How to Start a Kids Party Planning Business

Those people who enjoy event planning and party planning are a natural to start a party planning business. But if you truly enjoy working with and understanding kids, then party plan business can really be narrowed to a specific niche market for children. There are number of steps to complete before starting a business.

Steps on How To Start a Kids Party Planning Business

The first important step will be the least fun but will be very important and should never be skipped. The first thing for any business to do is to establish its legal structure. This entails doing things like incorporating as a separate legal entity, getting a tax identification number from the IRS, and opening a checking account for the business. If you do these things yourself, in most states, you can do them for under $100. Because you're doing a kids party planning business, there is a lot of potential for the children to get injured that you will have no control over.That is why it is vital that you have a legal entity set up to protect yourself in case anything goes wrong. It would also be a good idea just before your first party to get business liability insurance.

Another legal item on how to start a kid's party planning business is to have a contract. There will be a fee to have a business attorney write a fill in the blank contract form between you and your clients. However, you do not want to do all of this work and get stiffed at the end of it. The contract should spell out payment arrangements, legal rights to photographs, your cancellation policy, a waiver of liability, and a place to list all the services you will provide for a particular party. The contract shouldn't be too long but thorough enough to protect yourself and make sure you get paid. It will also be a good tool to use to close the deal, because once a person signs they know they're committed to having the party. The silver lining is that once you have all of this done and established, you will know that you are truly in business, you are truly an entrepreneur.

The second step in how to start a kid's party planning business is to get clients. You'll need to start to establish your track record as a party planning business. It would even be a good idea is to perhaps do your first one to three parties for free or at a special reduced cost, with the idea that the client will be an awesome and enthusiastic to give you references.

Also, you should take a lot of pictures for marketing purposes. That means you want to have full permission to show their children and the party's guests faces in your marketing material. Therefore, it would be a good idea to get a professional photographer to take pictures at your first one to three parties. You could even have your client pick up the cost of the professional photographer as they will want photos also. On subsequent parties, you'll want to take photos with a high-quality digital camera. But if you do not have them sign full rights to use, you will not have permission to show faces. You will be able to show your party set-up before the guests arrive.

The third step is to start developing a portfolio. This portfolio will be of the different types of kid's parties that you can plan for the client. This is where the fun really begins! The first part of your portfolio will highlight parties that you've actually done and have high-quality pictures of. Following that can be parties that have not planned yet but would like to someday. This means you can begin to brainstorm theme parties and put them into your portfolio so that parents can see them. The last part of your portfolio will be add-ons like party favors, cakes, fun limousines, etc. It would also be a good idea to develop a good vendor relationship with providers of party supplies, bakeries, limousine services, because these types of vendors can make or break your party. They can also help your business by giving you referrals and/or giving your business a commission on any business you bring their way.

The final step in how to start a party planning business is to get your portfolio in front of as many people as you can. That means networking and setting appointments because not everybody that you talk to will become the client. However, the more people that you do talk to the more clients you will have.

Following these steps will get you on your way to having a kid's party planning business.

Get more information on planning parties and for becoming a professional party planner by visiting The Perfect Party Plan. Your clients will be impressed, and it will be a party they will remember for years to come.