Worried about pricing... :S

Hey guys! I just got another potential booking... this is awesome! Since you've all been so wonderfully helpful so far, maybe you could help me formulate pricing for this email:

"I am opening a new licensed day care center and will be having an open house. I thought it might be fun to have you do some face painting for the kids. As this is a new venture and I am on a tight budget, I am wondering about your pricing. Do you charge an hourly rate or by the face? Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated!"

Should I stick with the $60 per hour price, or offer her any other special deals?

I stay stick to your rate, and if you DO lower it- make sure there is a "reason" ie- "I charge $60 /hr, but if you want to take 2 hours I can give you a courtesy discount since you are a new business person."

leapinglizards wrote:I stay stick to your rate, and if you DO lower it- make sure there is a "reason" ie- "I charge $60 /hr, but if you want to take 2 hours I can give you a courtesy discount since you are a new business person."

I totally agree. Maybe you can give a discount if it is on a weekday or if they are a member of some organization, or maybe as an "introductory rate."

Yep...stick to the hourly rate. Say $60 for the first hour and $50 for each hour booked after. That way is she only books 1 hour...you get the full rate. Any hour after is discounted and a great adventage to her. It is always good to get in with local daycares. Alot of parents with little ones. A great place to hand out postcard sized business cards with maybe a 10% discount on their first booking with the card presented at time of booking.
A great location for future potential clients and bookings. And a lot of those parents have businesses or work places that are having Christmas parties or company picnics. Make sure to include you do corporate events on your handouts.

I only recently started charging by the hour for parties, and you should see the faces when I tell them $60 per hour. I say, that's actually pretty low. But in my area (Mayberry RFD), I'm really the only facepainter (excluding cheerleaders) so I had to research what other facepainters were charging in surrounding metro areas, and then drop it down. I'm still trying to find a happy rate for rural Northeastern NC.

I like the idea of charging per face for birthday parties because, they often have way more kids than they tell you, and the adults are waiting for all the kids to be done, and then ask..."Is it our turn?". That would fix that, and an extra charge for any over that number. So if they plan for 25 guests, just charge, say, $100.00 and $5 for any on the spot extras. I think $4 is good because some only want the smaller designs which I charge $3 for, and some want the masks of full faces, which are $5, or $8, so I think $4 per face is very reasonable.

Happy Painting!

I charge per kid $5.oo with a minimum of 10 kids, so $50.oo dollars an hour for 10 kids (usually takes more time for me b/c I am kinda slow) but works for me perfect, I am afraid if I do an hourly rate I have to do more things per child like face + tattoo+ balloon etc.

I charge by the hour and have never had anyone question my rates. I always make a point of asking them how many guests are expected and then direct them in how much time they will need based upon my speed. I also have 2 hr minimum and not once has anyone ever balked at that either.

All my events are a minimum of 2 hours with no less than 2 services.

I haven't done a 1 hr party since Jan. of this year, and that was only because I ran a winter promotion of a flat rate 1hr party for $100 but you had to live within 5 miles of my home and no full faces if they wished to accomodate a few more guest to be painted.

I here time and time again from clients you were worth every cent. But this not going to be the same for everyone based upon geographic location. I mean it's just a given that things in the northeast especially the tri-state area NY NJ Conn. are more expensive. It's just more expensive to live here which is why I think people are more accustomed to shelling out money for the things they want.

I love the idea of not saying it's by the hour but rather by the party for up to 'so many' kids... and then an amount over that

I'll have to see if I can work it in to my website and change the current hourly details I have up there now - it totally makes sense that people might be comparing the $65 an hour to their job which probably pays a lot less if they just looked at the hourly rate...

thanks!!!

helena wrote:I love the idea of not saying it's by the hour but rather by the party for up to 'so many' kids... and then an amount over that

I'll have to see if I can work it in to my website and change the current hourly details I have up there now - it totally makes sense that people might be comparing the $65 an hour to their job which probably pays a lot less if they just looked at the hourly rate...

thanks!!!

The only tricky part of that is remember to keep a tally while you paint! I can't believe how many times I've already done 4-5 faces and I've totally forgot to even take a notepad out... so I have to spend a couple minutes trying to remember all the designs I just did!

I know what you mean; when I first started face painting I did parties ppf too and always forgot how many I'd actually done (especially when the adults got into the act too)

I think what I'll do is say it's "$65 for a party of up to 12 children" with an additional charge after that - that way I can count how many kids there are before I get started and it'll be easier to keep track.

I give numbers away, so if they tell me they have 10 kids I give the mom 10 numbers and let her decide if somebody can have more than 1 design, sometimes moms wants tattoos when you already have painted 10 kids, so I tell them to go for a number or "paid".

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Scientific-All-Metal-Tally-Counter/dp/B0015T7KQ2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1320761440&sr=8-4

This works really well. You turn the knob to 0000 and then press the button to count. I put this in my apron pocket and every time a child sits down I'd discreetly reach in my pocket and press the little button. You don't even have to look at it until you're finished. I paid $10 two years ago and it still works.

MeeMee wrote:

This works really well. You turn the knob to 0000 and then press the button to count. I put this in my apron pocket and every time a child sits down I'd discreetly reach in my pocket and press the little button. You don't even have to look at it until you're finished. I paid $10 two years ago and it still works.

Oh, cool! That's such a great idea!!

I was just thinking how handy that would be but didn't know what to call it to search! Thank you! I could really use it this weekend though, any idea where to look locally? Maybe a sporting goods store?

I just checked about the tally counters and one place to get them is Walmart for about $9.93.
I am going to buy two when I see them for myself and my daughter.
It would be great to know exactly how many we do in the course of an event or even an hour. Sometimes we get so busy doing them and having fun we lose track.
I've been pricing my parties higher then the $65. and maybe that is why I don't get to many.
I find there is so much going on at a party the kids don't want to wait in line, so both of us go and it's $125. for up to 12 kids and then priced per face after wards at $8. for masks, and $4. for small designs. Max out at two hours, unless they pay for more time. The ones we have done are extremely happy with the pricing.
But I have had some ask if I would do $50. I tell them if it's local and it's only simple designs. Who wants simple designs at a birthday party?
I do occasionally do a local party for $20. and then pay per face, but, I reserve these for the ones I know who would have any party or special things at a party.
If you have someone that can rent a bouncing house and pony rides, they can afford my full rates. lol

OK! So I've kinda got this..Someone calls for me to paint at their party.there will be 10 kids there. so i can do 10 faces in 1hr so i would tell her its (how ever much i charge per face x10) and then if anymore show up its (this much per face)..my other question is when you charge for the xtra kids should it be the same as the faces that were in the 10 or a lil more? i hope this makes sense!