Working on my son's 2nd birthday party I have been thinking of turning what I am doing into a business....

My thought was to do themed cupcake parties for kids birthdays. I would bake them at home and take them to the kids parties along with frosting and 3 or 4 diffrent things to decorate them with. I was thinking of setting a 12 cupcake minimum.

Each kid would get a plain cupcake to decorate. I would also provide the birthday boy or girl with a small round cake (6in?), decorated to match the theme. That way they still have a cake for their birthday candle.

My initial thought was that I would do set up, help the kids during the party, and clean up. But now I'm thinking that is getting a little too involved and that the parents should be able to do that themselves.

I'm just not sure how much to charge for something like that. I haven't found anyone online who offers something like it.

I live in southwest Michigan, blue collar area.

Thank you in advance for your help!

You need to charge a lot... this is not a blue collar business.

First, there is quite a bit of work, transport, teaching, and yes, cleanup. This is also several hours of work, use of your vehicle and purchase of all equipment. This is not a new idea, it is done all over the country. For cupcakes alone, pricing for a two cupcake party should be about $15 per child with a 10 child minimum. And after all of that work and product, this is really too low.

I don't mean to be a black cloud, but while you are doing this for your child, add up your time and your product plus all of the extras. Just don't sell yourself short. I will venture to say that your town is not completely blue collar because they need bosses, doctors, dentists, insurance, a hospital, lawyers, etc. If you look for a smaller, more affluent market, you will be on the right track. Thes people do not give much thought to $150 for a child party. This is your market. They are there. You just need to get their attention.

Best wishes and go for those who can afford and will appreciate your business.

And probably 2 year olds are not the target age for this type of party either.... it would require too many "helpers" (moms?) to make it work. Mom may enjoy it though....

It can work if you have enough customers to support your price, your business plan should tell you this. We looked into doing something like this as well and we would need to charge in the $70-80 per hour range (for on-site time) for it to be worth our while.

Since MI has a CFL your costs would be somewhat lower, but you also need to look at if one "instructor" is enough for 12 young kids or if you will be relying on the parents to help more (which may be an issue if your price ends up on par with an all-inclusive party venue).

I did this once and would probably never do it again, unless it was for a ton of money. The kids used up entire bottles of sprinkles, glitter, disco dust and luster dust (all expensive!) in just 1 short hour. Many of the kids would dump an entire bottle of glitter or sprinkles on their cupcake or use enough icing on 1 cupcake for half a dozen! They thought it would be funny but I wasn't laughing because then i was out of a lot of supplies.

I have done parties like this for my children, and for school events, girl scouts. Not as a business but have done several and found ways around some potential issues as mentioned.

I make a cupcake decorating palette on a disposable plate and 2 ounce portion cups. I place the goodies in the cups before I get to the venue and have a selection and LIMIT to 2 - 3 goodies they can have. I put a dollop of icing on the plate or use disposable bags with a simple tip (8 round or 18 star) and knot the end of it. I use food grade popscicle sticks to spread the icing on the cupcakes

I have made flower pot cakes with students for Mother's day and Earth day. Candy land cakes, animal cakes, Christmas, whatever theme. It is time comsuming, not just 2 hours at a party. Keep the cost in mind when selecting goodie options. 12 jars of pixie dust does not equal 12 portions of sprinkles. I would recommend buying in bulk sprinkles and other toppings.

If I read the OP correctly, she isn't planning on staying at the party the whole time. Am I right? In that case, you would just supply baked cupcakes, frosting (maybe in different colors?), toppings, maybe plastic picks or something? I would not go with piping bags because you would have to leave your tips - too costly. I like the idea of pre-portioning sprinkles, etc. I wouldn't even use expensive things like luster dust. This scenario wouldn't be overly taxing, but I'm not sure moms would pay for this service since they could easily do it themselves. I like your idea though. Seems like the way to make money is to stay there, set up, demonstrate, help kids and clean up. But then you need to charge a good bit. Good luck! You can always try it and then stop if it doesn't work out.