tips for birthday party entertainers?

[Anonymous]

When you hire an entertainer for your child's birthday party- do you also have to tip them? I mean, you are already paying them anywhere from $100 to 300 depending on who you get and they don't work for anyone but themselves. Yet, I know that many parent's will also tip them? Is that standard. If so, how much do you tip them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you hire an entertainer for your child's birthday party- do you also have to tip them? I mean, you are already paying them anywhere from $100 to 300 depending on who you get and they don't work for anyone but themselves. Yet, I know that many parent's will also tip them? Is that standard. If so, how much do you tip them?

Some do work for themselves. But there are party companies that send out facepainters, balloon people, magicians, clowns, etc. and they have to give sometimes half of what they make to the company. I guess it depends on if you feel you want to tip or not.

[Anonymous]

"Some do work for themselves. But there are party companies that send out facepainters, balloon people, magicians, clowns, etc. and they have to give sometimes half of what they make to the company. I guess it depends on if you feel you want to tip or not. "


Hi
I actually own and operate Kid's Parties Inc and have been in childrens entertainment for about 20 years now. I can honestly say that I have never taken half of any of my performers pay, maybe some of my competitors do but I only make the standard 20 - 25% agent fee which most performers are happy to fork over to let me do the booking for them. I am also an entertainer and have worked for most of my competitors at one time or another and most of them have the same policies although there are exceptions.

As far as tipping goes, as an agent I always let my customers know that if they feel inclined to tip their performer they certainly may, providing they feel the performer has done an outstanding job. By no means should they feel obligated but it is a nice gesture (especially with these hard times) to show their appreciation and by no means is there any percentage involved. Children's entertainerment is a "service industry" in which tipping is acceptable but in most cases I recommend to use your own judgement.

I hope this helps

-Ken
Kids' Parties Inc
703 802 3385