[Publib] Birthday parties @ the library (for a fee)

[Abigail Goben]

To give you an idea on things from a "for profit" perspective--I used to
work for a preschool program that offered birthday parties.

We charged approximately $250 for a basic 75 minute party and around $350
for a 90 minute party--which included pizza for the kids.  That was for up
to 16 children and we "required" one adult per child.

For the basic party:
We provided:
A teacher to lead activities in the play area (we had a gymnasium like area)

The space
We did set up and clean up
Knife to cut the cake (sounds simple but you'd be amazed how many people
forget)

Host provided:
Birthday cake
Paper goods
Goody bags
Anything else they wanted that day --however, they could not provide large
quantities of other food--finger food was fine but not pizza and subs, etc.

For the "Deluxe Party":
We provided:
A teacher to lead activities
The space
Set up and clean up
Paper goods (plastic table cloths, plates, napkins, forks, cups)
Pizza for the kids (parents could order extra pizza for the adults--we
provided two cheese pies)
Apple juice for kids/soda for the adults
Goody bags
Knife to cut the cake

Host provided:
Birthday cake
Anything extra they wanted that day--for this, if they wanted to bring in
lots of other food we added a $25 surcharge for clean up and required that
it come from a restaurant.

Things to keep in mind:
Often parents will assume no responsibility for their child--expecting the
"teacher" to watch 20 children at once
Telling parents that their "count" MUST include siblings is a
necessity--otherwise you have 16 "guests" and 14 siblings...and two pizzas
and one of you
Provide staffing based on how many people will attend--and don't hesitate to
charge parents more (an extra teacher was $125--and worth EVERY penny!)
Outside performers--policies therein.  Musicians are usually fine, snake
charmers not so much
We only did parties through a child's 5th year

If anyone has any further questions on the orchestration therein of said
parties--let me know, it was a great way to make extra money for the
teachers who did them (and I was one of them!)



-- 
Abigail Goben, MLS
abigailgoben at gmail.com
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