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Not only does my demo charge, but when I signed on to be a demo, I was given paperwork that said I should charge workshop fees at the parties/demonstrations: if the guests make 3 cards, it's $10, and for four cards it's $12. The paperwork said we should ask our hostesses to collect the money for this from their guests upfront, as it makes them commit to attending.
:shock:
If you were given paperwork to this effect, it did not come from Stampin' Up! I am appalled that demos are charging guests to attend a workshop where they will also be expected to place an order. I, too, have been to CM parties where that is the norm, and I do not agree-- we get our supplies at a 20% discount, and claim it on our taxes!! It's called "overhead" in a business that advocates the home workshop.
Stamp Camps are different, and for those I DO charge, but I call it a "registration fee". If I charge $5, I also give them a coupon for $5 off their order of $25 or more. Encourages sales and makes the registration fee more palatable.
I, too, do a mother-daughter club thing that I'm kind of sorry I got myself into business wise. The 'spread the love of stamping' part of me loves that these mom and their girls are stamping together so I let that out weigh the business part. Plus, I am getting sales - just not the same ratio as an all customer based party would be.
However, I have been asked to come do a party that sounds similar to what you are doing. I was asked to come help kids make stuff as the craft part of a party. I did charge. This was not a workshop or a class where paying customers were ordering. This was "please come do the craft" and she offered to pay and I accepted.
Is this a parent-child card making session like regular SU class or a party with the cards as a craft?
I ask because if this is a party that is non-customer oriented, then I think charging is fair. This is a business. Would McDonalds show up for the 'come supply the food part' and not charge for the food? Would a clown show up as the entertainment and not charge for his time?
I, too, do a mother-daughter club thing that I'm kind of sorry I got myself into business wise. The 'spread the love of stamping' part of me loves that these mom and their girls are stamping together so I let that out weigh the business part. Plus, I am getting sales - just not the same ratio as an all customer based party would be.
However, I have been asked to come do a party that sounds similar to what you are doing. I was asked to come help kids make stuff as the craft part of a party. I did charge. This was not a workshop or a class where paying customers were ordering. This was "please come do the craft" and she offered to pay and I accepted.
Is this a parent-child card making session like regular SU class or a party with the cards as a craft?
I ask because if this is a party that is non-customer oriented, then I think charging is fair. This is a business. Would McDonalds show up for the 'come supply the food part' and not charge for the food? Would a clown show up as the entertainment and not charge for his time?
I, too, do a mother-daughter club thing that I'm kind of sorry I got myself into business wise. The 'spread the love of stamping' part of me loves that these mom and their girls are stamping together so I let that out weigh the business part. Plus, I am getting sales - just not the same ratio as an all customer based party would be.
However, I have been asked to come do a party that sounds similar to what you are doing. I was asked to come help kids make stuff as the craft part of a party. I did charge. This was not a workshop or a class where paying customers were ordering. This was "please come do the craft" and she offered to pay and I accepted.
Is this a parent-child card making session like regular SU class or a party with the cards as a craft?
I ask because if this is a party that is non-customer oriented, then I think charging is fair. This is a business. Would McDonalds show up for the 'come supply the food part' and not charge for the food? Would a clown show up as the entertainment and not charge for his time?
I, too, do a mother-daughter club thing that I'm kind of sorry I got myself into business wise. The 'spread the love of stamping' part of me loves that these mom and their girls are stamping together so I let that out weigh the business part. Plus, I am getting sales - just not the same ratio as an all customer based party would be.
However, I have been asked to come do a party that sounds similar to what you are doing. I was asked to come help kids make stuff as the craft part of a party. I did charge. This was not a workshop or a class where paying customers were ordering. This was "please come do the craft" and she offered to pay and I accepted.
Is this a parent-child card making session like regular SU class or a party with the cards as a craft?
I ask because if this is a party that is non-customer oriented, then I think charging is fair. This is a business. Would McDonalds show up for the 'come supply the food part' and not charge for the food? Would a clown show up as the entertainment and not charge for his time?
I'm a demo who now does the demontrations at my house. I'm the hostess. (I haven't expanded my customer base yet and my regular customers ususally don't want to book.) We make three cards and I don't charge. This is my preference. I've been to parties (or whatever you want to call them) where we watched the demo make a 12x12, a card and then we each made a card. I didn't like it so I chose to do the three cards-I think it's more fun. I've been told what I do is considered make-n-takes. I was asked to demo a comp book which I did but in that case we just did the book and 1 card and the hostess purchased the books.
If I was having a party where the kids were my "customers", I would probably charge. I would pay for my son to go to the local library/community center for craft hour so I don't see the difference in this instance. Just my two cents.
If the primary attendees are 4 & 5 year old kids, this is not really a party--this is kiddy entertainment. They won't be purchasing anything plus they are extra messy with your supplies. I don't think a demo should be expected to provide kiddy crafts free of charge. I would definately charge for something like this or probably not do it at all.
If I expect the guests to order, I do not charge them to attend. Someone else said the supplies used at a workshop are considered overhead of running the business. I agree.
Sometimes mom's will bring a daughter to a workshop. If both want to do the make and takes, that's fine. Most of the time, they make one of each make and take between them.
However, if it is a kid's "party" I charge, even if mom's attend. I don't expect any sales at these, so I have to make a little to cover supplies and time. I do birthday or teacher gift parties for children and typically charge according to what is being made. For example, if the kids make a journal, decorate a pen, and do a bookmark, I have been charging $12.00 for each child--am going up to $15.00. At the birthday parties, the mom of the birthday child pays the fee for each guest.
I don't do them for kids younger than 10. I'm just not good with the littler ones...........
If I expect the guests to order, I do not charge them to attend. Someone else said the supplies used at a workshop are considered overhead of running the business. I agree.
Sometimes mom's will bring a daughter to a workshop. If both want to do the make and takes, that's fine. Most of the time, they make one of each make and take between them.
However, if it is a kid's "party" I charge, even if mom's attend. I don't expect any sales at these, so I have to make a little to cover supplies and time. I do birthday or teacher gift parties for children and typically charge according to what is being made. For example, if the kids make a journal, decorate a pen, and do a bookmark, I have been charging $12.00 for each child--am going up to $15.00. At the birthday parties, the mom of the birthday child pays the fee for each guest.
I don't do them for kids younger than 10. I'm just not good with the littler ones...........
I see nothing wrong with charging for stamp camps and do it all the time. If I didn't, I would have been out of business long ago. There are several reasons I do: When people pay a fee to go to a class, (and that's what it is, really) you get people who are really interested in what you are doing, they are not just showing up as a favor to their friend or neighbour. Therefore, they are much more likely to become customers. It is very hard to get people to have free workshops because they don't want their friends to feel obligated to buy something. When there's a fee, they feel no obligation but I usually get sales anyway, and if I don't, at least I've been paid for my materials. Many people like to stamp and want to make cards and learn techniques but they don't want to invest in the supplies themselves. Why should I supply these products and my expertise for nothing? The other thing I find is that I demonstrate a lot of different tools and supplies and the next day they are clipping their Michaels coupons and running off to buy what they've seen at my demonstration even though I only demonstrate things we sell. How many paper cutters, heat guns and crimpers have I sold for Michaels? It's important to me that I don't feel taken advantage of. Not only that, the last time I went to a CM party I paid $18 to make one very dull scrapbook page. I do much better than that for my customers.
I see nothing wrong with charging for workshops and I do it all the time. If I didn't I would have been out of business a long time ago. Firstly, when people pay a fee to go to a class (and that's what it is, really) you get people who are really interested in what you are doing, not just showing up as a favour to their friend or neighbour. I usually have sales but, if I don't, I don't feel taken advantage of which is very important to me and at least I've been compensated for my time and materials. When you mention the word "party" around here you might as well be saying "plague" because people are totally party resistant. And why should I be the free entertainment at someone's party? I found it very difficult to get bookings for free "parties" because people don't want their friends to feel obligated to buy something and when they pay a fee - they don't. As well, many of my customers want to make cards and learn techniques but they don't want to invest in the products to do so. Why should I supply these products and my expertise for nothing? The other thing I find is that I demonstrate many tools and products and the next day they are clipping coupons and running down to Michaels to buy them. How many paper cutters, heat guns and crimpers have I sold for Michaels? Of course, I wish they'd buy from me but the items are usually cheaper to start with at Michaels and then they get 40% off, how can I blame them? And finally, the last time I went to a CM workshop, I paid $18 to make a very dull scrapbook page. I can do much better than that.
To those of you who gasp in horror at the idea of someone "charging" - I'm glad you are able to be succesful while doing it for free, I was not.
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Ummm....a little long-winded...sorry....
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This reminds me of a Creative Memories thing I went to. I was totally cought off guard when I found out that I was being charged $10.00 to just walk in the door... what did I receive? Nothing worth $10.00 to me. I got to make 1 scrapbook page and did have the ability to use her tools and 1 small sheet of stickers. I almost felt as if she was expecting orders because she then started talking about the hostess and depending on the sales from the party this is what the hostess can get... what a deal! She was also expecting us to book parties from her as well.
I did end up ordering some things, actually about $70.00 worth and also had to pay $10.00 just for going. After I got home I thought about the whole situation I ended up cancelling my order...just seemed shady to me.
Is this "normal" for CM parties? This was my 1st and last CM party.
Patti
I just went to my 1st CM "class" last night. I was charged $10 and my daughter came with me so it ended up being $20 for the "class". I use the word class very lightly because we were taught pretty much only how to use their personal paper trimmer... :shock: Ummm....I know it's difficult to teach people at all different levels (I'm an SU demo - and I told her that) but she never asked what anyone's experience with scrapbooking was and basically treated us all as if we had never even heard of it.... She saw me cutting and says you've got the hang of it....I said do you have any idea how much of this I have to cut for SU??? :shock: I was really disappointed because she didn't let us use the cutting system to cut the photos into circles or ovals - she did it for us. She didn't push the cutting system or the books...their two highest price items....instead she focused on STICKERS! :shock: Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE CM products...(not as much as SU, of course) but this consultant just didn't do it for me.
Anyhow, I'll get off my soapbox and address the question - I don't think there's anything shady with her charging the $2 per card. I would be willing to bet she probably even feels guilty about it, I know I always feel horrible taking money from people for classes. (I know my time and expertise is worth something, but I guess it's a modesty thing...) As others have said, there usually isn't much in sales when it's geared towards children. For example - I had a women from a small school call and ask if I could come in and do something with the kids. I said sure! She told me there would be teachers and parents there as well. I figured I wouldn't charge, it's a small Christian school and it would open up a lot of contacts for me. Well...I was expecting 12 - 14 kids and there were 7 and NO adults. All the time, energy, and money I put into that got me ZERO in return. I also did a mom & daughter workshop, didn't charge, and the sales barely made workshop level (I think it was $151, actually!) so it didn't even cover my gas costs to get there...
The bottom line is all demos run their businesses differently. Unless they're selling on ebay, charging 20% for shipping, or other things like that, it's pretty much within the norm.
p.s. the OP had a really great attitude towards being charged...I wish all customers were more like her!!
If I was having a party for my children and had a demo come over I would not expect her to eat up the loss in supplies. Considering ribbon, ink pads ( some demos will purchase the kids ink pads specifically for this sort of project and do not use them otherwise, that is an added expense), cardstock, embellishments and her time, this can add up. I would offer to buy the supplies that are necessary and then just ask her to demo for the kids. Still she is not getting paid for her time, as she would be in a regular party where she will have sales.
I have never heard of a clown or pony rides coming to a party and doing it for free, how is it different for a demo to charge a fee?
My children are too small for me to do a stampin up party for them, but I do a craft project for each of their birthday guests and I pay for all the craft supplies, of course, as well as decorations, cake, etc. and everything else to go with a party. Childrens parties cost money, and we invest in supplies and we invest in entertainment. If you are doing a party at Chucky Cheeses, they charge for the entertainment. Just because the demo is coming to your house to provide that , does not make any difference in the fact that this is a business she is running and you are paying for her time and for any supplies she provides, unless it is a charity event.
