This year marks my 15th year as a face painter. I can’t believe it’s been 15 years, and I couldn’t be more grateful for this amazing art form. Face painting has opened doors, allowed me to travel the world, meet great people, and live by the phrase “life’s a party”. I’m literally at a party every weekend.

Over the years I have had my ups and downs and have learned valuable lessons. So every time I experience a troubling event or situation I create an entry in my rule book and troubleshoot about how to fix it. Luckily, in 15 years I have only filled 2-3 pages in my rule book. So I wanted to share with you my rules that I list in my contract when I am booking a gig. These face painting rules have helped me deflect problems and keep me safe.

Hopefully they can help you or guide you to creating your own rule book. Some of these rules apply to public or free events, where I seem to have the most problems with line control and waiting.

1. Creating a memorable face painting experience is my ultimate goal. If for any reason parents or kids begin to fight or create a violent atmosphere in my face painting line, I will close the line and will no longer paint. I reserve the right to cease face painting and leave the event without a refund if violence erupts. For events expecting long lines, please arrange for a volunteer to help with crowd control and ending the line.
2. My goal is to make your event as amazing as possible. To avoid interruption to the flow of the event please have payment ready upon arrival. Unless you prearranged payment on net terms.
3. Face Paint works best in a cool dry area, if possible please reserve a space in the shade so that your painter and your guests are most comfortable. If your event location has limited shade please let me know so that I can arrange to bring a tent or umbrella.
4. On average I can paint 10-15 full fantastic faces in one hour. In some cases I may have events before or after your event and may not be able to stay. Please book enough time so that I can make sure everyone leaves happy and painted.

Of course there are more face painting related rules I’d like to include such as;

• I won’t force anyone to get painted. The person in the chair gets to choose their face painting design (not you, annoying parent).
• If your children puts their fingers in my paint I can chop them off and serve them as finger food.
• No, I can’t paint 2 faces at once, but I reserve the really sarcastic answers for my alone time.

Sometimes we leave events pissed and feeling upset. Rather than letting it upset your entire day, the best thing you can do is work on the solution of how not to let it happen again. By listing my rules on my contract, I protect myself from feeling guilty and staying later because the planner didn’t book enough time. I stick to my guns about not letting people fight in my line, painting in the direct sun, and ruining my supplies.

Make your rules, set your boundaries, and you will see how much smoother your events will be. I’d love to hear some of your face painter rules. Share them with us and together we can paint perfect parties.

-Heather xoxoxo