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Do you have any experience in running craft parties for children? What kind of supplies and projects do you use? How much do you charge?
I sometimes babysit for some friends and the kids have a great time making cards, xmas tree ornaments, little gifts, etc. I can keep them very busy for hours and they completely forget about watching TV or playing with their computer. I thought that I would enjoy doing craft parties to earn some extra cash, so, I would welcome your thoughts or advice.
I had a craft birthday party for my daughter last year! the kids loved it! I bought fun foam sun visors and fun foam coozies from Micheal's I think, but you can get them from joann's or just about any where. I bought fun foam stickers and glitter glue and let them go to town decorating. I bought a ton of embellishments besides stickers, big gems, pompoms, etc. they had so much fun! then we had the normal cupcakes and present opening! they did really well. I kept it to 5 8 year olds and we had alot of fun and they went home with a great gift they made themselves.
You can always find stuff to embellish at JoAnn's, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and most times they'll run it on sale. I did not spend more than $30 - which is about (maybe a little less) than I would of spent if I bought favors. You can also get cool stuff to embellish from Oriental Trading and probably buy bigger quanitites if you need to.
I have done this type of thing several times. Depending on the type of projects, I charged about $1-2 for each project, but most were pretty simple, a card or two, candy bag topper (with some cheap candy, too!), wheel a paper bag to put everything in, ornaments (at Christmas), covered notebooks, post-it notes pads, pens with stamped paper inside, clipboards, candles to give to their Mom (at Mother's day) etc. I haven't done nugget boxes, yet but think they are a great idea! The kid's tattoo sets are a big hit, usually too!
Other advice is to NOT have any of the waterproof pads available for them to use! I don't use black ink at all unless it is washable. You can stamp images out with your waterproof colored pads ahead of time and have them available for the kids to pick from to color, they LOVE this especially if they are old enough to color. I have the kid's markers, maybe some crayola markers, too and a big set of colored pencils for them to color with. Oh yes, I have a second set of pastels that both of my own kids love to use with Q-tips and versamark, too!
Clear the coffee table, if you have one, it is perfect for most kids. Get a cheap paper table cloth from the dollar store to put on all surfaces to protect them, then you don't necessarily need scrap paper under their projects.
I have a pretty big set (30?) of SU's old retired set of clam shell ink pads that are exclusively for kids to use. I got most of them on here (SCS) for great prices, around $2 each and that was years ago, so they may even be cheaper these days?! If they mess them up, I just reink them and it seems to work okay for that purpose! If you can't do that, then just designate a couple of stamps for each color of ink pad you have and don't let the kids change colors (but I have to admit this is hard to enforce without other parent helpers!) I usually don't put out the colors of SU that I know dry slow, either (like brilliant blue, for example!)
Ribbon and patterned paper you want to get rid of are great ideas for the kids to use, but have most of the cardstock/paper already cut out, they don't need to be cutting that out themselves!
If you still have some of those fancy scissors, they love them. They also love glitter, but it is messy, so you need good supervision for that to work out okay! Good luck, it is great fun to do this and your group of kids will remember it always! If I think of more, I will try to remember to post it here, too. I also had one of the kid's moms help me with coming up with the projects, so I didn't have to do it all myself!
__________________ IIII*IIII*IIII*IIII*IIII*IIII*IIII*IIII*IIII*IIII* IIII*IIII*IIII* Take only photographs, leave only footprints.
I love your ideas! I particularly like sun visors, notebooks, clipboards and candles. I can get these cheaply, buy lots of embellishments and some basic supplies and keep the kids happy for hours!
A cheap paper table cloth would be great to avoid damage to furniture.
The first children I babysat were a 5 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. They were very enthusiastic about crafting and really looked forward to the new projects I had for them. The boy used to cry when I had to go back home after hours of fun!! They were so proud to show off their creations to their friends and family! Now they’re both teenagers, but still remember the great time we had together.
I’m going to babysit two girls next month. One is 9, so it’s easy to find projects for her. The other girl is only 3, but I want her to do some craft activity as well (even though she’ll need lots of help). Any idea of something suitable for someone this young? Maybe something using stickers?
I thought I could start a very small babysitting/craft business, then expand it to include children’s parties as well. It’s just an idea at the moment, but I would be interested to know if you can think of an interesting business name? The name could have 2 or 3 words and describe the services I would offer, with no need for explanation. Any suggestions most welcome!
When I do my workshops and my kids do crafts, I actually use a flannel back table cloth from Walmart (about $3.00 CDN), then I put out newsprint from a large (11x14) pad. This way, if they press down too hard when colouring, it doesn't leave dents in the table, or if ink/paint leaks through, it just stains the table cloth.
I have hired entertainment for my kid's parties in the past and paid $200+, so I think it is possible to make some money at this! Good luck with your business!
The other girl is only 3, but I want her to do some craft activity as well (even though she�ll need lots of help). Any idea of something suitable for someone this young? Maybe something using stickers?
My almost three year old loves doing footprints and handprints. He also loves stamping and painting and stickers. One of his favorite (and super easy) crafts is to make his own flag. I just cut out a triangle from a 12X12 piece of cardstock and attach it to whatever is available as a flag pole and let him put stickers on it.
hole punches are great for kids! i just got a huge set for five bucks at a yard sale! even my three year old is amazed by them *lol*
__________________ mommy to 3 handsome boys and a beautiful little princess!! michael 11/8/96, samuel 10/25/01, brandon 6/16/05, and olivia 7/12/07 (-16)
I love your ideas! I particularly like sun visors, notebooks, clipboards and candles. I can get these cheaply, buy lots of embellishments and some basic supplies and keep the kids happy for hours!
A cheap paper table cloth would be great to avoid damage to furniture.
I use wax lined butcher paper when doing projects with my kids (even at 18 and 12, they still like dying Easter Eggs! ;) )---I don't know if it's less expensive than the cheap paper table cloth, but, you can buy those big mondo rolls at places like WalMart, and probably at Costco???
Anyway, the wax liner underneath helps if you are working with any kind of wet medium that might soak through paper.
Quote:
The first children I babysat were a 5 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. They were very enthusiastic about crafting and really looked forward to the new projects I had for them. The boy used to cry when I had to go back home after hours of fun!! They were so proud to show off their creations to their friends and family! Now they�re both teenagers, but still remember the great time we had together.
I�m going to babysit two girls next month. One is 9, so it�s easy to find projects for her. The other girl is only 3, but I want her to do some craft activity as well (even though she�ll need lots of help). Any idea of something suitable for someone this young? Maybe something using stickers?
I thought I could start a very small babysitting/craft business, then expand it to include children�s parties as well. It�s just an idea at the moment, but I would be interested to know if you can think of an interesting business name? The name could have 2 or 3 words and describe the services I would offer, with no need for explanation. Any suggestions most welcome!
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
I run a Paper Crafts Club as an afterschool activity for the kids at my elementary school. I don't know what age group you are thinking of, but these kids range in age from 8-13 years old.
Some projects:
covered old library pockets with pretty paper (Costco packs) and then stuck a pic inside and a magnet on the back
covered small notebooks
I cut old cereal boxes into a frame and then they covered it with patterned paper, and we used a few buttons on one corner
stamped votives from the dollar store
many, many, many, many cards using lots of different techniques
used the scalloped circle punch and folded 8-9 of them in half, and glued together in a 3D circle to make a Christmas ornament
stamped labels and wrapped nuggets
explosion album (a favourite of the kids)
folded old calendars into gift bags (very cute - another favourite)
shrink plastic keychains
Easter baskets (from here)
folded old cards into boxes
stamped Hallowe'en trick or treat bags
candy bags with a stamped topper
I bought the patterned paper from Costco, 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock from Michael's when the packs go on sale for $2.50, cheap "fancy" scissors, dollar store glitter glue, Micheal's $1.50 stamps, pigment ink squares, etc.
When I had a helper, we used to work with 20 kids in a group. Now that my helper is at a different school, I work with 10 kids on my own. We use paper on the table to protect the surface.
The PAC donates a small amount of money each year to us, and so I try to do each craft for less than $1.50 per child. So far, this has worked well. There have been a few projects that I would have loved to do, but have been too costly. I do use my own stamps for certain products because we don't have enough money to buy many of our own. I do haunt thrift stores and garage sales and have bought some there, as well as several inkpads (make sure they're washable). I bought the costco sized pack of baby wipes and cut them into squares. I taught them how to wipe the stamps in between inks, and they enjoy doing this. It really cut down on the amount of ink staining in other pads.
Sorry this ended up being so long, but I hope I had some helpful ideas for you. Good luck!
Last edited by scrappy knitter; 05-11-2008 at 10:32 AM..
Reason: spelling
I've done table placemats with the kids and they love it.
Each child gets an A4 sized picture to colour in (either from internet or stamped) and a coaster sized picture. Once they have finished colouring them in, I laminate them and the kids then use them when they eat their party food. They love the fact that they've made them themselves AND they can take them home.
Thanks for all your great project ideas!!! I think footprints/handprints will be a big hit with the 3 year old girl! I bet she would love it! I’ve never thought about decorating old library pockets to make magnets. Very original! Laminated placemats and coasters sound like a lovely gift for the kids to make. I would have to buy a laminator, but I guess it would be a good investment, as I can also use for my own projects like bookmarks and magnets.
I’m thinking about babysitting or doing craft parties for children aged 5 to 12. I need to test a few projects on some of my friends/neighbors’ children first and see how interested they would be. Before I start my business I would like to do some market research to find out for sure what the parents and children are looking for. I want to spend some time researching and doing my homework so I can improve my chances of succeeding.
I’m still struggling to find a name for my business – please help me!
I forgot to ask you something about the market research I intend to do:
I thought I could produce a simple and short questionnaire with a few questions for the parents. What would be best questions to ask to make the most out of the questionnaire?
I’ve got my own questions for you SCS girls (and your children!!!):
If you were a parent interested in this babysitting/parties business, what would you or your children like to ask me? What would you expect from a business like that? What would be your concerns? How can I make it more fun for the kids? How can it be better/different from other businesses?
Oriental Trading Co. is a great place to get inexpensive craft and papercrafting supplies. They have a ton of craft kits and projects to choose form. Great party favors also. Good luck!
I saw this and thought this would be cutest idea for a craft party with girls. I think I might do this for my dd's next birthday have a whole My Little Pony theme. How cute are these?
Craft parties for children
