Had a complaint on WhatsApp today from a children’s birthday party enquiry. From a business perspective, I don’t think it is necessary to justify one’s prices but I thought it interesting to make a rough breakdown.
Sorry if the prices of my party entertainment are too high. But the cost to hire magician and birthday party entertainer Ritchie Rosson (me) includes:
DBS criminal records check
Public liability insurance
£2000 sound system; iPad, remote control system, cables, spares of cables,
£1000 second sound system in case of unlikely breakdown of first.
£10,000 magic tricks and props; for every trick you see me perform I have bought and tried out 100 times more that weren’t up to par.
£££ balloons, and other tricks that use up materials in the routines.
£££ costumes; shirts, hats, trousers, trainers; all to be new(ish) to look fresh and fun
££ website
££ reasonably up to date iPhone so that I can do emails/messages and other party business for clear communication with my lovely clients.
Cost of my car which I only have for my shows. I walk and run most of the other days.
£20 per month for Adobe Premiere Pro so I can edit videos of my magic shows to not just show to my clients what I do but the process makes me a better entertainer by seeing myself on camera; what I do well and what I don’t.
£££ Attending magic conventions such as The Blackpool Magic Convention .
£££ dvds, books, downloads to learn magic tricks.
£££ cost of a computer and running it to edit all my sound effects and music.
££ my wages for the hours and hours I spend prepping my magic shows, learning magic tricks, editing music etc. You may think the price is for 1 or 2 hours but it’s hundreds of hours of prep time to bring what you see at a party.
£ It’s my full-time job and I think I deserve a reasonable remuneration for dealing with big groups of wild children as well as parents and missing my weekends for your party.
I’ve probably forgotten lots of other things but all worth it for the brilliant fun we have : )
Children’s Magician & Party Entertainer – Ritchie Rosson | Surrey, Kent & London 