End of the Line.

Have you ever had a long line, and had to end it before you painted all the faces?
How'd you do it?
I've only had one gig like that, but I wasn't sure how to, and ended up staying WAY later than planned, in order to finish all the faces.
So, I'm just simply asking,
How do you end the line if there are still people in it?

Ony EVERY time I paint... LOL. I have signs that I put up annoucing the times, how long each painting takes, etc. Check out my resources by following the link in my signature as I have samples of my signs there.

I will let the line know about half an hour before quitting time that I'll only be able to paint another 6 or so. Period, that's it, no exceptions. I spent too many years doing it differently (stamping hands, etc.) and staying to paint "to the end of the line" for no pay. Now that I've got the signs figured out it works well and I can leave on time.

My signs clearly say face painting ends at, say, 4 p.m. At 3:30 I annouce to the line to remind them... they chose to line up and wait, and I am not responsible for that choice (it clearly says so on the signs!)

And I won't be bribed....

Haha, I'm sure you get some every time, you're a GREAT painter!
That seems likes a great idea too, I might try it.
Thanks!

Shannon Fennell wrote:
And I won't be bribed....

are you sure..?
LOL

I do something similar to what Shannon does. At events, I give every person a numbered sticker (it functions as my release form - pretty nifty), and I only give out as many stickers as I KNOW that I have time to paint in the given time frame. I have signs that CLEARLY (as in in BIG letters) state that if we finish all of the children with stickers before X time, that we will begin painting children without stickers, and that people are welcome to wait and see if they can be painted, but that the child in our chairs at X time will be the LAST child painted - NO EXCEPTIONS.

At about an hour before ending time, I make an announcement reminding everyone that I'm stopping in 1 hour. At 30 minutes, I make the same announcement. At 15 minutes, I make the same announcement, and I do so after every child from then on out. As the last child hops in my chair, I ask the child to wait a moment, I turn to the crowd, and let them know that this is the last child, thank them for waiting, and tell them where they can find me next.

I've had a couple bad run-ins with drunk parents (my contract now requires security at these events) but, in general, people have been very understanding because I tell them up front that they're, in essence, waiting at their own risk. Many of those same people come to my next event EARLY to make sure they get painted.