just want to do some fancy Pashur designs!

Tash, the gt material cost vs fp artistic skill is why I'm figuring that it makes the most sense to charge the same rate. Yeah, there's less skill with gts, but the materials cost more so it kind of evens out

Kristal--like your display board, never thought of doing anything for balloons...brilliant!

Thanks Annie

For birthdays I bring along a set of flash cards on a ring, but for big events the board comes out. I HATE having to answer "What can you do?" over and over again; it wastes time and I can never remember everything! Plus a visual is great for parents who are on the fence about getting something.