Kids Discos

[KrazyKaz 0]

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I know how much I charge (£100), but am beginning to wonder if I am overpricing myself out of the market.

Before I started, I rang around, got some quotes, took an average,and there was my price.

I give birthday boy/girl a goodie bag with a few bits in. I do the games and provide token prizes, and sweets for all the guests.

My roadie and myself show the kids the dance moves, and generally everyone has a great time.

 

I seem to have had a few enquiries, but no bookings lately. I do have a booking for Halloween but that it.

 

Somebody I work with has booked a Halloween Disco (I was already booked) and they are paying £55.

A friend has phoned up a local DJ and got a quote for a 3hr gig for £70 (price includes bubble machine, lights, party games)

 

How can I compete with that? Well I can't!

 

There is equipment insurance, PLI, music etc. that all has to be paid somehow!

 

What do you reckon?

 

Does price really reflect on area?

 

I booked a disco 5 years ago for my daughter when she was 7 and he charged £100 then, so on reflection, I thought my price was good, now I wonder what to do for the best.

[scotty 0]

I used to do kids parties years ago and still do if people are prepared to pay, I now do mainly corporate and weddings. As for pricing mine starts at £200 and depending on what package / hours they want can go upto £500 im in the Northwest btw. If I was you I would be looking to attract the corporate / hotel / wedding clients if you are concerned about money.

 

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[ChrisPointon 0]

£80 for upto 2 hours, complete with snow machine and 100 glowsticks, although full rate for a Saturday night.

 

We do have competition from a pub a few miles away which basically has a kids corner for birthdays etc where they have the soft play area, disco gear built in and offer a package including hire of the room, disco and novelties for around £120 with the added advantage that the parents can pay extra for fast food for the kids inhouse, and the adults can also have a meal or drink in the pub as well whilst their kids are chaperoned, we can't really compete with that all in solution on a mobile basis hence £80.

 

With more and more pubs taking the family approach and some chains even offering Kids Entertainers during peak times like Sunday Lunchtime, and the cost of Kids Parties seemingly being squeezed, perhaps you should perhaps consider looking into the Wedding and Functions Market?, even if it means just going along to a few gigs with another DJ from the forum to gain confidence?, and then you can afford to take the kids parties on your terms and at your price and not lose out each time should the client go for the cheaper option?

[YourBigEvent 0]

Don't do kids parties.

[spinner 0]

QUOTE (KrazyKaz @ Oct 20 2005, 12:29 PM)

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/rolleyes.gif I know how much I charge (£100), but am beginning to wonder if I am overpricing myself out of the market. Before I started, I rang around, got some quotes, took an average,and there was my price. I give birthday boy/girl a goodie bag with a few bits in. I do the games and provide token prizes, and sweets for all the guests. My roadie and myself show the kids the dance moves, and generally everyone has a great time. I seem to have had a few enquiries, but no bookings lately. I do have a booking for Halloween but that it. Somebody I work with has booked a Halloween Disco (I was already booked) and they are paying £55. A friend has phoned up a local DJ and got a quote for a 3hr gig for £70 (price includes bubble machine, lights, party games) How can I compete with that? Well I can't! There is equipment insurance, PLI, music etc. that all has to be paid somehow! What do you reckon? Does price really reflect on area? I booked a disco 5 years ago for my daughter when she was 7 and he charged £100 then, so on reflection, I thought my price was good, now I wonder what to do for the best.

A lot does depends on what you consider "the market" to be and the expectations of the people contacting you.

 

I have never done childrens' parties, not least because they sound like hard work to me!!

 

For the amount of time you are putting in and what you do I consider £100 a very reasonable figure for the sort of function you describe.

 

As long as you present yourself in the right way then if enquiries come from the right market segment you'll get your price, provided it's not over the top.

 

Remember Mike Moore's post a while back when he said that he could not convert a fairly large proportion of his enquiries because of price but those he did more than made up for it?

 

The area will have some bearing on price but one would expect to pay more for lunch at say, The Marriott Hotel in Huntingdon than from Bunters Burger Bar in Huntingdon High Street. The Marriott lunches are relatively expensive for soup and sandwiches, but that's not the point.

 

I know for a fact that I charge twice as much as some other operators in this area, often at the same venues. So it can be done

 

 

What methods do you use to attract enquiries?

 

[Kingy 0]

I personally don't do them, however a friend of mine does them during the week or afternoons for £80 a throw, usually no more than 2 hours. He is in Telford.

[Tonsk 0]

I ticked the 100-150, although generally they are 100 more than 150...

 

Some people do ask why I'm more expensive than others, and others are very happy to pay thinkin theyhave a bargain!!

 

It all comes down to how you market yourself.. I organise everything so that the adults can just relax (obviously they sort the food etc out, but the rest is me)...

 

Sell the parents that and its an easy deal.... I too offer a kids toy for the bday person, plus foam, sweets/glowsticks etc...

[Wayno 0]

i started out by doing kids parties but for the last five years tried to avoid them!, cant handle the screaming and the the skidding on knees towards my gear!

 

This said i done a party for my brother in laws ex's daughters 5th party last sunday, although not really my bag i said i'd do it, i charged 75 for two hours and have two more bookings already from that gig.

 

I think £100 for a couple of hours is a small price to pay considering what you are providing. I Know if i have anymore come in I'll be charging at least £100 and mileage, if they want me they want me, not a bad little earner if you can get a saturday and a sunday gig alongside the main work, a lot of rebull tho methinks!

Edited July 18, 2007 by Wayno

[Mattaious 0]

I think £100 is pretty good,

Round here most charge around £120+

 

When i was working i charged no less that £100 and still got plenty of work, But like most here and yourself, i always ad glowsticks and a few goodies to give away

 

 

[EdBray 0]

Only done one, that was a Christmas party for an after school playgroup, around 40 kids between the ages of 8 and 11. 2.5 hours and I charged £80 on a Sunday afternoon.

[Andy Westcott 0]

Although I went for the 75 - 100 option, I have done kids' parties for 60, although I'm looking at setting it at 80 now. Trouble is, if you overcharge, in my experience they won't bother with a disco at all and will do something else.

 

As I operate part-time, I can fit the odd kids' disco in without a problem and even though the money isn't great, it does add to the year total and in any case the parties are a welcome change to 'adult' parties - usually pretty good fun and stress free. smile icon

[Steve_Mitchell 0]

My option wasn`t there.....I would go for £1000 to put them off. :protest: sprogs...

[brianmole 0]

So, it seems most people under charge for kids discos, so there must be a reason. What are the actual costs to you of doing a kids disco? Are you doing them as a loss leader? If you are, are the referrals you get mainly kids discos too?

 

What is the business case for doing this work, is it viable?

[Dale King 0]

I agree with Steve, minimum £1000.

 

Kids - urgh..................

[spinner 0]

So, it seems most people under charge for kids discos, so there must be a reason. What are the actual costs to you of doing a kids disco? Are you doing them as a loss leader? If you are, are the referrals you get mainly kids discos too?

 

What is the business case for doing this work, is it viable?

 

 

It might be if you could do 6 per day.

[Andy Westcott 0]

The cost of doing kids' discos?

Assuming you are also doing other types of disco, these can be accommodated as 'extras' for little more expense than the travelling costs. Much of the music you will already have, and the short duration means less life off the projector bulbs, if you analyse your expenses down to that degree of accuracy. £80 for 1.5 hours performance is reasonable to me, allowing for the expenses, and I can still show a worthwhile profit.

 

As I said earlier, if you set the price too high, they simply won't hire a disco and will go for another option such as swimming, cinema or suchlike - there is no option for going up-market with this one, unless you can offer more options such as a magician's show or similar.

 

That's the situation around here, in any case. smile icon

[exbutlinred82 0]

The cost of doing kids' discos?

Assuming you are also doing other types of disco, these can be accommodated as 'extras' for little more expense than the travelling costs. Much of the music you will already have, and the short duration means less life off the projector bulbs, if you analyse your expenses down to that degree of accuracy. £80 for 1.5 hours performance is reasonable to me, allowing for the expenses, and I can still show a worthwhile profit.

 

As I said earlier, if you set the price too high, they simply won't hire a disco and will go for another option such as swimming, cinema or suchlike - there is no option for going up-market with this one, unless you can offer more options such as a magician's show or similar.

 

That's the situation around here, in any case. smile icon

 

I'm with Hot Fusion on this one....however I may have a different case.

 

 

I am a reisdent DJ at a pub/club 30 yards from where I live.Very often I can get a Fri evening Sat evening and a definate Sun evening from the venue.If I can top it up with 2 or 3 kidz parties then i'm laughing....no set up hassle.

 

Consequently I don't charge a lot...have a large following.....and everyones happy judging by the comments I get.

 

Would like to swap some ideas though.Have a formidable line up including Limbo,Busted (inflatable guitars etc),Laughing Policeman,Tell Me Ma.Always feel there is room for improvement tho...any ideas??

 

Never considered the cost of doing a kids disco.....often consider the cost of not doing them tho.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Danno13 0]

As I said earlier, if you set the price too high, they simply won't hire a disco and will go for another option such as swimming, cinema or suchlike

 

Going to the cinema.. £4 per child.. so in the region of £200 - 400

 

Swimming.. £2 per child.. £100 - 200.

 

So we're still too cheap.

 

I would estimate my expenses as being around £8k each year, and thats very conservative. So if i do 100 gigs in a year, thats £80 per gig.. so anything less than say £120 isn't worthwhile for a kids party.

 

That said, if they are on sundays or afternoons when I wouldn't normally be working then its an extra gig I wouldn't have and brings the expense per gig down..

 

Friday and Saturday nights are a different story, you'd have to look at it from a "what could I be earning from a wedding/adult disco" point of view..

 

 

[brianmole 0]

The cost of doing kids' discos?

Assuming you are also doing other types of disco, these can be accommodated as 'extras' for little more expense than the travelling costs. Much of the music you will already have, and the short duration means less life off the projector bulbs, if you analyse your expenses down to that degree of accuracy. £80 for 1.5 hours performance is reasonable to me, allowing for the expenses, and I can still show a worthwhile profit.

 

As I said earlier, if you set the price too high, they simply won't hire a disco and will go for another option such as swimming, cinema or suchlike - there is no option for going up-market with this one, unless you can offer more options such as a magician's show or similar.

 

That's the situation around here, in any case. smile icon

So you don't factor in depreciation of you kit, extra music, your hourly rate, roadies rate, insurances, vehicle running costs, equipment maintenance, etc.. for each gig including childrens parties - you just do this for the adult parties right?

[Paul Smith 0]

I'm just finalising my accounts for last year and taking all expenses inc new equipment, car, phone, insurance, sundries (inc music), postage, stationery etc then dividing by the number of gigs = £153.57 per gig :fright:

 

Ok it was an exceptional year with over £7,000 spent on new equipment and car repairs in just one month but it shows that going out for even £150 a night is not a feasible option for me.

 

Edit: I've just dug out the previous years' figures where there were no exceptional purchases / expenses and it works out at £118.26 per gig.

[Andy Westcott 0]

Quote Danno:

"Going to the cinema.. £4 per child.. so in the region of £200 - 400"

You got any kids of that age??

 

This isn't what happens.

It would just be a handful of the closest friends who would be invited to the cinema or swimming - £4.00 a head, multiplied by 4 or 5 - definately cheaper. This is what they do in practice.

 

Brian:

Depreciation happens anyhow, regardless how many gigs you do. Same with insurance costs, PAT certification, vehicle running costs etc; Better to get as many gigs in within that timeframe as you can, as long as each gig is profitable in its own right.

 

No need for extra music, as you'd have that anyhow, right? If not, don't do kids' parties.

All you need to factor in for a real world view of the real costs, are the immediate expenses relating to just that gig - fuel, equipment wear & tear perhaps, and roadie costs if you use one. Judge profitability based on this, not some statistically generated nonesense.

 

There seems to be too much emphasis on business analysis these days, and 'average cost of gig' doesn't tell the whole story. In my case, if I didn't do kids' parties, my average cost per gig would be rather higher.

 

Gimme more kids' parties - they are great fun!!

[Paul Smith 0]

There seems to be too much emphasis on business analysis these days, and 'average cost of gig' doesn't tell the whole story.

 

When DJing is your main source of income (or if you aspire to make it so) then analysis becomes an important part of, well running it as a business, along with marketing and all those other titles that major companies have separate departments for - you can't ignore them smile icon

 

not some statistically generated nonesense.

:shrug:

[Andy Westcott 0]

Statistically generated nonesense - it is though, isn't it?

There's a guy at my place of work (warehouse) who is forever coming up with silly statistics such as "80% of first locations are filled with stock." Doesn't help us when goods from the 20% empty ones are required...

 

All very well to say each gig costs 'X' pounds, based on dividing the total expenses by the number of gigs, but this gives no clue as to the true costs of a single disco - see my point, simple though it is?

 

A DJ may do 30 wedding type funtions in a year, but the cost of one of these in real terms is probably far greater, both in travelling, equipment usage and personal time spent, than a 1.5 hour kid's party, yet the party gets the same (unfair) share of the analysed expense as the wedding. This is what I'm getting at.

 

From this point of view, a kid's disco mid-week is a good income booster, and will help lower your average cost per disco, if that's the way you like to look at it.

 

Personally, I divide my analysis into two departments - the expenses I am liable for whether I perform a gig or not (insurance, PAT, music, transport) and those expenses I incur directly as a result of the gig - mainly fuel, and a proportion of the consumables, such as light bulbs.

 

Gives a better picture, in my opinion, and shows kids' parties (mid-week) as a viable source of additional income, even when set at £80 or so.

[Paul Smith 0]

Statistically generated nonesense - it is though, isn't it?

 

I disagree - of course there are other ways of coming up with costs but you still need to have a starting figure to determine what to charge to make a liveable profit.

 

There are many good DJs who don't grasp this and are going out for less than they are worth.

 

I think that DJs are some of the worst for notoriously under-estimating their value and the figures I quoted were to try and put this into perspective. OK it may be nonsense to you but my method works for me, allowing me to upgrade equipment as & when required and to make a liveable wage from it too smile icon

 

I would also argue that an average DJ with a good business head can make more of a success in this industry than a good DJ without one :shrug:

[Andy Westcott 0]

Quote Paul:

"I would also argue that an average DJ with a good business head can make more of a success in this industry than a good DJ without one."

 

That I must agree with.