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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 11:08am | IP Logged
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I am losing over 1/2 my income after June. I am a little stressed. But I know we'll be ok, He shall provide for our needs.
I have a home daycare, and 1 family has the opportunity for mom to be home full time, so they are going for it :) another will be starting school, so no longer require me. I am happy for all of them, but it leaves us with some shortfalls. With that some anxiety.
But an idea popped into my mind a few days ago, as I started thinking, do we need to continue childcare, or would something else work. Now, I have an idea to try, or at least explore. I have a little pin money to play with but won't really require much. BUT, I have been looking around and snooping... and wondering.
Could I start a birthday party planning business? The only competition here are places to go, zoo, discovery zone type places, where you are one of hundreds of people. There are a few magicians, face painters, balloon artists, petting zoo. But other than that, there are nearly nothing.
My idea is themed costume parties. Princess, Pirate, Knights, Space(star wars), Wizard(Harry Potter, Wizards of Waverly, westerns, historical, etc, really ideas are unlimited(and ideas??). I would have to start with only one or 2 before really going crazy with it. It would be rentals of costumes and games, guide for party layout, custom invitations, party favors, along with us coming in to set up dressing area for costumes, table and with decorations, then coming back for pick up. Parents would provide food, guests and guidance. This would save parents hours of planning and fussing.
I know parents can invite kids to come dressed up in their own costumes, but it doesn't always turn out,as it is costly to for the guests to purchase costumes, and often hard to find if the time isn't around hallowe'en.
I am thinking we'd be making our own costumes, I have my mom, dd16 and myself that all sew well, plus embroidery machines for anything special. Plus I have a huge fabric stash between my mom and me, of things we could potentially use for costumes, at least to start.
A magician coming in here is $300-400 for 1.5 hours. Then you need to do everything else. My idea would cost a family less, provide more service, free up more of mom and dad's time and provide great memories. I have a budding photographer in the family too, which could potentially lead to an add-on as well. We would provide fun large cut-outs and a few props for photo opportunities.
I know what i need for business licenses, insurance, advertising. I'm just wondering what else we'd need to think of.
Any feedback?
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Mom to 4,
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2 homeschooled(one considering art school!)
ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 11:24am | IP Logged
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look for overlap in your parties too.. for instance.. change accessories and a lot of starwars become saint costumes, pirate and gypsy, lord of the rings and generic princess, some of the metallic fabric with patterns will make great armour.
Also figure out how many parties you need a month to replace your current income.
You might consider at least offering cake and punch or such. I know if I was going to have someone else do the party I'd just as soon not have to mess with the cake too.
Maybe you could find a bakery to work with and just have order forms from there.. buy the jugs of punch from the store.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 11:38am | IP Logged
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Do you live in a neighborhood where there are lots of kids?
A couple of moms here host a craft week or a craft day, where kids can come in and do some fun crafts from 9-12 for a set fee. The mom I know then uses that money to buy all her homeschool supplies for the year.
I only mention it because hosting a craft day would be a great way to get some flyers out... ex. Oh, I'm so glad your kids had fun today. Did you know I also plan birthday parties? Here is my flyer..."
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 11:39am | IP Logged
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I will consider the food aspect, just that here, it would involve a food permit, which requires a commercial kitchen. I could see about supplying prepackaged, sealed, and picking up a cake with matching theme from bakery. Or possibly a custom cake maker.... as add-ons.
TO replace my income, I'd need 5 parties a week consistently. Not really unrealistic if I got enough kits together, and get dd16 driving. Being in the homeschool community here too, there are possibilities for week days as well, not just weekends.
You're right some ideas can cross over, if carefully planned. If I borrow from one set, I'd need to be sure not to book that set out at the same time. But that isn't a concern yet..lol.
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 11:42am | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
Do you live in a neighborhood where there are lots of kids?
A couple of moms here host a craft week or a craft day, where kids can come in and do some fun crafts from 9-12 for a set fee. The mom I know then uses that money to buy all her homeschool supplies for the year.
I only mention it because hosting a craft day would be a great way to get some flyers out... ex. Oh, I'm so glad your kids had fun today. Did you know I also plan birthday parties? Here is my flyer..."
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Not a lot of kids around here. But definitely something to think about and possibly play with too.
I'm actually unable to do much crafty right now I'm still dealing with my hand injury from December. It still doesn't fully open or close. We hope to be done with therapy this summer, but it's stubborn. So I will file this idea, as it holds lots of merit!
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Mom to 4,
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 11:51am | IP Logged
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One more idea to toss out there.. what about giving sewing lessons? I don't know how much demand there might be but so many people around my age never learned these skills and cant teach them to their kids..
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 12:33pm | IP Logged
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Jodie,
I have toyed with that idea. But as long as I have the home daycare, I don't have time. Kind of a catch 22. Perhaps if I can get one going, the other will follow.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 1:01pm | IP Logged
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yeah I was thinking if you were doing the parties evenings and weekends.. then you could manage sewing lessons maybe during the days (homeschoolers?).
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
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oh and larger looser costumes with ties (maybe Velcro)will be more adjustable than zippers or buttons and kids could wear them over their clothes.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 1:03pm | IP Logged
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oh and yeah I wasn't thinking making food for much as providing it from another source.. more like cake and punch delivery 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 1:30pm | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
| oh and larger looser costumes with ties (maybe Velcro)will be more adjustable than zippers or buttons and kids could wear them over their clothes. |
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Still designing in my head on this. Some are easier, others more complex to make. Obviously, princess would be much more intricate than say, pirate or cowboy.
Trying to think of the 2 simplest sets to make up, and try this out :) Will need to think on it. Pirates and... Aiming at a market of 3-10 ish for the moment.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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princess? or ballerina? just about anything pink and sparkly
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 1:38pm | IP Logged
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That works :) Tutus!!!!
My vision of princess is very elaborate..lol. All out :)
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Rebeccca
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 3:24pm | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
| One more idea to toss out there.. what about giving sewing lessons? I don't know how much demand there might be but so many people around my age never learned these skills and cant teach them to their kids.. |
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I pay $30/hour for sewing lessons. Now, we have a crazy good deal in my opinion b/c our sewing teacher is phenomenal and $30 is less than most other sewing teachers.
If you do decide to give sewing lessons, I would love to tell you how our teacher does it if you're interested.
oh, sorry, I hadn't read your response yet.
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 3:27pm | IP Logged
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Rebeccca wrote:
JodieLyn wrote:
| One more idea to toss out there.. what about giving sewing lessons? I don't know how much demand there might be but so many people around my age never learned these skills and cant teach them to their kids.. |
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I pay $30/hour for sewing lessons. Now, we have a crazy good deal in my opinion b/c our sewing teacher is phenomenal and $30 is less than most other sewing teachers.
If you do decide to give sewing lessons, I would love to tell you how our teacher does it if you're interested.
oh, sorry, I hadn't read your response yet.
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Rebecca, I'd love the info, if you have time to share. As I said, it's not something out of the question, I'd love to do so.
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Rebeccca
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| Posted: May 24 2013 at 4:44pm | IP Logged
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AMDG
Well, first of all we go to her house. Her first garage is converted to a sewing studio and when she became successful, she added on an actual car garage.
She has us measure like mad. We measured e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Then we started making pillows. At first I thought that was pretty lame but we only had to make them till we could consistently sew straight hems. I actually had to make three pillows; my daughter made one. 
After that, though, we could make anything. Anything! She said that it was no fun for us and not that useful to make a bunch of stuff that we didn't want, need, or like just so we could progress through easy patterns. Now, that is not to say that she is such a great teacher that picking up our first pattern we were masters. It means that we have moved very, very slowly through patterns sometimes but we have made things we actually wanted to use or wear. Not only that but when I have felt that we were moving slowly through patterns, honestly, we have leaned a lot very quickly.
What I appreciate so much is the measuring and the making of real stuff that we want. I didn't really think that we would move right into making things we want to wear or use like that. We checked a lot of sewing teachers before we found her and none of them do it that way. And with the measuring . . . everything fits. We measure (and I mean we measure everything) and then when we cut our out patterns, we lay them out and mark them extending or narrowing or lengthening or shortening as needed. By doing this in the cutting out stage our things fit almost perfectly when they're done. She says that with more practice they will fit perfectly!
My daughter had only made a couple of t-shirts when she decided to bring in a dress she liked a lot and wanted in her size and dressier. Well, they analyzed the dress and began making the pattern the next week. It took her a couple of weeks to build the pattern (that's a couple of hours) and now she is working on the dress. It is really complicated mostly because of the fabric. She has moved really slowly in the sewing of this dress. The teacher has her go very, very, slowly so that she won't waste what was very expensive fabric. It made me nervous to pay that much for something so complicated at such an early stage of her learning but she agreed to follow instructions to the t and our teacher has her going very slowly and carefully. So far, the completed pieces are just fabulous and I am so really proud of her hard work and stick-to-it-iveness.
I really think our teacher is great for letting us work this way. I just cannot get motivated to make draw-string pants and pot-holders. When she had us make the pillows I balked. She explained it, though, and gave us the option of just sewing scraps till we could demonstrate the skill. We went with the pillows.
Another funny thing she does is skip the muslin step. Her philosophy is that if you measure, measure, measure and sew slowly and carefully, you don't need to. If you feel you must, don't use a muslin but use a less expensive fabric you'd still be willing to wear.
And she hardly ever lets us use pins while sewing. Yeah, you read that right! She said they make us lazy and incautious and using our fingers to hold and move fabric keeps us in contact with the fabric and how it's moving and is more like communicating. Pins separate us from that.
My teacher has now retired from her job but while she was working everyone had to come on one of two days. She set aside the days and if you couldn't make it, too bad. She starts lessons at 7 am, takes a long lunch and nap  , and then teaches into the evening. Outside of that, though, no students.
She also does alterations and makes clothing and costumes for people.
If you wanted to know anything specific, let me know and if I don't know, I'll ask her.
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Topic: Dealing with cutbacks -- feedback?
