Beading for Fun and Profit: Bracelet Beading Birthday Parties

 by: Rena Klingenberg

A birthday bracelet beading party for girls age 5 and up is guaranteed to be a big hit. Most girls are thrilled with the opportunity to make jewelry, and parents appreciate that you're providing both the party favors (the bracelets the girls make to take home) and the party activity (making the bracelets).

I discovered this profitable home beading party niche by accident a few years ago when I was asked if I could do a jewelry make-and-take craft at a 9-year-old girl's birthday party. The girl's mom and I decided on gemstone bead bracelets because necklaces would be too expensive, and not everyone has pierced ears for earrings.

So I came to the birthday party with my bead boxes, bead boards for everyone, a tape measure, accuflex beading wire, little sterling silver toggle clasps, velvet pouches for everyone, and a couple of example bracelets.

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.

While I'm helping the girls make their bracelets at the party, 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!

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.

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.