Thinking about face painting at the mall... help!

Well, scgilland inspired me to email my local mall to ask about setting up a face painting area. I was thinking about doing 3 weekends in a row (I can't do weekdays because I work full-time) in late March, early April.

I don't have ANY bookings yet for March or April, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to get my name out there and do something productive with my weekends.

She said she usually charges $300 a weekend, but if I donate $1 per face to the Easter Seals, she'll only charge me $150 a weekend. So it'd be $450 for 3 weekends (Saturdays & Sundays). I'd be charging $3 for cheek art, $5 for full-faces and $8 for bling masks.

Do you think it's a good idea to go for it?

Also... since I think it might be tricky to keep track of every person I paint (and thus take $1 off each face), should I just offer a percentage instead? Maybe 15%?

I'm so clueless at this.

$150 a weekend is an amazing price. I would say go for it. It is highly likely that the 15% will be much more than what you would be donating if you did $1 per face, so she will probably agree to it. It is a very reasonable amount to donate.

Consider upping your prices for the full face designs, though. I would charge $6 or $7, then a $9 or $10 for the bling mask.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

pjhamel wrote:$150 a weekend is an amazing price. I would say go for it. It is highly likely that the 15% will be much more than what you would be donating if you did $1 per face, so she will probably agree to it. It is a very reasonable amount to donate.

Consider upping your prices for the full face designs, though. I would charge $6 or $7, then a $9 or $10 for the bling mask.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

15% actually works out to a little LESS than a dollar per face. A dollar off of $5 is actually 20%. So I think I'll try 15% first to see if she'll go for it.

Sorry. I roughly calculated that based on the prices I suggested. I had originally typed the price suggestion first, but then reworded it so it would look better. Should have clarified.

Either way, it is a great opportunity.

Awesome! Well I emailed her back... here's hoping!

I think it sounds great too!

I'm following her lead too and am in contact with two of our local malls now to see about getting an RMU for 3-4 weekends early summer. The price here is almost the same for just one weekend but I think adding the green screen photos will be a big boost and will make it profitable... if only slightly so.

The exposure is worth the risk for me just starting out.

Fingers crossed for ya!