Girls' Birthday Bracelet
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I couldn't believe what a huge hit it was!
The girls absolutely devoured the project and were thrilled to have real pearls and gemstones on their bracelets.
Now I get calls regularly asking me to come do a bracelet birthday bead party for another girl, and every time I do one, more parties get scheduled from it because the girls enjoy it so much.
Bracelet birthday parties are very easy to do, and they can also earn you a nice profit.
I charge $15 per girl for parties of 9 or fewer girls, and $14 per girl for parties of 10 or more. I include a small velvet pouch for each girl to store her bracelet in.
I bring bead boxes that are organized by bead color - and as you might guess, pink and purple are DEFINITELY the most popular beads every time! Fortunately, rose quartz is very inexpensive! :o)
Blue beads are the next most popular color.
My birthday party beads all cost me $6 or less per 16" strand, and my average profit is around $10 to $12 per girl.
It usually takes me about an hour to get things ready to go to the birthday beading party, drive there, and set up; about another hour to do the bracelet activity with the girls; and another hour to put everything away, chat, eat a piece of birthday cake, give out bracelet birthday party flyers and business cards, and then drive home.
So for 3 hours total, I usually net anywhere from $70 to $200 and have a lot of fun with the girls.
Birthday party activities are a very hot market niche, I've discovered, and I recommend trying it out if it sounds at all interesting to you. For successful birthday bracelet beading parties, the keys are to:
- enjoy kids,
- have a sense of fun,
- bring a lot of pink and purple beads (along with other colors), and
- wear comfortable clothes because you'll be sitting on the floor.
At home, before I go to the party, I cut beading wire into 10" pieces and attach each of these pieces to one end of a toggle clasp with a crimp bead as a sort of starter bracelet. I always bring about 30% extra of these starter bracelets in case there are last minute guests - and also because sometimes other family members want to join the fun and bead a bracelet too! At one party, the birthday girl's dad even made one for Grandma who had missed the party.
(Note: 10 inches is way more than most of the girls need, but some older girls do have very large wrists, and I don't want to make anyone feel bad because her size is bigger than anyone else's. So I give everyone a strand that's the same long length, and there are no hurt feelings.)
When I arrive at the birthday party location, I bring all my things into the party, and ask the girls to help me. We take the lids off all the bead boxes and put them in the middle of the floor area where we'll be working. Usually the all the excited birthday party girls are oohing and aahing over the beads by this point.
Then I have the girls all sit in a circle on the floor around the bead boxes, and I pass around the bead boards and starter bracelets (the 10" beading wires with one clasp end attached). Also at this point I hand out the little velvet pouches for storing their finished bracelets; if I wait till the end of the activity, I always forget to give out the pouches.
While I'm passing these things out, I tell the group that they are jewelry designers today, and that they're going to be working with genuine gemstones and pearls plus a sterling silver clasp. I also mention that the bracelet they make today will be so beautiful that they will be proud to give it to their own daughter or granddaughter someday as a family heirloom.
Then I pass around my three example bracelets - each a very different design using completely different beads. I tell them that they won't be copying these designs, just learning something from them.
I explain, "One thing to think about as you create your bracelet is that the most interesting designs use contrasts. Contrasts can be shapes, colors, sizes, or other things. Can you see how these example bracelets use contrasts?"
Then I take back the the examples and measure everyone's wrist with my tape measure. I show each girl where on her bead board her first and last beads will go to make the right length of bracelet.
Then I just help wherever help is needed till the girls are done. While I'm helping the girls make their bracelets, they always want to know how I got into making jewelry.
So I tell them about how doing something I love turned me into an entrepreneur, that I build my own websites, and that I invent my own job for myself every day by following opportunities that come up and thinking creatively about things. I can tell they're inspired by that, and I'm glad to plant seeds for future entrepreneurs!
As each girl finishes designing and stringing her creation, I try her bracelet on her wrist before finishing off the other end of the clasp. I want to be sure of a good, comfortable fit with just a little room to grow!
I tell them how many beads they need to add or subtract if the length isn't quite right.
When the length is just right, I finish off the other end of the clasp with a crimp bead, and fasten the bracelet on the wrist of its designer.
I always suggest to the birthday girl's parents that they get a photo of all the newly braceleted wrists together, which everybody enjoys doing!
To reach the bracelet beading party niche, I recommend making a nice flyer with a few enticing bracelet photos, a photo of a selection of beads, a brief party description, and your contact info.
Include a flyer for each birthday party guest to take home (most of the girls who are guests at one of my birthday beading parties want to have their own parties). Also inquire at your local elementary schools about including one of your flyers in students' weekly take-home folders. Many schools are happy to do this if you provide the flyer copies.
Here's a successful ad I placed a few years ago in a local grade school's student directory:
Other likely places to distribute birthday bracelet beading party flyers (with permission) include ballet / dance / gymnastics studios where girls take lessons; soccer / softball games; craft stores; and pottery painting stores.
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