Window Displays

[Kristal]

I got an email from a lovely woman who has just opened a family-friendly cafe in the high-end part of our downtown - she said she'd seen my work and thought we'd be a great fit! I went and spoke with her - she's very sweet, and the cafe has tables, a play area and a display window downstairs, and a "party space" upstairs.

She wants to book me for their NYE event (the ball drops at 7pm for the kiddies, haha) - yay! And also, she wants me to design and do a balloon display in their window. So excited! Off the top of my head, it measures about 7X4X3, and one of my ideas is a giant (6'?) palm tree with 2 or 3 multi-balloon monkeys, among some other things. I've never done something so big before, and am not sure what to charge...I'm guesstimating 3-5 hours, and 300-500 balloons. I also want to take into consideration the fact that this would also be major advertising for me (she's very into having a sign/banner in the window, and cards at the till, etc), for both parties booked at the cafe and at homes, as well as bringing in clients to their events that I'd be at, so we'd both be majorly winning - especially since they're planning on doing things for the Olympics!

We've decided that a flat rate per display is preferable to individual pieces bunched in a window together, but now I need to figure out what is fair, considering time, skill, materials, and the advertising.

Ideas? My hourly rate right now is $90/hour for private parties, and sculptures range from $3 (hippos) to $20 (birthday cakes) to $60 for a carousel with 5 horses, with pick up at my house. I know it's hard to put a price on something when you don't know what it looks like, but what would you think is appropriate/reasonable/ridiculous for a full out window display?

[Alison]

Hi Kristal.  I don't know.

If you can look on line at other people who do window displays, you might get an idea.
But what you won't know is all the little glitches that might happen in a job like that.
Like, does cold or sun come through the windows and affect your balloons if they're too close?  
(Would you be blowing them all up there, or would you have to figure out how to travel with umpteen balloons?)  

I don't mean to give you things to worry about - it's just balloons - you will figure out what to do.
I write this just to tell you Not to worry - because whatever you do, whatever you charge, will be
a learning experience.  

That being said, my OPINION is to charge $500.  People spend plenty on their parties for New Year's Eve, so this shouldn't throw her (I recently did a birthday party in a House where I overheard payment for the food platters at $1200 in cash at the door).  That not only covers your 3-5 hours (counting on 5 because you'll probably work your tail off for a new exciting venture), but it also takes into account that you might be using sooooo many balloons, that it wouldn't be overcharging if you end up working less than 5 hours.  

Like I said, that's only one person's OPINION.  Your opinion is as good as mine, but you might be too excited to think clearly?  Everybody might have ideas - some might even have Experience with such window displays.  But the bottom line is that you're responsible for whatever choice You make.  And as always, you know that we're all interested in what you do - and what the results are.

Good for You!  

[Kristal]

Thanks for your thoughts, Alison.

Haha, I would definitely not load up the car with pieces and take them there! I'll be making the display on site. I didn't think about the weather - and it's a window display, so the windows don't actually open. At this time of year, I can't imagine that the (lack of) sun would be a problem, but that's something to think about in the summer, I guess.

It's tricky figuring out pricing from asking other people in different areas, you know? Most good painters here charge $80-$150/hour, and in other areas, you're lucky to work if you charge $60/hour - you know?

I ended up talking to an amazing local twister here, and for what I wanted to twist, and my advertising/multi-contract 'situation,' he told me he'd do this display for about $200. Wait! I'm not low-balling myself here...I found out a WAY easier/faster way to do the palm tree, which also uses fewer balloons, and I'm now guesstimating my time to be about 2 hours. I'm also keeping in mind that since this is also major advertising for me in an upscale part of town (everyone has to one-up each other!), and that she's already also booked me to be at their NYE party (she also wants me around during the Olympics!), that I can afford to give her a deal, because I see this as win-win, and that I'm pretty much getting paid to advertise. As long as I make what I would during a 2 hour party (min time required to go downtown) and don't spend more time than that, it's cool. It's kind of the same as just getting hired to twist for 2 hours, but there's a bit more prep involved.

(I did a trial run yesterday - the tree was pretty darned quick, considering I'd never done one before - and WAY faster than if I'd done a weave for the trunk like I'd originally though - and it will be faster on Saturday! That was one tricky part - the other will be hanging things from the ceiling - but I don't foresee any other tricky bits happening...we'll see, eh? I'll also only be using just over 100 balloons, as opposed to the 300-500 I'd quoted her!)

(ALSO, I did tell her that if I was to create this same display for someone else, that I would be charging in the neighbourhood of $400, but because of the advertising swap/multiple bookings, I'd do this display for $200. So now she knows what I could be charging her, and now I'm sweetening the deal for multiple contracts...you know?)

I also mentioned that this was the price for THIS display - it's the first time I'll be doing something like this, and I want to have the wiggle room for the next time. She said today that she was also interested in a couple of pieces hanging in each of the other 3 windows, and I told her I'd have to charge a bit extra for that, depending on what, and in the future, I'd take the other windows into consideration when I'm planning those displays.

This is the tree/monkey trial, twisted last night. I'm going to make the leaves bigger, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with it!:

[Sherry]

Wow Kristal, I love that.  Thanks for posting the pic.  I'd love to see the finished display too. 

[GaFacepainter]

Sorry I don't have any advise about what to charge, I only do VERY basic stuff, and that to hang on the tent to draw customers, but I did have a question. When I do put some twists out to hang it doesn't seem to take long for them to shrivel and shrink. How do you keep that from happening in on something so large as the window you are going to be doing? BTW the tree and monkey look great!!

[Kristal]

Thanks! I will be taking photos as I go (hopefully - sometimes when you're "in the zone" it's hard to remember - you know!?), and will definitely post some!

How long is your "it doesn't seem to take long"? I did an event on a beach boardwalk in July, and put a monkey on a lamppost beside me. 8 hours later, it had done that matte oxidizing thing, but it hadn't shriveled/shrunk at all (minus one limb popping...haha). I mean, they WILL start to shrink, but I don't find that it happens for a day or two, depending on what balloons - 160's shrivel faster than 260's, likely because they're smaller. This piece is on Day 2 today, and was fine when I last saw it (I dropped it off at a Sr's centre I do library deliveries for - better than it just sitting around my house!). Also, they tend to shrink more if you touch them a lot - ever do that, when it's been sitting around for a couple of days, you touch the balloon and it shrinks? This display will be in a window, and there won't (hopefully!) be people touching it...I'm also suspending it from the ceiling instead of it being free-standing.

I also have a bit of a habit of not pulling the knots very tight when I tie balloons - probably from when I practice at home, and want to undo the knots again so I can add the used balloons to my scrap container, haha - and sometimes I'll do antennae or something, and the poor side with the knot will slowly deflate...whoops!

[Alison]

I feel that way too - like if I can make the knot tight enough, maybe it won't shrink?

I don't know why I'm pulling a blank here - But I'm wondering how much 100 balloons cost,
like one-hundred 260's.  Umm, I think I spend about $7 for a bag of 100 balloons.  So that's, umm,
is that 14-cents per balloon?  Lol - I'm really laughing at myself now - Obviously, if I spend
$7 for a bag of 100 balloons, that means that 100 balloons cost $7 - not bad  But I'm still
trying to figure out how much per balloon, and I don't feel like getting up for the calculator. 
So I divided 1 by 7 (100 balloons at 700cents), I get 14 cents each?  But if they're 14-cents each,
that would mean $14 for 100.  And that's wrong - what am I figuring out wrong here?

I started doing this to figure out if it's a lot to 'spend' hundreds of balloons at your gig
(I really do much more face-painting than balloons), but now I'm thinking about those
people who display huge bins of balloons each day - If the bin only costs $7, and it
looks real solid/attractive, then that would be a very reasonable expense - even if they
end up throwing out an armload at the end of the day.....

HOW MUCH DOES ONE 260 COST?  (I feel silly to be so stuck - I actually took AND PASSED Calculus a million years ago when I had to go to college - I just never used it in the work I ended up doing).

[Sherry]

I grabbed my calculator and if a bag of 100 costs $7, I'm getting 7 cents each.

[Alison]

Thank you Sherry.
Chagrinned, I feel silly.

[giggs]

I love the monkey in the tree also...thanks for posting the picture. I don't do any window displays at all I am sure that is hard with balloons popping and all. I have been clowning as my full time job for over 14 years, Pricing is tough but remember to put you name on it so it will attract other customers. Just a little sign saying balloon design by....

[GaFacepainter]

Kristal:
     Sorry for getting back to you so late, been away from the board for a while. That patricular time it was the same day, within a few hours as a matter of fact. It was full blown summer, above 100,  that is what I thought was the cause. At the time I thought it might have been the knot, but it happened to all of them.

     Thanks for the reply!

Jack

[Kristal]

My guess would be the heat, too. They don't usually go matte when it's cooler out; I guess something about the heat affects the latex...obviously, you might say

I do have a sign! It's about 12" X 18" and it's propped up in the corner of the window for everyone to see

I ended up charging $235 ($200 for the display, plus $35 for a few extra pieces to hang in other windows), which was pretty darned good for her considering how long I was there, haha, but I didn't have much else planned for the day so it was ok. She was lovely too, and I do want to work with her more, so I didn't mind.

I had a gig at the cafe the week after, and it was still going strong! Apparently she'd given away a monkey as a prize for their NYE event, and the little boy who won it was that kind of excited where you can't even move, haha! I love it.

I did take pix - but because I was on the other side of the glass, and the awning above was glass, and we were downtown, so all of the high-rises around had dozens of windows - they didn't turn out wonderfully. Glare everywhere! I will try to post some at some point, though.

[Kristal]

Picture! (Apparently I can't get a slideshow to work, here?)

[Sherry]

That is SO cute, Kristal!     Thanks for sharing it.

Is a slide show something you'd really like on the forum?  We could look into adding it.

[Alison]

Looks Profresh, Krystal.
I like the confident feel of the way you used the swirlies.