I have an idea on an extension of my business, but I would like other views and advice and such. I want to offer cupcake parties. Here's the premise for it.....(none of this is set in stone, I need advice and ideas) I would go to the clients house or wherever the party is for a set amount of time and teach the kids to decorate cupcakes. I would supply all the cake, frosting and add-ons like sprinkles and stuff. I was thinking they could tell me what their "theme" would be and I could coordinate. Now, any advice to help get this going would be greatly appreciated. Any advice, from pricing to time, organization.......Thank you!

Hosted cupcake parties are becoming more common these days as specialized cupcake shops spring up. Kara's Cupcakes in the SF bay area offers these parties (as well as "cupcakes and cocktails" parties for adults):

http://www.karascupcakes.com/parties.html

In order for it to be worth your time you may want to target your advertising to the more affluent neighborhoods in your area -- Kara's charges $25 per kid. Partnering with existing kids party venues would be another way to go, but you would probably have to give the venue a cut of your income.

And if you don't already have it, get liability insurance...it's a must when working with kids. Also considering becoming a peanut-free business, as peanut allergies among kids are becoming more prevalent every day.

We've done this a few times (twice for clients, once for a low-income day care center for free). We charged $300 for 2 hours for up to 10 kids ($20 for each additional person).

The way we ran this was to have a few cupcakes baked and iced for each child. We gave them a piece of paper with two circles on it, some crayons, a few pieces of fondant in basic colors, water cups, plastic brushes, and scattered about some piping gel. We did a demo. The kids used the crayons to draw out their design on the paper circles, showed us their drawing and we would give them additional fondant colors if needed. The kids only decorated using their hands and sticking the fondant on the iced cupcake. This eliminated the need to show them how to pipe. They prefer to use the fondant like playdough.

What did I learn? During one party there were 12 kids and my partner and me. The kids were all 5 and under and I think this was too young. We did another party for 8 year-olds and they had a blast. At the 'for free' party it was myself and 4 other day-care workers. Kids aged from 6 - 12 and this was perfect because of the extra adults helping out. I think it would be tough to run a party by yourself for anything over 8 kids.

Would I do it again? Probably only for a charity.

edit to add: the 'paid for' parties were at the client's homes.