What Do You Charge For Entertainers? Options

[mcgray73]

We added a few services for 2010 that we are sub-contracting out. I want to make sure the pricing is in line with the specific industries. Thanks for your input.

This post has been edited by mcgray73: Feb 2 2010, 09:55 AM

[Castle Party Ren...]

We charge $175 for our balloon artists, face painters, and clowns.

Magicians are $250 - $500 depending on the "coolness" of the show.

Airbrush artists are 2 hr minimum at $150 per hour.

We try to make $50 off each subcontract.

[BounceAboutParty...]

Most of the "entertainers" I know, charge me....lol

We do face painting( $50 per hour) and clowns ($125 per show). I don't do anything else so I couldn't take the poll.

[Castle Party Ren...]

Most of the "entertainers" I know, charge me....lol

We do face painting( $50 per hour) and clowns ($125 per show). I don't do anything else so I couldn't take the poll.

Do you do face painting and clowns yourself or do you subcontract?

[mcgray73]

Come on now! There has to be more than 8 companies here that offer at least one of these services. Don't be bashful!

[parti_croatia]

what happens then when you get a clown that does magic and can twist balloons? I often do all three at a party. By far a magic clown is more attractive then a magician. For fairs and such large events then you need dedicated balloonists. I find a good balloonist (twister) can easily be on pare with a magician. I do think there are a lot of garbage clowns out there, with no real tallent. I think you will find that fee depends a lot on the actual job at hand.

[Magicbounce]

I charge $250 for a half-hour magic show/half-hour of balloons for a birthday party.

My 45-minute show is $375.

Balloon sculptures are $150/hr.



At one time I was told I was the busiest magician in the Twin Cities by the owner of Twin City Magic & Costume. He told me that if I spent the time to put clown make-up on and dress the part that I would get paid half as much.

This post has been edited by Magicbounce: Feb 3 2010, 03:23 AM

[jumpingjay]

what happens then when you get a clown that does magic and can twist balloons? I often do all three at a party. By far a magic clown is more attractive then a magician. For fairs and such large events then you need dedicated balloonists. I find a good balloonist (twister) can easily be on pare with a magician. I do think there are a lot of garbage clowns out there, with no real tallent. I think you will find that fee depends a lot on the actual job at hand.

For us, if the clown is multi-talented that means that they take their craft seriously and have taken enough time to learn to do something beside paint their face and walk around. So, with that being said, if the customer request a clown that can do multiple things (magic, face paint, ballooning, etc...) we add $50 per additiona item that they want.

$125 for our balloon artists, and clowns.
$150 for face painters,
Magicians are $200/hr for pocket magic
Airbrush at $175 per hour.

[parti_croatia]

I keep it all in house, as I do magic, balloon twisting, clown or magician and my wife face paints (very well), plus we have inflatables. A well rounded team!

I just hate it though when I go to an event, and find they have hired an additional "clown" (at shopping mall or corporate events), only to find the other clown "person" is only dressed up like one, but hasn’t a clue how to entertain. Had it happen several times over the years where all the work landed on my shoulders, all because the other clown was a fake, a bimbo, hobo bum, couldn't blow up a balloon, couldn't do the simplest of magic tricks, and worse yet couldn't paint their own face right (it's no wonder some people hate clowns).

So, always find out what a clown or performer can do before hiring them, as your reputation is at stake.

[Magicguy]

I think the price of the entertainer depends on their price to you and their quality level. Obviously birthday party entertainers will command less than corporate in most cases. We charge between $175-$300 for most of our birthday type entertainers (clowns, face painters, balloon artists and magicians). In most cases I try and get at least a 50% markup on these entertainers or our profit will be pretty flat. In corporate the whole thing shifts. I do a lot of our corporate magic shows still but I have several guys to fill in when I'm not available or the client can't foot my bill. Our guys start at around $500 for a corporate gig and go up to my fee of $1,500 for 45 min.

[BABT]

Damn Ted! You must be good! Got any video?

[Jumpers4You]

The price you charge will vary tremendously with your specific market area and the quality of work your contractors can provide. I do the face painting myself and hire out for the clowns/balloon twisters. I'd like to think that I'm a 'top of the line' painter in our area, as there is really only one other person/company who can match the quality of designs I can do, so I am by far one of the most expensive in town. However, when I was in Dallas, I charged less because there were a lot of other painters in the area who charged less and provided the same quality of work. When I hire my painters, I pay them per their skill level, which is really subjective. If you check around with your competitors, you'll see what the 'going rate' is for your area.

[parti_croatia]

Yep, $1500 for 45 minutes is amazing. Some rich dudes in your neck of the woods with money to burn. A pretty massive agent fee of 50%.

I once had an agent who charged 75% to 100% on top of my fee. I found out about it when a customer got on my case once when I didn't oblige him to work overtime (once performance time was over, plus 10 minutes) and he then showed me the bill my agent sent him. Even I was shocked. Not only skinning the customer, but me at the same time. The agent had this sob story that times where tough, and could only afford such an amount, but in actual fact the agent was scamming me. It was sad, as I had thought I went above and beyond, did a good job, but then to see the client getting charged an extra 50% to 100% was shocking, and I had to deal with the angry client face to face, calm him down while my agent sat in his office making almost as much as I was for doing hardly anything. Thankfully, all my other agents where straight with me, included their percentage on each contract 15% to 20%.